Power Tool Flex - worth cutting & putting connectors on?

[sammo]

hi all - just to reassure everyone my plan was always to put the male end closest to the tools and the female one the other end.

These guys are an IT company and http://2bm.co.uk/room-and-rack-infrastructure/iec-lock. There are other examples out there. But it may be overkill. The plan was really to have one or two, perhaps three longish leads, then make all the leads on the tools as short as possible - just as an effort to try and keep the leads as tidy as possible. Not sure about anyone else but these things seem to have a mind of their own, and no matter how tidy I put them away they seem to come alive in the draw / on the shelf and tangle with every other lead near by.

Going to try the Seconds store for the Kingspan type insulation - they seem to have a lot of odd 'tapered' boards - but they seem to suggest doubling up to get the right uniform size

Thanks all

Chris

 

[Eric The Viking]

IEC connectors aren't intended for tool flex. I didn't explain my last comment very well: the arrangements inside for connecting the wires are poor, especially on the male ones (on your tools). That's a big reason why I'd use something else in that application.

Our lawnmower has no earth, and since it's on an RCD there isn't a lot of point bothering with one. The supplied cable was two core, and that fits into the connectors satisfactorily. Making off three-core cables into those IEC connectors is a real PITA, and as I said, I don't think they're very safe as things can easily work loose.

They are useful though - if you find a good design (internally, I mean) I'm happy to have my mind changed!

E.

 

[Losos]

Making off three-core cables into those IEC connectors is a real PITA, and as I said, I don't think they're very safe as things can easily work loose.

They are useful though - if you find a good design (internally, I mean) I'm happy to have my mind changed!

E.

Well you are right the ones I use are not designed by a 'proper' engineer, but there are things you can do to make them better inside, I use thread lock on the terminal screws and make mini 'eyes' with the cable so the srew clamps evenly all round. Also, I 'standardised' on 3 core for everything (even if the tool is double insulated) it means I only need to keep one type of cable in stock.
Sammo as all my extension leads hang on the wall I don't have a problem with cables getting muddled up in a drawer.

 

[Krysstel]

I've done this too.
Check out this thread about my extraction system https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/extraction-lvhp-chip-hvlp-dust-or-both-t56466.html
The first half shows the connectors I used and at the end of page 2 you can see how the whole thing ended up with braided sleeve. You can probably find similar connectors in the UK here http://uk.rs-online.com/web/?cm_mmc...s_components&gclid=CKrJufa1vLICFYwtmAod9wQADg

The system I put togehter worked OK but I've since dumped the whole lot and gone back to the original manufafturers' flex and plugs :shock:
It all looked elegant enough but the mini-plugs and sockets are too fiddely in everyday life and always in the way. I found that a miniplug + minisocket is considerably bigger than a flex hanging out of the back of the tool :wink:
A good idea but unfortunately impractical in reality.

Mark

 

[ColeyS1]

I had to do this on my new hedge trimmer :twisted:

sent from my mobile using fat fingers

 

[Gaz]

Maybe you are looking for something like this http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/lighting/po ... con-true1/ , USA manufactured but rated to 250a AC, would be good to have the male end fused then each tool could be fused appropriately, a slightly better taper into the cable to avoid snagging as mentioned earlier, and a 4m hig quality rubber flex, I must say my festool plug it system is great, woul love to have it across all of my tools.

 

[Hitch]

We had a few milwaukee tools at work, they have interchangeable leads. After a while the plugs became a pain, the connectors went loose, not all the tools had the same plug- because of the tool rating.
And the constant swapping plugs become tiresome very quickly if you are using a few tools on and off at the same time.

The other thing with having plugs near the tool, is the end of the cable/plug catching on the edge of sheets and such like.

Personally, I use ceeform plugs, they dont come unplugged when you pull on them, and i prefer all tools to have about 3m of cable at least.