In article
,
DerbyDad03 wrote:

Rich don't mean smart.

When rich people throw away broken things that can easily be fixed, it's
because they're rich, and can readily buy a new item. That doesn't make
them stupid, it just makes them, uh, rich.

Many years ago someone figured out that it wasn't worth Bill Gates' time
to bend down and pick up a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk, because
doing so would take 3 seconds, and he made more than $100 every 3
seconds. Eventually it ended up being not worth his time to pick up
thousands of dollars.

In article ,
Red Green wrote:

Smitty Two wrote in newsrestwhich-
:

In article
,
DerbyDad03 wrote:

Rich don't mean smart.

When rich people throw away broken things that can easily be fixed, it's
because they're rich, and can readily buy a new item. That doesn't make
them stupid, it just makes them, uh, rich.

Many years ago someone figured out that it wasn't worth Bill Gates' time
to bend down and pick up a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk, because
doing so would take 3 seconds, and he made more than $100 every 3
seconds. Eventually it ended up being not worth his time to pick up
thousands of dollars.

This often sounds sound at first but isn't always so.

For the above to be true, anyone MUST ACTUALLY LOSE in excess of $xxx
elsewhere if they "pick up the $xxx bill". It all depends on what one DOES
NOT DO because he "picked up the $xxx bill".

Of course it doesn't make logical sense. He could have the money he
picked up and still be making the other money. The point is that he
makes a ****load of money. An incomprehensible amount. And my point is,
if a rich person ****es away money, it isn't because he's stupid, it's
just because he's rich.

Smitty Two wrote in
news
In article ,
Red Green wrote:

Smitty Two wrote in newsrestwhich-
:

In article
,
DerbyDad03 wrote:

Rich don't mean smart.

When rich people throw away broken things that can easily be fixed,
it's because they're rich, and can readily buy a new item. That
doesn't make them stupid, it just makes them, uh, rich.

Many years ago someone figured out that it wasn't worth Bill Gates'
time to bend down and pick up a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk,
because doing so would take 3 seconds, and he made more than $100
every 3 seconds. Eventually it ended up being not worth his time to
pick up thousands of dollars.

This often sounds sound at first but isn't always so.

For the above to be true, anyone MUST ACTUALLY LOSE in excess of $xxx
elsewhere if they "pick up the $xxx bill". It all depends on what one
DOES NOT DO because he "picked up the $xxx bill".

Of course it doesn't make logical sense. He could have the money he
picked up and still be making the other money. The point is that he
makes a ****load of money. An incomprehensible amount. And my point
is, if a rich person ****es away money, it isn't because he's stupid,
it's just because he's rich.

Can't argue with that.

On Feb 23, 12:11*am, Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
*Red Green wrote:





Smitty Two wrote in newsrestwhich-
:

In article
,
*DerbyDad03 wrote:

Rich don't mean smart.

When rich people throw away broken things that can easily be fixed, it's
because they're rich, and can readily buy a new item. That doesn't make
them stupid, it just makes them, uh, rich.

Many years ago someone figured out that it wasn't worth Bill Gates' time
to bend down and pick up a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk, because
doing so would take 3 seconds, and he made more than $100 every 3
seconds. Eventually it ended up being not worth his time to pick up
thousands of dollars.

This often sounds sound at first but isn't always so.

For the above to be true, anyone MUST ACTUALLY LOSE in excess of $xxx
elsewhere if they "pick up the $xxx bill". It all depends on what one DOES
NOT DO because he "picked up the $xxx bill".

Of course it doesn't make logical sense. He could have the money he
picked up and still be making the other money. The point is that he
makes a ****load of money. An incomprehensible amount. And my point is,
if a rich person ****es away money, it isn't because he's stupid, it's
just because he's rich.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

We could argue this inane point all day 'cuz I don't care how rich you
are, you can still make stupid decisions.

Who knows why any given rich person ****es away any given amount at
any given time?

To say "He's not stupid, he's rich" is making an assumption with no
basis in fact.

I don't know why the guy threw out the extension cord. Was it because
he's stupid? Was it because he's ignorant? (big difference from
stupid) Was it because he's rich? I don't know, and I won't assume to
know.

What I do know is that *I* was smart enough to end up with 2 great
extension cords for just a couple of bucks and a half hour's work.

