Electrical wiring in the home shop.

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Harold_V
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by Harold_V »

SteveHGraham wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:16 pm
Far as I know, the only big tool I have that has fuses built in is my lathe. Some of my tools are on VFD's and magnetic starters. I like to think there is some protection in there somewhere, but I don't actually know.
Starters are generally amperage sensitive, and will trip when overloaded, so, yeah, there's protection there, and it's intended to protect the motor(s), not the wiring (although both benefit).

H
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by SteveHGraham »

Okay, time for a question.

The people who design electrical panels have some funny ideas. They'll put a whole bunch of 1/2" knockouts on one side, a knockout with multiple diameters on the other side, 15 3/4" knockouts on the bottom...it all appears to be random, and it can cause problems. Sometimes you need a bigger knockout than you have, on a certain side of a box, and because of all the other junk on that side, you can't open an existing knockout up with a step drill, so you're stuck.

I need to use a 3/4" subpanel hole to run two #6 wires and a #8 ground. I have Romex in that size. I want to put conduit over it for 8 feet on one side of the workshop, from the subpanel to the trusses, just to protect it from being damaged. The alternative to using the 3/4" hole is to move the #3 feed wires, and that would be major surgery.

Can I run 6/2 Romex through 3/4" EMT conduit for 8 feet, with no bends, and adhere to code? I only need one straight 8-foot pipe, on the side of the shop where the panel is. On the other side of the shop, I can use 1" conduit.

If I were using individual wires, the fill level would be something like 25%, but this is big, fat Romex.

I am not bound by code or permits in this building, but I would like to have safe wiring.

Because there will be no inspection, I can always strip the jacket off 8 feet of Romex and use the individual wires in 3/4" conduit and then a handy box. No one will ever look to see if the wires are marked, and they are definitely ample for the circuit. I would just prefer not to have to install a box 12 feet off the floor in an area where I may want to have drywall in the future.
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Not a direct answer, but if you need a larger hole, knockout punches, not step drills, are the way to go.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

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Step drills are the answer when you don't have knockout punches.
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10 Wheeler Rob
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by 10 Wheeler Rob »

When wiring a sub panel the ground wires and the common must be kept sepperate. And sepperate common and ground run back to the main panel where the common and ground are both connected to the same terminal block. I have seen this not done correctly and results in the ground conducting current back to the main panel.

Rob
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by Steggy »

SteveHGraham wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:17 pm Step drills are the answer when you don't have knockout punches.
Having the right tools for the job is part of doing the job. :D As was previously said, creating holes in electrical panels is accomplished with knockout punches. Punches make round and accurately-sized holes, not raggedy ellipses.
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warmstrong1955
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by warmstrong1955 »

Mmmmmm..... a set of Greenlee knockout punches, last time I bought a set, was $250.00. (The small set)
I've seen made in China creampuffs, for about 100.00 a set.

To use one time?

I'm with Steve, amazingly enough, and I would use what I have.
It's a hole.....for a strain-relief. If the strain-relief fits, deburr it, vac up the chips, and it's good to go!


:)
Bill
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by SteveHGraham »

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:30 am
SteveHGraham wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:17 pm Step drills are the answer when you don't have knockout punches.
Having the right tools for the job is part of doing the job. :D As was previously said, creating holes in electrical panels is accomplished with knockout punches. Punches make round and accurately-sized holes, not raggedy ellipses.
Sounds like you've never used a step drill!
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by SteveHGraham »

warmstrong1955 wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:38 am
I'm with Steve, amazingly enough, and I would use what I have.
It's a hole.....for a strain-relief. If the strain-relief fits, deburr it, vac up the chips, and it's good to go!

:)
Bill
This could ruin your reputation.

Another thing just occurred to me I could tack the extraneous knockouts with a welder so they can't open and then drill wherever I want.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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warmstrong1955
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by warmstrong1955 »

SteveHGraham wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:09 pm
warmstrong1955 wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:38 am
I'm with Steve, amazingly enough, and I would use what I have.
It's a hole.....for a strain-relief. If the strain-relief fits, deburr it, vac up the chips, and it's good to go!

:)
Bill
This could ruin your reputation.

Another thing just occurred to me I could tack the extraneous knockouts with a welder so they can't open and then drill wherever I want.


Shhhhhhh....keep it quiet......

FYI, you are talkin' to a guy, who has used a Ridgid 300 as a lathe a few times......
;)
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by SteveHGraham »

Here's something interesting!

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SteveHGraham
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Re: Electrical wiring in the home shop.

Post by SteveHGraham »

Here's something from the text accompanying another Youtube video:
You can learn more or ask questions @ http://www.electricalindustrynetwork.com This is part 1 of 2 videos showing several methods of making holes in metal cabinets,boxes and even plastic for electrical conduit and fittings.Hole Saws-Knock outs -Unibits-Step Drill Bits are used.When doing electrical wining installs these tools can be beneficial to get the job done quickly.
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