A few years ago I extended the cord on the sander to about 20’. However, I used a regular old extension cord and a few years later the thing gets tangled jsut sitting on the ground. After a few minutes of sanding I lose about 8 feet of cord becasue it’s so tangled.
Any recomedations on a good relacement cord that is a least 15 feet? You can purchase replacement cords but have not seen anything over 8 or 10 feet.
For reference the cord is 18/3
Thanks
How do you wrap the cable when not in use?
loose circle.
It kinda started the tangling more or less immediately after I put it in. It’s jsut gotten really bad in the last 6 months
Drew ----- Give Pete c a PM. Every time he goes thru a Skil for me he puts on a 20’ black cord for me. Most likly gets the cord at a electrical supply house. I have seen guys use exstension cords and it is all in the quality of the cord you use. Cheapo orange cords are the worst about twisting and coiling. Lowel
You want a cord with a neoprene jacket. Plus, the way you coil a cord effects how it behaves in the long run. I use the ‘over/under’ method, which is hard to describe in print. It’s a habit I got from coiling thousands of microphone cables over 40+ years. Coiling a cord the wrong gives it a ‘memory’. Once twisted, it’s permanent. I’ve replaced many power tool cords with high quality extension cords. I also prefer 16 gauge on anything that gets under load. Length and gauge of a cable determine voltage loss. Long skinny cables strain the tool by dampening the voltage. Ace Hardware sells a super flexible extension cord with a blue jacket. Stays loose even in freezing weather. Not expensive, either. I’ve used them on some tools.
Grainger has a ton. They also have some nifty ones that coil like air compressor hoses. They go from like 6 foot to 15 foot when stretched. We have them on a few tools around the shop.
I’m dealing with the same annoyance on my Makita! The orange extension cord gets tied up immediatly. One trick- don’t coil your extension cords in a circle, use a figure 8 pattern and they should knot a bit less, especially when you’re initially pulling them off the wall.
use a retractable extention cord from the ceiling…ends all the cord problems w/ sanders,planers,etc.
herb
Retractables are good for some tools. You have to get the type that lock in place when extended. Some don’t, and constantly pull back on you. Annoying.
Wrap your cable like this. Get some cable memory and it will not only keep your cables neat but prevent tie ups as well
Also, like someone else said avoid the cheapo orange cables if you can, get some CO cable.
That’s exactly the method I spoke of, earlier. It’s called the over/under method. Or, some of us old school guys used to call it the West coast method.
It’s kind of funny watching someone do it so slow. When you have 200 cables to wrap and a truck to load, you learn to do it real fast.
But, the reason you do it is to avoid “memory” in the cable.
Yeah, working in TV all my life that’s the only way to do it. I’ve yelled at people for wrapping cable wrong haha
I’ve kicked people off the stage for wrapping cables wrong. On the flip side, I sometimes feel bad when folks offer to help after an event, and I have to tell them not to touch my cables and wait til all is wrapped before they can help with anything.
Last time I had help they decided to load the truck when I wasn’t looking. I had to unload and repack the whole rig. Shit falls over when you drive. Gotta be packed right for travel.
You don’t have to do the under/over method to keep cables from getting kinked. My dad used electric tools from the mid ‘60’s and he never used the under/over method and his cable were all long like 100’. He would make sure to get all the kinks out as you wind it up and he made big loops like 3 feet across. He would shake out the cable then make a loop and shake out the cable to make sure it was making a nice clean circular spool. By the end of the cable all the twists would be taken out of the cable and it was nicely coiled. I do both methods, but the one my dad taught me works great if you keep getting all the twists out everytime you use it.
I should also mention that my dad was in the Signal Corps of the US ARMY for 20 years, so he spent a lot of time around cables. I’ve been working with audio-visual equipment since 1976, so I’ve seen my share of cables. Most people in the industry prefer the over/under method for cables, but a properly cared for cable won’t be a problem. Like Sammy says, I have also taken cables out and re-coiled them after others helped put them away. I like to stretch them out and get all the kinks out the way my dad showed me.
mine has a stop…like a inline rubber ball…so i can position it where i want it to go.
herb
I am interested in a retractable cord reel like Sammy suggested. There are a lot of em for sale but I don’t know which one to get. Any ideas?
roger,
i don’t know what’s available in your area but mine’s an old sears brand about 40 yrs old…look around on the net…there’s lots of them out there…or maybe someone here can direct you further…i know harbor frieght sells them.
herb