Andy Champ wrote:

On 20/02/2011 21:54, Ronald Raygun wrote:

No. Do not twist. Twisting is what leads to kinking and tangling.

The correct way to coil a cable, rope, or hose, is to imagine that
it were a flat ribbon with the two sides a different colour. Suppose
the ribbon is lying flat on the ground with no twists in it so that
the blue side is on top and the red side underneath.

(For a right handed person hold the end of the cable in your
left hand blue side up. Grasp the cable with your right hand,
holding it blue side up, then bring your right hand towards your
left hand and just place the cable onto what is already there, so
that it stays blue side up during the whole move. The action of
your right hand does not involve any twisting. You just lift a bit
of cable straight up and plonk it down again, as if you were lifting
a chess piece from one square and putting it down on another.

If the cable is stiff, a side effect of this will be that each coil
will end up with a self-cancelling double twist in it, and will most
likely hang in a figure of eight pattern. But that's the idea.

Ronald, as a sailor you should know the difference between a cable and a
hawser.

Naturally.

And of course the hand you use should be the opposite one
depending which way the rope is laid.

Not necessarily. If the method does not add or remove twist (and the
one I described doesn't) then it doesn't matter which hand you use.

When you are coiling twisted rope it's imperative to coil it in such a
way that the twist is not destroyed.

Fair enough, but the other important consideration is that you want the
coiled rope to uncoil freely without snagging. For that, it's important
that the coiling and uncoiling procedures should be mirror images of each
other, in terms of any twists added or subtracted cancelling out.

Imagine trying to coil a rope the other end of which is tied on to a
fixed object (not that you'd normally do this - you'd start at the fixed
end pulling the loose end towards you). If you added a twist with each
loop, then by the time you got near the fixed end, it would all be a
twisted mess, having suffered an accumulation of anti-twists (you can
easily convince yourself of this by imagining a rope tied between two
fixed points, then grabbing it in the middle to apply a twist - then on
one half of the rope the lay will get tighter, on the other it will get
looser).

What would be OK, though, and is the recommended method for coiling
stiff stuff like electric cable or water hose, is to give a positive
twist to the first coil, then a negative twist to the second, and so
on, alternating positive with negative so that the overall effect
along the whole length of rope is neutral.

One of the methods of tidying a rope is to roll it up on a drum (this
is the preferred method for garden hose). Having done this, it is
imperative that the rope, when next needed, should be taken off the
drum the same way, i.e. tangentially, so the drum revolves in the
opposite direction. What you should not do is remove the rope
axially, such as by laying the drum flat on the ground (axis vertical)
and unwrapping the loops up off it. Depending on which side of the drum
is uppermost, the uncoiled rope will have its lay tightened or loosened.
Likewise if you were to wrap rope onto a drum axially, you should
not then unwind it tangentially.

One traditional method of coiling rope is not into the hand but flat
onto the deck (or ground). This is equivalent to wrapping it axially
onto a drum, and leaves each loop neutral while adding and subtracting
a half twist to alternate half-loops. Laid rope is usually flexible
enough to absorb these half-twists without trying to lie in figures of
eight as a stiff cable or hose would want to do.

On Feb 20, 7:15*am, "john reeves" wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? *It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA


HB

On Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:17:07 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson wrote:

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

Yes the twist/counter twist method of coiling then flat not hung on a
hook. Unless said hook is fairly broard, couple of inches wide and
curved.
A velcro based wrap is useful to keep the bundle tidy. *Do not* tie
an end around the bundle it will damage the cable over repeated ties
and time besides which a knot works loose.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:05:11 -0000, Gareth Magennis wrote:

I doubt that you mean that literally for hand coiling, it would be
too damn heavy!

Not coiling the multi by hand, but doing the same over/under twisty
thing whilst coiling it into its flightcase.

Ah right the multies I use are kept on drums not in flightcases.
Flightcases would take up more space in the cable tender. Even a
small outside broadcast will have half a dozen or more 8 pair multies
up to a few hundred metres long depending on the venue.

--
Cheers
Dave.

You mean 'losing'.
--

On Feb 25, 1:17*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15*am, "john *reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? *It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store *ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .................................................. ........

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike


--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from B & Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted
and frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after
time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time you reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to
do that successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with
this? It has crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and
has lost what flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

having the lead in a coil on the drum can be dangerous if you use anything
over a kilowatt for more than a few minutes.

