Ceiling outlets, best way to use?

[Michael Justice]

Oops, duplicate entry

[Michael Justice]

I use the strain relief drops for both machine (220) and general (110) circuits in my shop.

For general curcuits I had the advantages of having the length and wire (12 ga) that I wanted, without the retractables' disadvantages of a mechanism that can break or risk of overheating wire. This is also pretty cost effective - use a prepackaged low cost extension cord and wire mesh strain relief fittings available from MSC. You could hang from these things - I'm convinced the box would pull out of the ceiling or the cord would break in the middle before it would pull out of the box.

For machine drops I bought the heavy (10ga) rubber cord by the foot and used locking plugs. You can buy the strain reliefs in different diameters for the type of wire you want to support.

Since my ceiling is open I can move these pretty easily as my shop is reconfigured. The only disadvantage I see is that I have to manually roll and hang up the cord rather than use that nifty rewind.

Mike

[Alan Tolchinsky]

O.K. guys I'm really in the dark here. I have no idea what strain relief drops are but I think I want one or more. Off to Google to see what the heck you're talking about.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

After googling for 5 min. I can't find a pic of strain relief. Anybody got a pic or can explain what they are? I was going to get a 3' piece of SJo wire like I used on my TS and plug it into the ceiling outlet. Then I'd put an outlet on the other end. I just don't know how the plug will stay in the ceiling outlet. Does this sounds workable or does the strain relief come in here?

[Jim Becker]

Alan, here's one PDF I found on the subject...it shows the grip minus the cable. The grip screws to the box on the ceiling and the mesh tightens on the drop cable as weight/strain is applied, keeping the cable from stretching or otherwise being damaged.

http://www.woodhead.com/data/current...lief_Grips.pdf

[Michael Justice]

I got mine from MSCDirect.com

Search under "strain relief grips" or look at page 3535 of their catalog.

For my purposes I got the dust tight, slightly less cost.

Mike

[Steve Kohn]

I have both 110 and 220 cords hanging from the ceiling. I simply screwed an eyelet in the ceiling rafter and ziptied a normal extension cord to the eyelet. It was a lot cheaper that way.

Is there anything wrong with my approach?

[Jim Becker]

I have both 110 and 220 cords hanging from the ceiling. I simply screwed an eyelet in the ceiling rafter and ziptied a normal extension cord to the eyelet. It was a lot cheaper that way.

Is there anything wrong with my approach?

"Technically", yes...there is nothing to protect the cord from accidental stretching and breaking which could result in a fire or personal injury up to and including death. That's what the strain reliefs we've been discussing are designed to deal with. A bit of investment is required, but it's the "approved" way of accomplishing the task. That said, I'd be surprised if many folks in home-shop situations haven't tried the method you've described more than once...I did it once, too, in my previous shop.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks Jim and Mike, I understand now. I'm checking into it to see how to do this. Thanks again.