Did some work on a fan yesterday with my Surge

[Smaug]

I'm working on a family of industrial fans here at work. Thought I'd share some "action shots." These are some examples of tasks where The Right Tool for the Job offered not much advantage. I had all The Right Tools handy, but decided to use my Surge instead, just so I know what to expect. Kind of like changing a bike inner tube only with one's portable tools, just to be prepared.

Removing a conduit knock-out on a junction box:



Cutting some lengths of electrical tape. Since it was somewhat repetitive, I used the scissors instead of just doing the quick tear:



I needed a small, but not tiny, flat head screw driver. Had to use The Right Tool. The medium flat head was too big, and the jeweler's one was too small:



Pulled off a cover for another terminal block:



...then used the needlenose to push the wires in:



Cut off an appliance plug on the end of this cord. (I needed to hard-wire it) I was surprised how well the wire cutter worked; I expected that it might just bend a lot of the strands, but it cut everything but one thin nylon cord filler on the first try:



...the result:



Then, used the plain edged knife to cut a ring around the jacket of the cord, and pulled the jacket off by hand.



I used the wire stripper notch of the can/bottle opener to strip the individual wires. It worked surprisingly well, but took more force than The Right Tool. No broken strands.



Finally, I tired the hard-wire cutter to strip some 18 ga. solid. I got it done, but it was a pain in the neck. The insulation on this THHN wiring is TOUGH. It has kind of a hard plastic "clear coat" on it that needs to be cut by something really sharp. Should have tried the wire stripper notch. I stripped the ends of six pieces of wire, and if I had to do more, I would have walked to my toolbox to get the stripper.


The dedicated wire stripper on the Squirt ES4 would have been perfect for this. I wish they'd make a full size tool with just the tip of the needlenose pliers, skip the regular pliers and provide wire stripper notches instead, and have a slice-type cutter near the pivot.

But then, it would only be useful to us electrical guys, and we'd ask for a model with a lineman's pliers too, hehehe.

[Mr. Whippy]

Nice!  Was the size of the tool a problem?  Sometimes when there's not a lot of clearance, I find the Surge is a bit on the bulky side.

[Smaug]

Nice!  Was the size of the tool a problem?

Not at all. If I had to use the pliers as a wrench, I could see how it could be too bulky. But for these uses, the main thing to be used in tight spaces was the needlenose, which were just what the doctor ordered.

I don't mind the bulk on my belt either.

Even so, I thought hard about the Wave, but decided the bigger, externally-accessible scissors made the difference. The blade exchanger, stranded wire cutter, and wire crimper didn't factor into my decision.

Now, I'm deciding whether to keep it, since I know a version with replaceable 154CM cutters is coming... Sometimes, I like to be able to cut a coat hanger without denting the cutters. (I did that to a smallish SOG MT I had years ago...)

[gregozedobe]

The dedicated wire stripper on the Squirt ES4 would have been perfect for this. I wish they'd make a full size tool with just the tip of the needlenose pliers, skip the regular pliers and provide wire stripper notches instead, and have a slice-type cutter near the pivot.

Have you looked at the Paladin line of tools (made by SOG) ?  The PT-525 has one sized wire stripper in the plier head like you wished for, and IIRC the PT-540 has three different sized wire strippers in the plier head.

But the PT-540 is a HUGE MT (pretty well everyone here say it is too big to EDC). It is also difficult to find and can be expensive when you do (otherwise I'd have one)

edit - here is a PT-525 on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SOG-PALADIN-POWERPLAY-PT-525-MULTI-TOOL-PLIERS-ELECTRICIANS-TOOL-TELECOM-/300846267322?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item460bd5bbba#ht_2557wt_1397

[powernoodle]

Desk jockeys like me always like to see actions shots, because our opportunities to employ our MTs are limited.

[theonew]

I needed a small, but not tiny, flat head screw driver. Had to use The Right Tool. The medium flat head was too big, and the jeweler's one was too small:

Now if only you had had one of the LM Juices with all of those "useless" flat head drivers that people here like to complain about