50 / 116
5 0
E L E CT R I C AL CONNE CT I ON
W I NT E R 2 01 5
TRADE SECRETS
Show us your tips
Over time, electricians develop handy, common sense ‘tricks’ for those fiddly, time-consuming
activities that don’t make you any money but have to be done nonetheless. Here,
Bob Harper
shares a few of the lessons he’s learned over the years.
SEND US YOUR TIPS
Don’t be shy; send your bright ideas and trades secrets to share with
other tradies to
paulskelton@build.com.au. Simply put ‘Trade Secrets’
as the subject, and be sure to give us your name and company name so
we can give you all the credit.
I’ve always believed that old tape measures don’t die, they
just change duties!
Old tape measures can be used in many ways. We once
had a metre-long piece pop-riveted to the tailgate of our
truck for measuring cable lengths, and another on the
front of the site box for the same reason.
We also used bits of old tape on the bench drill, cut-off
saw... even on the bow of the hacksaw.
Sometimes it was drilled and pop-riveted, sometimes
zip tied. Sometimes it was even held in place with Araldite.
Remember that every metre of tape starts at zero and
measures the same distance, so it can be used anywhere
a quick measurement would be handy.
You can make a
simple and effective
conduit template
from a square piece
of sheet metal or
aluminium, which
can be used to mark
the centre of a hole
for conduit to pass
through on any wall
or panel.
The idea is to make
it easier to mark the
starting position
for a hole saw to be
placed, so it is clear
of the corner and
evenly spaced on
either edge.
A line is drawn
across the diagonal
of the template
and a hole is drilled
for each side conduit to be used. With some forethought, a
template can be made with a different clearance between
conduit and wall for each corner. The corners may be relieved
by cutting a suitable chamfer to avoid congested corners
affecting the spacing.
The template also makes the finished job look much more
consistent, tidy and professional.