So today we're looking at ideal industries yellow 77 cable lubricant but what we're going to
use it for gordon well we're going to apply it to these cables that we're going to pull through the
conduit behind us gary and what's the advantage of using a lubricant on cables being pulled in
through ducting and conduit well it reduces friction between the conduit and between the
individual cables themselves and should result in an easier pull through the cable so we could say
it could make electrician's life easier and you know how we like that at efixx so what we're going to
do is we're going to take some of this and we're going to lubricate up these cables but in order to
do a fair test gordon what are we going to have to do well I've been busy in Blue Peter corner here
gary and i've created these two weighted water bottles that we're going to attach to the
ends of the cable on the rig and gradually fill it with water and see which one pulls through the
rig fastest or first should we save okay so when you say we're going to fill it full of water would
that be tapland springs that we'll introduce our famous tapland springs fresh from the tap water
okay and we're going to build ourselves a rig and that rig's going to have at the top suspended 13
1.5 millimeter squared cables and the cables are in exactly the same place and we can have one of
them lubricated and one of them not lubricated they have to go over a bubble set so that makes
a little bit more resistance in the conduit and then down to the bottom where we're going to have
these two containers which will fill the water and when they're pulled it through the bubble set it
will actually hit the floor so we expect those water bottles to be on the floor at that stage
so that's the fair test that we're going to put them through all I need now to do is to lubricate
up this one we've got a set already unlubricated and we can go about doing that task so we're ready
for that corner you're going to pick this hand camera for me and see me get some lubrication
on the end here so I'm going to squirt some into my hand like so and this is a this is a wax based
lubricant okay it's easy to wash off your hands but it doesn't wash off the cable very easily okay
can i use it on pvc and crosslinked polyethene etc suitable for most cable types which is
good so it's the actual lubrication itself will not damage or eat into the actual cables that's
the problem when electricians go off and use their own formula lubricant what they tend to do washing
and the one thing you generally have when you're doing a steel conduit system is the cutting
compound and that's probably the worst thing you can put on the cables obviously when you're trying
to ease the uh installation of those conductors also we know that lubrication would be added to
a system when it's already been wired wouldn't it when you're pulling the cable in there you'll
actually need to add an additional circuit to a conduit that's pretty packed with cables anywhere
not going above the limits but yeah that's another another great use for this product so i think it's
time to do that test let's attach these and start filling up water and see if Yellow 77 will save
electrician's time and makes it easier in order to apply cables in the conduit system behind us
so let's put the science into practice then which one we're going to start off with gordon we'll
start with the non-lubed up cable gary and i'll just grab my builder's bucket with your taplan
springs in it i'll move on to hang cam probably the cleanest builders bucket in the country
here we go so you can slightly pour it in and this is the non-lubricated one and we'll hopefully
see how much water it's going to take in order to move it nice and steady hands there gordon
so i'm thinking the first bits this first little wall so sight movement there
okay nice to see you put down some uh absorbent pads to mop it all up
oh right okay so that's the first bit so I would suggest Gordon do you agree
that's the cables entering the straight part of the pipe there yeah the Gary's chicane okay and
then we've got the swan neck or double set or what else can we call it uh bubble set that's called
the chicken okay so we're probably about here and obviously now we've got these two bits here
now from our measurement we think the cable will hit the floor when it's got around that
uh chicane as you like to call it if anyone would like to comment on gary's conduit work
feel free especially the American viewers we know they like have an opinion on it Gary yeah EMT so
see a lot more water to go in now because there's way more resistance so what are we up to down here
okay so again so a little bit more movement yeah so we're probably i think made this section just
here now so we've got to make this last bit so this will be the worst part of the pool so maybe
a little bit more water we'll get that going and when it hits the floor we know through measurement
that's around that we can do a weighing at the end gary see what the see how much water's gone in
it's a lot more going in now slowly does it make slowly does it
oh oh it had to happen there's a lot going in now easy easy okay still stuck
okay well there we go so that is a considerable amount of water in there you can get that around
your chicane or moisture cane that you call it garrish again mine would be better
okay ready for the lubed-up version have we got enough water in another concern to me I'll have
to pop the tyre okay so we're gonna so we've pouring around so yeah so we're gonna we're
gonna go with here so we're expecting to be less water i'm worried you haven't got enough water
so let's come in with the old hand cam and see where we're up to so I pour away
a bit nerve-wracking this isn't it so here we go
slowly going in oh wow it's not quite on the floor but if we use the science behind the length we
think it's come down here I reckon it's also to about here Gordon yeah okay so we're just going
to get that last little bit so nice and steady you probably spilt as much as this in there
there we go it's always a bit harder now so obviously it's going to take a little bit more
water to get around that bend that's worth noting that actually this this dries to a non-conductive
compound uh once it's applied so the cables don't stay lubricated forever is that touching
yeah is that touching the floor it is okay well i think we have to see let's i don't think we have
to weigh in but let's let's do the weigh-in and just see what the difference was okay
so we're not suggesting it's close but with any competition you always want to know by
how much you want so gordon you want to weigh the one in for the non-lubricated cables first
4.25 kilos so plenty of water in there yeah that was quite heavy wasn't it so let's go back now and
have a look at the one that had the lubrication on it it wouldn't take much effort to lift that
gordon look how light that is flies across the table and we've got that in at just one kilo so
yeah significantly a big difference between the uh using the uh non-lubricated version
and the ideal 77 yellow or 77 cable lubricant and to think we only had what you called a chicane
and a very short length of conduit we know there's restrictions on how many bends and the
length of conduit but it could be considerably more difficult than that could have a couple
of bends and over a longer distance and we saw how much easier it was to pull the cables in
when they had the lubricant on it as always at efixx we're interested in your comments. Have you
used yellow 77 as a lubricant before? are you thinking to use it in the future did you use
it maybe to pull steel wire armors in through ducting systems and how easy did you find that
please leave those comments below and gordon will try and get back to as many as he can