Micc :)

kerching said:

I only called them 'Mole ' grips coz they have 'Mole' written on them, however my 'Vise' Grips get called 'Vise' grips....... :slap

I must concur about Vise grips being the superior product. What is the main difference between the 2 [that in my opinion makes Vise better than Mole]?

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dunno, all I do know is that anything other than the real deal [so to speak] is tat, dont close tight or hold it there, dont line up, jaws never seem to meet square, the list is endless,

dont get me wrong, I have acquired some others in life, still have some, they are generally used for loosening stuff where lump hammers come into play along with blowtorches etc,

I actually got a free set of baby vise grips at Elex and am really surprised at what they can actually grip

Main difference is the release lever

Vise goes towards the handle....mole goes away from handle.

Vise version is easier to undo AND you keep ALL of the skin on your fingers

My Vise welding clamps are far far superior to the mole version also

AH, am with you on that,

I have some no name/chad valley ones like that, soon found out that a screwdriver is a good lever to keep the fingers intact,

Manator said:

What I really like about it is the fact that it is tested everytime a connection is made, each pot is tested, and the end result is that the cable may have been tested more than 20 times just on first fix!!!Not many cables are installed and tested to those standards these days.

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I find it very satisfying to work on as you've to take time and think about how your going to run and dress the cable out and that's before you even get to the terminating stage. You feel like you've done a good day's work when you look back at a run of multiple Piro's all neatly dressed and clipped.

you've done a good day's work when you look back at a run of multiple Piro's all neatly dressed and clipped.

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And twenty years later when you walk into a boiler house, it still looks impressive - and still works a treat. Far more skill and pride used than work done by most these days. A skill i don't have and will probably never gain :-(

Spot on KNB. I remember a long long time ago, about 4 months into my apprenticeship we were taught how to terminate a micc, went out to site and the foreman asked me and another apprentice if we could do pyro. Told him we had only done a couple of ends on a test bench and he showed us this long run through walls and along tray. Well we strangled it so badly it was thrown out and new had to be pulled in.

Cable tray was inented for Pyro The art was drawing out without having any kinks and bends, we use to run out a long run on the floor and then pull it in only when it was neatly run out. Most of the older lads had home made forming tools and could radius bend any size in seconds. I do work in some locations where Pyro is still the only cable they want installed, it still makes me grin when I see the faces of some sparks on sites after I have run in and terminated a circuit, most watch me so they can say they have seen it done

The last job I did I had two guys watching me terminate with a set of sidecutters and a screwdriver!

MICC such good cable, so little employed these days. If anyone remembers the Kings Cross tube station fire, one of the recommendations was MICC only in these areas becuase it was the only cable to survive. Can't say I've ever dome more than terminate a few ends on a bench, would love to have a go at a proper installation

The most difficult MICC job we had to do was a pub being converted from an old warehouse in the docklands, London. The Thames would lap up against the walls throwing a mist in the air. We could only terminate when the tide was out and you had to keep compound on the ends if you stopped for more than a few seconds. If anyone had left an open end you had to cut about 1m off due to the damp.

If any members on the rock want to go Im sure they would be able to have h look round LITTS where I done a load of lighting, inside and out, prob over 1000m in total near 10 years ago, a bit of a ball ache on my own though,

Just found this in the garage I must have made this 30 years ago and havent used it for years. Last few times i needed it, it was in the garage so i did like manator and used a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.

First job with MICC as an apprenti was a Halls of Residence for B,ham University, a 24 story tower block ( guys) and a 3 story block ( girls) .

One of the few jobs I ever worked on which was TN-C throughout the installation . Its a wierd system and Home office permission had to be obtained .

So the whole lot done in MI , about 24 sparks on the job all terminating with their eyes shut !!!

Out of interest , it was mostly 1 core bare MI with the sheath being the Neutral/earth .

In the plant rooms you'd have a metalclad MEM dist.Bd. , with just an earth bar bolted to the case , no neutral bars.

A student flat, being blockwork and concrete floors and ceilings , would have these low profile ,plastic plate clips glued in place 2 days before 1st fix wiring, prior to plastering . Cables would be cut to length and terminated as all flats were the same , then pushed into the clips , cables bashed flush with a hide hammer. Plaster depth boxes with pot clamps were fixed with a cartridge fixing gun .

Only earth tail pots were fitted to the cable , no glands except at Dist. Bds . the pots were clamped to the boxes and a socket , say, would have a single core MI and an earth tail. Centre core was Live .... earth tails ,which were extra long, were not allowed to be cut , so it looped to the box - from box to the Neutral terminal then to the Earth terminal.

I believe it made a considerable saving on materials with the job being so big , I was there for nearly a year IIRC!!

SLIPSHOD AND SLAPDASH said:

Just found this in the garage I must have made this 30 years ago and havent used it for years. Last few times i needed it, it was in the garage so i did like manator and used a pair of pliers and a screwdriver.

View attachment 3227

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I remember making one of those in my 1st year as an apprentice. Wonder where it went to. It's been at least 10yrs since I last worked on piro.

After my installation at college is finished ill take a photo for you guys

Great cable to work with looks very smart when neatly clipped and dressed. With my old firm did some LED feature lighting on the Northgate and Eastgate rows in Chester and the conservation officer insisted on black and white sheathed pyro being used to blend in with the building features.

Here's my installation so far, fire panel needs connected and the main board cover needs put on but apart from that its pretty much done it's 4 MI cables one for the smoke one for the break glass and 2 for the sounders and one FP200 for the main supply

Edit: I can't upload to photo it's too big any ideas?

Sparkybob said:

Here's my installation so far, fire panel needs connected and the main board cover needs put on but apart from that its pretty much done

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Mmmmmm

It would appear that you have used white MICC on a white background with white accessories white clips and white screws... :slap

Let's try again lol http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b407/opelman26/image.jpg

Nice neat job. I am suprised they did not ask you to fix the isolator adjacent to the fire panel as it would be in real life, not next to the distribution board.

I was thinking today for a reason why i cant use red FP on a red brick wall to feed some 230V lights ( nothing to do with fire alarms) Although it doesnt seem right i cant think of any reg not.

Edit, Will this be a working system or just a MICC exercise ?

Neat job Sparkybob .

I'm slightly puzzled by the routing of the SWA feeding the twin socket though , seems to pass through a hole in the tray .