DerbyDad03 wrote:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

Why not do it the other way round? Poke the socket end through the reel's
side holes, without an extra 6 feet. Then just wrap the whole rest of it
round the reel, ending with the plug. To use, place the reel near the
equipment you want to power, and un-reel as much as you need to reach the
socket in the garage (or plug it straight in in the garage and start
unreeling towards the equipment).

That way it's just like the shop-bought reels which come with a socket or
four built into the hub of the reel.

On Feb 28, 7:07*pm, Ronald Raygun
wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

Why not do it the other way round? *Poke the socket end through the reel's
side holes, without an extra 6 feet. *Then just wrap the whole rest of it
round the reel, ending with the plug. *To use, place the reel near the
equipment you want to power, and un-reel as much as you need to reach the
socket in the garage (or plug it straight in in the garage and start
unreeling towards the equipment).

That way it's just like the shop-bought reels which come with a socket or
four built into the hub of the reel.

"To use, place the reel near the equipment you want to power"

Think about that. Let's say I want to use hand held power tool, which
is more often than not what I use an extension cord for. With the cord
reel "near" the tool, I'm limited to the length of the tool's cord
which now has the cord reel hanging off the end of it. My way, the
tool is plug into a freely movable extension cord which I can toss,
pull, flip anywhere I want. Why would I want a cord reel, possibly
with a bunch of extension cord still on it, hanging off the end of my
tool cord? Seems pretty limiting to me.

On Feb 28, 2:37*pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
"DerbyDad03" wrote in message

...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:



On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .................................................. ........

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike

--

...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

I know and I'm aware...it's rare that I'm running anything that's
going to burn the cord out. When I'm in doubt, I check the cord for
warmth on a regular basis...or I hose it down to keep it cool. g

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On Feb 28, 2:37 pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
"DerbyDad03" wrote in message

...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:



On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from
B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It
has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .................................................. .......

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance
and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE
LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike

--

...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

I know and I'm aware...it's rare that I'm running anything that's
going to burn the cord out. When I'm in doubt, I check the cord for
warmth on a regular basis...or I hose it down to keep it cool. g

.................................................. ................................

Well that's OK then ;-))

Mike


--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

DerbyDad03 wrote:

On Feb 28, 7:07 pm, Ronald Raygun
wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

Why not do it the other way round? Poke the socket end through the
reel's side holes, without an extra 6 feet. Then just wrap the whole
rest of it round the reel, ending with the plug. To use, place the reel
near the equipment you want to power, and un-reel as much as you need to
reach the socket in the garage (or plug it straight in in the garage and
start unreeling towards the equipment).

That way it's just like the shop-bought reels which come with a socket or
four built into the hub of the reel.

"To use, place the reel near the equipment you want to power"

Think about that. Let's say I want to use hand held power tool, which
is more often than not what I use an extension cord for. With the cord
reel "near" the tool, I'm limited to the length of the tool's cord
which now has the cord reel hanging off the end of it. My way, the
tool is plug into a freely movable extension cord which I can toss,
pull, flip anywhere I want. Why would I want a cord reel, possibly
with a bunch of extension cord still on it, hanging off the end of my
tool cord? Seems pretty limiting to me.

That's a fair point, the cords on tools are often far too short, and
the last thing you want is to be holding the weight of the reel as
well as the tool itself, especially if you're up a ladder.

Do I take it that your reel is open and you unwrap from it and wrap
onto it without rotating the actual reel? Because if the process
involves rolling and unrolling (as opposed to wrapping and unwrapping),
then the 6 foot pokey out bit will be flailing around as you do so,
and it would be impossible to do as you described, i.e. to plug it
in and then unreel the socket end. You would need instead to keep
the plug end free to flail (so that it doesn't acquire as much twist
as the unrolling operation will impart to it). Either that or you
could fit a partition disc into the reel so that you roll up the
plug and socket ends either side of it, and to have an arrangement
to keep the (short) plug end clipped in place while the (long)
socket end is being rolled up or unrolled.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Ronald Raygun
saying something like:

Why not do it the other way round? Poke the socket end through the reel's
side holes, without an extra 6 feet. Then just wrap the whole rest of it
round the reel, ending with the plug. To use, place the reel near the
equipment you want to power, and un-reel as much as you need to reach the
socket in the garage (or plug it straight in in the garage and start
unreeling towards the equipment).

