ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Cable Bender

Has anybody had any experience with using a cable bender? I am looking at the Greenlee 796 or 800, one is ratchet, other is hydraulic. Ever used one? How did it work for you? Got a job coming up with some runs of 500mcm in cans that could(should) be bigger. Not as young as I used to be, and do not want to go home feeling like I was hit by a train at the end of the day.

The Greenlee 796 handles are hard to get into a cabinet and the bends can end up with dog-legs. Sometimes I thought it was a great tool and other times I wished I hadn't used it.

The Rack-A-Tiers Bend All is a handy tool, that doesn't cost much. I only used it once, but it did the job. I wonder if two Bend Alls equal one Greenlee 796.

My favorites are an eye bolt for services and a two foot piece of pipe that will fit over the end of the cable.

Maybe there isn't a perfect tool for all situations. You might need everything you can find, including a rubber mallet and a couple 2x4 studs.

I've used the manual handle benders in the past, they were good for jobs that they could be used on.

The ratchet unit looks interesting, but again may be to 'big' for some jobs.

I've also used a short length of RGC (3/4 & 1") when I was desperate without any ill effects to the conductors.

The only wire benders I ever used besides Lefty and Rosy was a ratchet strap on some persistant 500 kcmils in a weatherhead. I won

The guys I watched install the 750MCM in a big computer room used the pipe trick John described. I had a piece of that 750 on my desk for years. I had never seen wire that big before.
I always wondered why they didn't use a parallel run of 250s but it wasn't my job.
That was a pretty tough "tug" too. I am not sure how far it was but it was from the basement below and not right under it.
They had two guys pushing and two guys pulling through a 4" pipe. (3 phases and an EGC) When I left they were talking about trying to find a come along.
I am still not sure they didn't open the pipe in the basement and pull it in two tugs then piecing it back together.

They'd still be trying to get the pipes back together. Imagine the size of loop they would need to feed the cable into the second pipe.

They needed a tugger, even I have one of those, one of the first expensive tools I bought. Work hard or work smart, I have made pulls like that and the tugger didnt even sweat!! The runs of 500 I have to pull will be 220 feet long with 4 500mcm conductors( full size neutral at customers request) from a pad mount to a main breaker, the tugger will be a much loved part of that job.

Amen to using a tugger!!

That was also the first 'big' item on my list after using rental units that had the occasional problems, other than the time to pick up & return.

Longest continuous pull was 1425' of 750KCmil Al., at a country club.

I have two different size sets of the Klein cable benders that I use occasionally. They sort of resemble the eyebolt that TWH mentioned, except they can be slipped on or off the cable at any point. They will work, but of course, it is going to be all on you and how much upper body strength and determination you have. Sometimes it feels like you’re wrestling a bear.

Klein Cable Benders