Tools - Oldham Electricians

The electrician's trade requires use of a range of hand and power tools and instruments. Usually an electrician will have a personal set of hand tools and general-purpose test instruments, with the more costly power tools or instruments provided by the employer or business.

Some of the more common tools are:

Lineman's pliers are heavy-duty pliers for general use in cutting, bending, crimping and pulling wire; electricians commonly use the tool as a hammer, as well.

Needle-nose pliers feature a namesake long, tapered gripping nose and are of more various size, with or without side cutters, generally smaller and for finer work (including very small tools used in electronics wiring).

Wire strippers come in many sizes and designs, but those intended for electric power wiring feature special blades to cut wire insulation on American Wire Gauge (AWG) #16 to #10 while leaving the conductor wire intact and without nicks. Some wire strippers include cable strippers among their multiple functions, for removing the outer jacket of NM cable (also known as Romex).

Cable cutters are highly-leveraged pliers for cutting cable larger than #10/3.

Rotosplit is a brand-name tool designed to assist in breaking the spiral jacket of metallic-jacketed cable (MC cable).

A multimeter is a small, battery-powered instrument for basic electrical testing and troubleshooting; features voltage-, resistance-, and current [under 10 amps] -reading settings, maybe other measurements.

portable ammeters may have a split torroid coil which may be opened then closed around a single conductor.

step-bit is a metal-cutting drill bit with stepped-diameter cutting edges, generally at 1/8-inch intervals, for conveniently drilling holes to specification in stamped/rolled metal up to about 1/16" thick; for example, to create custom knock-outs in a breaker panel or junction box. [Keep bit perpendicular to metal!]

Wires are "fished" into closed cavities using includes cord or rope, fish tape. Small chain is useful in vertical cavities. The fishing tool is pushed, dropped, or shot into the installed raceway or stud-bay or joist-bay of a finished wall or in a floor or ceiling. Then the wire or cable is attached and pulled back.

Other, general-use tools with applications in electric power wiring include screwdrivers, crimpers, hammers, reciprocating saws, drywall saws, metal punches, flashlights, chisels, adjustable slip-joint pliers (for example, Channel-Lock (R) pliers), drills.

Crimping tools are used to apply terminals or splices. These may be hand or hydraulic powered. The better hand tools have ratchets to insure proper pressure. Hydraulic units achieve cold welding, even for aluminum "locomotive" [many fine strands] cable.

Megger insulation tester applies several hundred to several thousand volts to cables and shows the insulation resistance value

Solenoid voltmeter simple go/no go to indicate the presence of voltage.

Suppliers of Quality Electricians in Oldham

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