Wiping Demonstration 

I’ve done many also. I’d have liked to see the whole process shown, making the splice, insulating the conductors, cleaning the cable and sleeve. Also, applying the pasters, beating in the sleeve etc. The video started well into the wipe, should have shown tinning the sleeve and cable during the heating process. The splicer says he doesn’t have enough “metal”, it appears to me that there is plenty of solder on the wipe, to the point that on the sleeve side, the solder is “proud” of the sleeve. We would call that an “Apple” wipe, that’s how I learned, then we went to what we called a “Filet” wipe using much less solder.

Where you a cable splicer.. i was for Ohio Bell “many Moons ago’’

3rd gen. Chgo. Plumber. Try doing a 2" service in a ditch. :) The craft is dying. Methods and materials have changed :( Any unskilled hack with a five gallon bucket and access to a home Depot, thinks they are a plumber. :(

It seems like the metal would cool too quickly to work. That's insane

Hey Carlos!!!

Wow, I'd put a new 3800 in like a 9"x36" or 12"x28" preformed these days.

We also did it with the bars of metal, not a ladle. And of course the moleskin (or if we could not get it some kind of velvet fabric) and a tin of beef fat . it was enough to make a new jointer cry when it came to pressure testing.

What we did that at Illinois Bell , I was cable repair. So just one of a half dozen craft arts you would have to master. My fun was doing that upside down in a😮 man hole backwards in a mirror on working pressurized cables. If you turned off the pumps, your splice was under 10 ft of water in an hour. That “water” at times was so toxic you get a cough or sick and if the city or village or EPA or OSHA found you pumping it to the wrong place, that was bad. Do 4 a day if you had top-craft guys helping. Almost never wiped a sleeve. Soldered directly like welding. Worked a lot in the air and underground made all kinds of sleeves different lengths and sizes. Learned everything from watching the old timers. I made hundreds of house calls working all kinds of businesses. Worked at Tower sites and in really really bad neighborhoods. Did all kinds of Internet services as they evolved. 😮 but I could see the writing on the wall when they wanted me to splice fiber. Screw that.. Iv been with and worked alongside the best ppl on earth (phone company people become like family) i’ve had every kind of injury, worked 7 days a week 8 months out of the year for decades. It provided for my family and a fairly good retirement, if I die tomorrow I will have lived one of the finest lives you can. ❤ OMG my mind is flooded with memories at times..

Agree totally, you must tin the base, then add metal and wipe. And yep no gloves just some mole skin for the pad

We have a problem with our catch-pads burning (usually due to apprentices holding the hot ladle in it). I think I might have to look into these mole skin cloths. Thank you!

Where did you do your first wipe? Truesdale or somewhere else?

It prettymuch doesn't anymore. :(

Glad you liked it!

yep..

Glue and crimp lasts as long, with far less labor.

So what was your other way?

@@lowredrt stainless steel cases..thats another way.

Do you really not check the temperature?

Bob Crab taught me.

Our splices remain under 20+ feet of water for years and years. We have been doing it this way for well over 100 years and have found this to be the best way to seal high voltage splices and maintain electrical continuity of the lead sheath

It was the way that cables were joined at telecoms companies. Often the older cables were with a lead sheathing, but the newer (plastic) cables were given a short piece of lead overlay to be able to join it to the closure that you see being made there.

you didn't go to pot wiping school? Went for 6 weeks in Garden City 1980......

I did have wiping. In 79

3” x 12”

Hey Charlie. I actually have never checked the temperature. I look for the pot of wipe to have a sort of goldish finish when the surface is cleaned. We also drag a paper cone cup through the wipe and look for it to turn a blonde or brunette color. You also know because it makes a smell you learn to love... even though it’s probably bad for you. LOL.

Theres a piece of brown paper type stuff they have in the dc area. You stick the end in and when it catches fire its hot enough.

I recently updated the description with more details, but this particular video is of a 4,800 volt splice.

