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Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

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Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#41

Post by avar »

JakubDotPy wrote: post #9

I would advise against using this for electrical work. See the internet for "wago vs twisting". Chicken wire, crafting, etc. sure.

You're comparing apples to oranges.

You need to twist or otherwise adhere wires together before soldering them, e.g. when using heat shrink solder sleeve, unless you've some other way to hold the wires in place.

There's places where you can substitute wago, but often not, e.g. when working with limited space, e.g. repairing a broken wire harness in a car, or similar.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#42

Post by flipbrad »

OJFord wrote: post #4
ansgri wrote: post #2

Why would you even use twisting as connection method for professional work (i.e. not when you just don’t have any proper tools around)? Various quick connectors like Wago exist for temporary connections, and for permanent ones handheld hydraulic crimping presses are not that expensive.

Earths are to be connected to a single point, not multiple terminals of a Wago block or similar, in the UK at least. Twisting is not afaik a requirement, but it's common, and adds to the security of it. (At least, as long as the solid core hasn't been twisted and untwisted repeatedly and near the point of breaking.) OP appears to be doing it to make a fatter gauge cable out of smaller ones though?

My electrician (UK) was recently very upset at use of twisting in sockets - made uncoupling them (to bisect the ring and thereby find where a fault was occurring) very time consuming.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#43

Post by OJFord »

mauvehaus wrote: post #28
zokier wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Twisting is not afaik a requirement, but it's common, and adds to the security of it. Not clear what sort of connection you are referring to here? And how twisting improves it? But I'd be surprised if there wasn't better option available

Wire nuts, likely. The directions on the last box I bought say that twisting is allowed but not required. I would think the reason to twist is to improve the mechanical connection, not the electrical one. It should make it more resilient to grabbing two wires and pulling in opposite directions. Which shouldn't happen in practice anyway, but, you know. Regardless of how you feel about wire nuts, if you're in the US, y…

No, I've never seen them (not that I'm an electrician, but nor for sale) in the UK.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#44

Post by OJFord »

zokier wrote: post #10
OJFord wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earths are to be connected to a single point, not multiple terminals of a Wago block or similar, in the UK at least. Twisting is not afaik a requirement, but it's common, and adds to the security of it. (At least, as long as the solid core hasn't been twisted and untwisted repeatedly and near the point of breaking.) OP appears to be doing it to make a fatter gauge cable out of smaller ones though?

> Twisting is not afaik a requirement, but it's common, and adds to the security of it. Not clear what sort of connection you are referring to here? And how twisting improves it? But I'd be surprised if there wasn't better option available

To a single point as I said, I'm not really sure how else to describe. Could be ring terminals crimped on and under a single screw, that would be better. But twisted cores under screw beats not twisted under screw - even just twisted and no screw (as is common especially in say light fittings that are double insulated/no metal to begin with, no Earth point) is probably better.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#45

Post by Mashimo »

avar wrote: post #41
JakubDotPy wrote: post #9

I would advise against using this for electrical work. See the internet for "wago vs twisting". Chicken wire, crafting, etc. sure.

You're comparing apples to oranges. You need to twist or otherwise adhere wires together before soldering them, e.g. when using heat shrink solder sleeve, unless you've some other way to hold the wires in place. There's places where you can substitute wago, but often not, e.g. when working with limited space, e.g. repairing a broken wire harness in a car, or similar.

> There's places where you can substitute wago, but often not, e.g. when working with limited space, e.g. repairing a broken wire harness in a car, or similar.

Don't fear! The wago inline splicing connector is here!

https://www.wago.com/global/electrical-interconnections/disc...

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#46

Post by mschuster91 »

idiotsecant wrote: post #38
jstanley wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not twisting electrical wires together to make an electrical connection, it's just to keep a bundle of wires together.

The twisting is in fact part of the electrical connection. On a good wire nut connection the wire nut is just insulating the bundle and if it falls off the bundle is still secure.

> On a good wire nut connection the wire nut is just insulating the bundle and if it falls off the bundle is still secure.

The problem is, a good wire nut is impossible to distinguish from a bad wire nut. A transparent Wago (or its clones) are virtually foolproof to install and to inspect.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#47

Post by linsomniac »

tussa wrote: post #37
linsomniac wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not what you're talking about, but everyone should know the Lineman's Splice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice TL;DR: It's a method of joining two wires that won't pull apart under load; the wire will break before the splice comes apart. Add solder, trim any pointy bits, and you have a NASA approved joint.

Thanks! I had this one and the Wire Wrap somehow linked in my mind but forgotten the name. Must have seen them both described on the same page a long time ago.

I came very close to describing it as "two wires, end to end, with the free end wire-wrapping the opposite wire." :-)

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#48

Post by ryandrake »

nikisweeting wrote: post #23
wkipling wrote: post #14

The wire twisting pliers in the first picture are used for lock wire, not electrical wire and they are very good at that specific task. Used in industries such as aviation to prevent movement/rotation of a fastener or a part such as a screw on oil filter.

Yeah but they they're usually too big for the work I have in mind, and not nearly as smooth as a potential pump-action equivalent.

Yea one of the flaws of traditional safety wire twisting tools is their size and inability to get into really tight spaces. The solution in the article still seems too big. I'd buy something like it but only if it was the size of a small ratchet.

Re: Idea for a new hand tool: Automatic Wire Twisting Pliers

#49

Post by avar »

Mashimo wrote: post #45
avar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing apples to oranges. You need to twist or otherwise adhere wires together before soldering them, e.g. when using heat shrink solder sleeve, unless you've some other way to hold the wires in place. There's places where you can substitute wago, but often not, e.g. when working with limited space, e.g. repairing a broken wire harness in a car, or similar.

> There's places where you can substitute wago, but often not, e.g. when working with limited space, e.g. repairing a broken wire harness in a car, or similar. Don't fear! The wago inline splicing connector is here! https://www.wago.com/global/electrical-interconnections/disc...

I knew about that, actually. It's way too big still for some uses, and I'm guessing won't deal well with anything that repeatedly lightly pulls on the wire (e.g. a trunk hinge). But for some other cases it's great.
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