so i've dropped the majority of the sound off for this video so i can talk you through the process
of threading our first piece of steel conduit for me i want to cut mine at 750 mil long before
starting that threading process i'm going to insert the conduit into the conduit bending
machine inside of the round jaw vice remember we can't use the square jaw vice around the workshop
when working with conduit because it will flatten it you notice i'm a slight upward angle here as
well so i'm going to be working on the top section here as we look at it on the screen
on the left hand side and not the lower right hand side so as i pull back you can clearly see
i'm going to be working on this side and not the bottom side
i take my hacksaw with a minimum TPI of 24 but preferably 32 and preferably a high speed steel
hacksaw blade so i'm going to cut through as best as i can trying to make sure it's square seems odd
when it's a round piece of conduit so i'm going to cut through it making sure i keep my hand out of
the way once i've got a nice groove that i don't slip onto my hand take your time nice long strokes
notice i'm using all the blade in order to cut through the conduit and once i've cut it have a
look at the end and see how square it is so i'll bring in a bit closer in a second so you can see
how square i got that end before we look at what we're going to do next so there's the end that
i need to thread slightly off so i'm going to square it up with a file at this stage we
do not remit we're just going to square the end before threading it so i take my rough file and
i'm going to square off that end before i start the process of adding a thread onto it remember
this is the first time we've done it so i'll set the length of the thread it's just the technique
that we need in order to put it on and we'll work later on i'm getting the right length of thread if
it's a spouted box or a coupler etcetera so i'm squared up and i'm now ready for the next stage
pop it back into my conduit bending machine remember i'm working on the higher end
i'm going to need to set up my stocks and dies in order that i can cut the thread
so i've got them unassembled here i'll pick out my guide the correct one for 20 mm conduit i undo the
nuts on the body put them to one side insert my 20 mm guide you know it says another one in the box
that's for 25 mm conduit i pick out my die again this is a 20 mm die you notice there's two little
recesses in it they need to point upwards because my nuts are going to sit inside of those so look
i locate that there so the nuts when i screw them down can hold that 20 mm die in place these don't
need to be really really tight they just need to be hand firm spin them on so there's no grips or
anything at this stage to lock them off just make sure they're nicely firmly into position
and then i'll need to put the handles to complete my stocks and die so on go the handles there is
a hack on the channel as well about making this easier by increasing the length of the handles but
remember this is the first time we've attempted to thread 20 mm steel conduit so they're ready
i'm going to go on dry so we're not going to add any cutting compound at this stage i'm going to
cut the first part of the thread so i push really hard and slow motion so slow movements pressing
really hard i've got my foot on the actual conduit bending machine as well stop it pushing over
you notice it's grip now i can't pull it off therefore it must have started a thread let's
have a look you can see how i've bitten in there and i've started that first part of the thread
that's really important that we do that without the lubrication and now we're going to add the
lubrication next so here comes my cutting compound i'm just going to brush a little bit on it i don't
need it all the way down the conduit it's only the end that we're obviously putting a thread on
once that's applied we bring back our stocks and dies or a 20 mm guide and
die in and we're going to cut the thread one two three four and then back you might have
seen a little bit of swarf there come out so i'll go forward there's a swarf coming out
and then back that backward motion helps you clear the swarf out swarf is those little bits
of metal that will actually break the thread so i'm going to wind it all the way off now
give it a tap out so i'm going to tap out try and lose some of the swarf that's inside the actual
die itself okay and increase the amount of lubrication by adding some more cutting compound
i'm going to cutting compound you might see it now melt slightly because obviously that's warm where
we've cut the thread onto the conduit once we've got enough of that on we can go back in again the
first part should spin on really easy so we find the thread and you see it spins on one finger all
the way down to a point at which it stops and then three or four turns turn back swarf drops out and
we go again what i want is about three threads hanging out the back of the stocks and die so as
our first ever thread that's the length in which i'm looking for so we look there and count about
three threads coming out the back of the die i'm happy with that so spin it back off
there's still some more bits of the process to go you see all the swarf there
pull it off gonna need to tidy it up now i need to work out the length for this one is about just
over halfway into a coupler and the bush so you don't need that at the moment you just need that
three threads hanging out the back but that's the thinking behind it as we move forward bringing our
reaming tool ream out the ends the sharp ends in here can damage the single insulated cables within
it so it's important it's reamed out you can see now that running edge is now nice and smooth
where i've reamed out the conduit you could use a round file we're using a reaming tool for this one
put my finger in no sharp edges need to tidy it up now just by wiping it over
and there we have it that's our first thread done but of course we're going to return these back
onto the shadow board at college or somebody else is going to use them let's make sure we
remove as much of the swarf as we can tidy it up okay swarf gets inside there it will damage this
thread and that's just finished our first uh thread on conduit this is the kit we used
we're gonna go on and see another method now i've got Steve with me today and he's got an electric
threader for steel conduit we're never gonna get hands on one of them in the workshop
but you can i mean obviously in the industry so let's see what Steve gets up to
again no hacksaw for Steve he's in with his reciprocating saw in order to cut the conduit he's
gonna cut through the conduit making sure it keeps his hands out of the way there we go that's it cut
again pretty square i would suggest Steve should square the end up i'm letting him get on with
however he wants to do it he got a spray on lubrication now and a mains powered they do
a battery version as well conduit thread up so it pushes it into the end you notice it's going
down the conduit now i'll slow it down in a minute as it increases the lubrication
so i've slowed it down there it's cutting the threads adding the lubrication this time as we go
until we get down to the desired length
so down it goes see this is a lot easier
see the swarf dropping out as before and it's dropping out to stop that bad thread
click the button reverse the process now it's going to wind it backwards
so it's coming back off the conduit now as it goes backwards obviously cleaning that thread up
and just take it off once we're done we'll see what the thread looks like and obviously it's
considerably easier remember you'll be working maybe in the electrical industry for 40 years
if there is an easier way to do it i always suggest you take that easier option in with
the reaming tool again super important that we don't leave any sharp edges cleaning up
and Steve has done his end using the electric threader for steel conduit so there's all the
kit we've used in the presentation hopefully this will aid us in putting the first thread on
our steel conduit as we practice in the electrical workshop Steve's just going to wind his box on now
so he's done his threads long enough to go into a spouted box i hope this video has been some help