John Perez LADWP

Once upon a time this was standard practice for the Telcos, both aerial and underground. Nobody places lead sheathed cable anymore, and if someone has to go into a sleeve, nowadays they're typically chipped off and replaced with a splice case that's closed up mechanically. Somehow, some way, the lead almost never makes it to the scrap bins. It almost always winds up as someone's sinkers or bullets. ;-)

Solder is 50/50 (Lead and Tin). This is Wipe (40/60). But it's the temperature that keeps is liquid for so long.

Key is keeping it hot to move yet not so hot it falls off...

What part of the wipe do you feel would leak? I’ve done many also, from single phase primary, 3 phase primary, and sub transmission. The wipe didn’t look too bad to me.

We do have 35kV PILC "Y" splices, but they're not like the one in this video. They're called Wye Pots and they look like 3 separate pressure cookers with 3 to 4 PILC cables coming out of each lid. The only 35kV splice that would be remotely similar to the one in this video would be a 3 conductor to 3 single conductors splice.

Wesley do you have a picture of a Y pot splice you could share?

I take it you work for the phone company. This is a 5,000 volt splice and we still do this out in the field.

Yes I do! I always wondered how you guys did your underground vault splices! So if if its 5kv is this just on primary? Its not a transmission line? And do you guys run air pressure down them? Good to see the old skill is still around and again its a very pretty job you did!

This is done on all voltages, including transmission. But it's not done in all circumstances obviously. A lot of newer cables are synthetic. On primary there is no nitrogen, the cable is solid. But on our higher voltages their is nitrogen, low pressure oil, or high pressure oil.

Once upon a time in the Bell System, you were a helper before you got made a splicer. One of the jobs was tending the lead pot up on the street and lowering the melted lead. (No open flames in the MH.) And you'd better be VERY steady lowering that lead!

LADWP

Not REALLY. Taking chances with your safety and that of others around you doesn't constitute being a MASTER of your craft, all that really means is YOUR confidence level is high. But true a MASTER is an individual who's reached a level of expertise in his or her craft using ALL facilities of SAFETY and PRODUCTIVITY and leaving the job at the end of the day with all his or her parts intact and ready to perform the next day to perform at the same level the next day again & train the next gen of splicers to his or her level or higher level of professionalism in their craft, THAT my brother IS WHAT A MASTER "IS"!!! 🤨😏👍

Yes, always. Torching needs to be done even to the most flawless wipes. It insures a seal on the surfaces where the wipe meets the lead sheath and sleeve.

Where I worked, no open flame in a manhole permitted. Sealing solder?

@@lowredrt you guys use a torch in a MH? Doesn't that violate OSHA Rules? They NEVER use Torches in Manhattan MH's because you could get an explosion from sewer gases or a leaking Natural Gas line in the area...

We work well within OSHA’s safety rules. All sources of ignition are kept a minimum of 10’ away from the substructure until it has been tested to be free from explosive gasses. The substructure is continuously monitored and force ventilated before entry and maintained at all times while employees remain in the substructure.

@@lowredrt I'm not going to argue the point since I'm retired, but NYC has had several Major MH explosions and fires and testing; purging;ventilating are strictly recorded and enforced. I'm just saying we here it's NOT permitted.

And that is why it is not a water main joint. They do hold oil inside though and keep water out, so it must be a pretty good seal.

This cable is oil filled and I have seen these joints leak when pressure is created by gravity because one end of the cable runs up a hill a ways. All the oil settles in the low end of the cable.

I updated the description of the video to help answer some of the questions I’ve gotten over the last 7 years.

Better than Vaping

+Wesley Lovold are you really THAT ignorant?

It was sarcasm. To be honest the fumes are only hazardous if you keep your head directly over the pot of wipe when it's on the furnace. The particles are very heavy and cannot be carried more than a coupe inches off the surface. We had an Industrial Hygienist run tests on everything because we are doing this on a regular basis.

Oh good, I was worried for a moment. And yeah, the lead only gets nasty is you let it get near the evap point.

У них дефицит синей изоленты, вот и извращаются