Which is exactly the way I did it 20 years ago with two diy reels, using
orange lead and welding wire reels. Over the years the brittleness of
the plastic reels has shown up, but on balance they've lasted well
enough, including a decade of hard professional use.

On Mar 1, 5:18*am, Ronald Raygun
wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 28, 7:07 pm, Ronald Raygun
wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground..
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

Why not do it the other way round? *Poke the socket end through the
reel's side holes, without an extra 6 feet. *Then just wrap the whole
rest of it round the reel, ending with the plug. *To use, place the reel
near the equipment you want to power, and un-reel as much as you need to
reach the socket in the garage (or plug it straight in in the garage and
start unreeling towards the equipment).

That way it's just like the shop-bought reels which come with a socket or
four built into the hub of the reel.

"To use, place the reel near the equipment you want to power"

Think about that. Let's say I want to use hand held power tool, which
is more often than not what I use an extension cord for. With the cord
reel "near" the tool, I'm limited to the length of the tool's cord
which now has the cord reel hanging off the end of it. My way, the
tool is plug into a freely movable extension cord which I can toss,
pull, flip anywhere I want. Why would I want a cord reel, possibly
with a bunch of extension cord still on it, hanging off the end of my
tool cord? Seems pretty limiting to me.

That's a fair point, the cords on tools are often far too short, and
the last thing you want is to be holding the weight of the reel as
well as the tool itself, especially if you're up a ladder.

Do I take it that your reel is open and you unwrap from it and wrap
onto it without rotating the actual reel? *Because if the process
involves rolling and unrolling (as opposed to wrapping and unwrapping),
then the 6 foot pokey out bit will be flailing around as you do so,
and it would be impossible to do as you described, i.e. to plug it
in and then unreel the socket end. *You would need instead to keep
the plug end free to flail (so that it doesn't acquire as much twist
as the unrolling operation will impart to it). *Either that or you
could fit a partition disc into the reel so that you roll up the
plug and socket ends either side of it, and to have an arrangement
to keep the (short) plug end clipped in place while the (long)
socket end is being rolled up or unrolled.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

This is pretty much the reel(s) I use:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...=SPM1536076901

It has a handle for "reeling" the cord in, but I never use it.

I manually wrap/unwrap the cord. It's less about the loose end
flailing around than it is the fact that I just find it easier to wrap
than to reel.

On 01/03/2011 01:59, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 28, 2:37 pm, wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs wrote:



On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B&
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .................................................. .......

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike

--

...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

I know and I'm aware...it's rare that I'm running anything that's
going to burn the cord out. When I'm in doubt, I check the cord for
warmth on a regular basis...or I hose it down to keep it cool.g

Since you use the term 'cord' would I be right in thinking you are of
the American persuasion?

Overheating will be much worse with your 115 volt electrics.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Mar 1, 3:56*pm, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
On 01/03/2011 01:59, DerbyDad03 wrote:





On Feb 28, 2:37 pm, *wrote:
*wrote in message

....
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs *wrote:

On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john *wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B&
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. ..........................*....................... .........

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 15:15:46 -0000, "john reeves"
wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

Just stretch it out flat and roll it up like a wheel.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On Mar 1, 3:56 pm, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
On 01/03/2011 01:59, DerbyDad03 wrote:





On Feb 28, 2:37 pm, wrote:
wrote in message

...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs wrote:

On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john wrote:

This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from
B&
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted
and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It
has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .........................*........................ ........

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short
distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil
THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt
out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike

--

...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

I know and I'm aware...it's rare that I'm running anything that's
going to burn the cord out. When I'm in doubt, I check the cord for
warmth on a regular basis...or I hose it down to keep it cool.g

Since you use the term 'cord' would I be right in thinking you are of
the American persuasion?

Overheating will be much worse with your 115 volt electrics.

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, I'm American.

Yes, overheating would be worse with 115 American volts.

Yes, I have been using the method described earlier for somewhere
around 2 American decades.

Yes, I will continue to employ my method for the foreseeable American
future.

No, I probably won't let the group know if I ever burn out an American
extension cord because of the use of this method.

g


Hey, you may not be aware of this yet, but there's a place to the south of
you called South America.

It may be helpful, in the future, to refer to yourself as a North American,
just in case we get the wrong idea, or we have no idea either