Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I cannot yet do a good box offset. I’ve done it about four times but getting it to come out perfect has not happened. This means I have to tweak the conduit again and again to get everything correct, and you can see the marks I made every time if you look in person.

I’m not saying that I did a poor job on this or if there is anything particularly bad about it. It’s just that a real professional would notice that this was done by an amateur.

You might notice that I ran some Romex inside of conduit and this is not normally done. It’s not necessarily good or bad but it depends on the exact conditions of service.

But as a general practice nobody does this because it’s difficult. It takes more time to do.

I did it because I had some pieces of wire that I wanted to use up. They were perfectly good and because I didn’t need any other wires in the conduit so there was no problem with having enough space.

You can only put so many wires inside the conduit, and it depends not only on the size of the wires and the size of the conduit. It depends also on the type of wire, the temperature of the environment, length of the wire, and the power required.

Your wiring may have insulation qualified for 600 V. You may be able to put nine wires in a conduit running 120v, But maybe only three if they run 400.

These matters can also vary from city to city because of the particular power service provided there. And of course they are different Internationally.
It doesn’t look terrible and I’ve definitely see worst. Box offsets are pretty simple, just make sure you stop at exactly 10 degrees for both bends and the 2 bends are as close to each other as possible.
 
Thanks. I do try, but bending was much easier to control when I weighed 240.

I bent a 90 stub on a 1" thinwall today and it was nearly impossible. I'm not running any 1", but I thought to make a lamp post out of a scrap bit.

I put both feet on the bender and leaned against the bench as I hopped on it.

I'll know by tomorrow if I have a hernia or not.
 
I got these 4 benders at a local auction for just $15. I don't think you could find new ones for $300.

There's 2 aluminum Gardners, 1/2 and 1", with good levels.
The two iron 3/4" ones are ancient, but serviceable if you have a magnetic level. The one with a pivoting hook is a "T&B Steeltubes Bender" and I think it's supposed to have a pedal attached at the hole with a removable pin The other iron one is a Benfield Electrunite.

4bends.jpeg
 
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You know you have a problem when you have a bad dream about a fish. I dreamed last night that I kept searching the diversden for the Parrot Doradid Catfish/Rhynchodoras woodsi and I just couldn’t find it because someone bought it and it just devastated me. I’m thinking it happened because I’ve been heavily debating getting it ever since it went up for sale and I finally decided to not get it yesterday.

 
I dream about my big fish swimming around in the air, and I have to put him back in the tank.
I think I’ve heard someone else say they dreamed something similar on here lol.
 
Hello; Took a walk on the latest waste of government funds today. A new walking trail along the slope across the highway from my home. About a half mile from the house I spotted some recent bear tracks on the fresh blacktop. Seems the bear came out of a corn field with muddy feet and walked across the new path. Must be a small bear from the size of the prints. There is an elementary school bordering that corn field. I asked a teacher about it and she says they have spotted a small bear lately. I have seen what I thought was bear scatt in my yard a couple years ago but not lately. I may be looking for a bear proof garbage can soon.
 
Do you have a dog to wake you before the bear makes a big mess?

I'd have something reliable and bear-capable ready to hand.

Around here, I never worry about large game.
 
Do you have a dog to wake you before the bear makes a big mess?

I'd have something reliable and bear-capable ready to hand.

Around here, I never worry about large game.
Hello; No dog. My neighbors have dogs but they are inside dogs. I have capacity to deal with a bear but likely will not have to. From the footprints size and the description of the teacher it is a young bear. My guess is it was grazing in the corn field (what we call field corn more for animal feed) so may not need to come close to homes just yet.

I figure it will be a black bear. They have been let loose around here over the recent years. If it make a home around here I wonder about my neighbors cattle to the east and another neighbors sheep the the west. The folks with sheep use to have two of the big white dogs that stayed with the sheep. I know they lost one of the dogs some years ago, maybe both by now. Bear may take a calf or sheep I guess. It will also probably fine plenty of road kill deer as well. I saw a young buck on the side of the road when I went to Knoxville today. This is the prime time of the year for the deer to be hit by cars and trucks around here.
 
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