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Pete999

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Firstly it's been a while since I learnt all my MICC Terminating skills, and whilst loads of training establishments show trainees how to terminate MICC in a sterile location, i,e, at a vice on a work bench.

I was taught how to measure when and how to fit the gland and pot assembly by a very experienced ex Coal mine Electrician, when you have lots of ends to make off, with no room for getting, or hiding excess cable, when for example you are terminating lots of MICC cables of differing sizes into, say a distribution board, where the finished installation need to be clipped and dressed for ascetic reasons.

Is this still taught in trade schools? ( I do realise MICC is not used much these days) but the training Schools stiil seem to plug the terminating quite a lot, judging from the videos I have seen, is the dressing and termination a lost art? it's all well and good showing students how to terminate MICC in a sterile classroom but in the real world, many young and new Electricians and DIs will still struggle to make it look good and proffesional, if this is all they are trained on. discuss if you feel inclined.
 
I have terminated one end in the past 26 years.

I did a quite few before that.

IIRC it's not rocket science just something that is not done much any more.

I would think the training centres do it more for novelty value and to tick a box than anything else as like most things it has to be done repeatedly over time to get it to stick.
 
I was taught how to dress it in when I was an apprentice in the 70s, only touched it a couple of times since then. The main time was in a bonded warehouse, dozens of bulkhead fittings wired in it, I sent a couple of days fault finding, loads of damp terminations.
 
I think the skill needed to terminate MICC is a factor in its decline. A shame really as when done properly it is practically immortal in use!
I know, it's infinite lifespan means it must work out to be an economical wiring system in the long run. Many miles of imperial MI installed working perfectly.
 
I know, it's infinite lifespan means it must work out to be an economical wiring system in the long run. Many miles of imperial MI installed working perfectly.
Unfortunately those making the cost decisions are usually only looking at the next 3 months, not 30 years!

Or 300 years, as the Victorians seemed to...
 
Did one just before the lock down, lucky I had the tools the only thing was getting hold of the gear,rang round a few wholesalers have you got pots, is this for a kitchen. when the builders damage the micc. Most trainees don't even know how to do it never mind the shoe laces.
 
I was taught as part of my apprenticeship how to terminate MICC and the basics of dressing it in.
It's a skill I still use regularly as a lot of the installations I work on have a lot of MICC in them.
However I've never terminated large numbers into a DB as Pete999 desribes, and I doubt I ever will get the opportunity to.

As a lot of my work with MICC is repairs or alterations to existing circuits I have developed my own methods of 'getting over it' when problems arise.
 
I saw one of my old MICC tools rooting around in my dads garage last week... (socially distant, he was still in the house)
Maybe the other ones are there too... must have a hunt next time I’m ove
 
Tested this a while back. Not many cables and I wouldn't call the example perfect, by any means. Not my way, as a rule, but it's a simple 'aesthetic' method of multi terminating. Each gland via a 20mm coupling and bush.
I still carry my pyro tools in the van...not used for about 12 months, though. Some cable and plenty terms still in store.
Edit. Still a problem with the photos, I see.
 

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I made 10 ends of the other week,specificed on job,cabling to socket outlets.
Takes about 20 minutes each end,& you can still cock it up.
One end tested a dead short between L & N ,you usually worry about L & E,found I put the cable splitter on wrong,the earth tail was not precisely in the middle when made off.
Still makes you shake,just like when you were a Apprentice.
 
Had to terminate 2 ends of an Micc cable when at college doing 2360.
we had to connect one end to a consumer unit the other to a Dp switch and it had to Ensure all testEd out ok. We even had to dress and tie it to a short length of tray.
if it went bang you had to do it all over again...
since then I have made off about 2 or 3 micc cables all in the same job fir a company doing work at an old church.
i had to borrow the tools off my dad as I honestly could never justify buying the tools for micc...
 
Had to terminate 2 ends of an Micc cable when at college doing 2360.
we had to connect one end to a consumer unit the other to a Dp switch and it had to Ensure all testEd out ok. We even had to dress and tie it to a short length of tray.
if it went bang you had to do it all over again...
since then I have made off about 2 or 3 micc cables all in the same job fir a company doing work at an old church.
i had to borrow the tools off my dad as I honestly could never justify buying the tools for micc...
You could get away with just crimp tool!! I have many a time in an emergency.
 
One of my mum's friends used to work at BICC in Prescot in the 60's terminating lengths of Pyro that made up the octopus system wiring kits that were used in concrete high rise flats, she was on piece work and was paid 3d for every end might not sound much but they were fitting 20 - 30 ends an hour
The best I ever got to on site was 8 ends an hour on the small stuff my slowest was 16 ends over 2 days on a 12 and 10 hour shift there was a mix of sizes from 4H16 upto 4H35

I really enjoyed working with Pyro and have still all my tools in one of the many toolboxes that haven't seen the light of day for a while
I've seen most of types that were produced the biggest disaster was the all aluminium pyro followed by the AlCuMIC the aluminium sheath and copper conductors never found them nice to work with and even worse to rework
Then in the eighties we had the shrink on seals, the fire alarm system on one of Pilkingtons new sites was the first site to use them before they were released for sale, we got to find all problems pre release

Never heard it mentioned on any of the forums but does anybody remember the Pyro heat trace cable, when you placed the order you had to order the exact lengths you needed and it always came pre terminated
 
One of my mum's friends used to work at BICC in Prescot in the 60's terminating lengths of Pyro that made up the octopus system wiring kits that were used in concrete high rise flats, she was on piece work and was paid 3d for every end might not sound much but they were fitting 20 - 30 ends an hour
The best I ever got to on site was 8 ends an hour on the small stuff my slowest was 16 ends over 2 days on a 12 and 10 hour shift there was a mix of sizes from 4H16 upto 4H35

I really enjoyed working with Pyro and have still all my tools in one of the many toolboxes that haven't seen the light of day for a while
I've seen most of types that were produced the biggest disaster was the all aluminium pyro followed by the AlCuMIC the aluminium sheath and copper conductors never found them nice to work with and even worse to rework
Then in the eighties we had the shrink on seals, the fire alarm system on one of Pilkingtons new sites was the first site to use them before they were released for sale, we got to find all problems pre release

Never heard it mentioned on any of the forums but does anybody remember the Pyro heat trace cable, when you placed the order you had to order the exact lengths you needed and it always came pre terminated
Yes remember it but never worked with it.
 

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