Tool of the Trade ~ Armor Rod { It’s kind of a tool }

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As some of you may have noticed I have been getting my Buzz on lately... D.Buzz that is. Then I thought I need to share with you all a little something that is used quite often when building high voltage Powerlines. Armor Rod is not a necessarily a tool of the trade but more of a building material that is a bit tricky to use

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Amor Rod is used as an extra layer of protection on overhead conductors. The smaller diameter conductors typically have shorter armor rod and the larger conductors have armor rod 6 feet or longer. It can be a bit of a challenge to put together since it comes in wavy pieces of metal rod. Like so...

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When I first saw armor rod as an apprentice I thought, How do those form a tube that goes over the wire?! They are just a bunch of bent wire rod deleos?! Then a Journeyman Lineman laughed then proceeded to show me how to twist them together. There is a definite technique when doing so and it can get frustrating real fast.

Typically the armor rod is made up in halves and partially twisted together before it is sent up in the air to be installed on the wire.

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Now if you are really good you can actually install it on the wire without prepping the two halves first. The first time I saw that done I just had to learn how to do it. It looked like a big mess of bent rods laid on the wire, then seconds later, twisting his wrists in opposite directions, the armor rod was around the wire. Each side of where his hands made the initial wrap of armor rod, it was fanned out perfectly. It’s probably hard to picture what I am talking about. But I’m trying. In order to install the armor rod in all at once the wire has to be under tension, maybe one day I will try and get a video of me doing this. I haven’t done it in years but I think I can stiff get it. Instead I will demonstrate how to make the 2 halves.

Take half of the rods in your hands and flatten them out. Then pinching between your thumbs and fingers just twist your hands in opposite directions, using your thumb to keep the rods from crossing over each other.

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Once you have the 2 halves made up and non of the rods are twisted, if they are twisted you can start in the middle with your thumb, and slide out to the end. Then the ends need to be evened up. Hold them vertically and let the rods settle. Hold them loosely and shake them a bit. Then the paint marks in the middle of the rods should line up.

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I hadn’t lined up the ends yet

Then place the two halves together, keeping the rods flat.

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Then twist them up by simply grabbing them with one hand and twist your wrist.

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The lineman in the air, would split the 2 halves and wrap each half around the wire. Being sure to completely snap in the ends. Then the wire can be placed in a shoe...

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Or a jumper connected to it with a Hot Tap
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Sometimes depending on the type of wire, you may need 2 sets of armor rod. One under the rubber-hour-glass-shaped-rubber grommet and one over it.
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If any of the rods get bent, it is a big PITA to get the rod to lay smooth again. They just don’t lay right at all.

On big transmission re-conductoring jobs, 30 miles, we would have Armor Rod Parties The crew would get together and start twisting up armor rod... for hours!!! We would have races and all kinds of friendly competition. Plus laugh at the newbies who couldn’t figure it out. After pulling in a few miles of wire you get to untwist the two halves and twist it back up again. The outer armor rod I mentioned above has to be put on one rod at a time. They have to be evenly spaced over the rubber grommet in order for the shoe to be installed. Time consuming...

I am hoping to do some more of these type of posts in the future. It’s just finding the time to get one together and finding something interesting to post about. I guess something might be interesting to some people but it’s just common stuff for me. Well I hope you enjoyed this little *Tool of the Trade post.... even though it wasn’t really a tool...

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12 comments
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I've seen that before and always wondered about it. That's pretty cool man!

Meanwhile, Fitters be like.... 😆

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(Edited)

DAHAHAHA that is a way to put them handles together.

I use to use armor rod all the time. #6 copper armor rod has to be the worst. The bigger the better.... wait??!!!!

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Yea! I'd say the big stuff is a pain! Kinda like working with a hollow wire rope. lol.

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ACSS wire... that is really fun. The aluminum is really soft, then it has a stranded steel core. You can only leave it in the travelers for 48 hours or else it will flatten out. 1,113kcmil ACSS - a one foot chunk can be bent with ease and maintain its shape. Totally crazy stuff!!

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No shit?! I need to acquire me a sample of this stuff... lol.

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I get the idea of protecting the wire like this.. But where do you utilize it? Certain specific places ? Couldn't do it for long distances.. You guys have the darndest contraptions..

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(Edited)

When you are dealing with really long spans it keeps the wire from kinking on each side of the shoe. Hard angle are a common place also. The wire can actually flatten out and create a hot spot. Mainly where ever the wire is attached to a support structure/insulator.

I have installed some wire that could only be left in our big 24" rollers for 48 hours. It was loose wrapped, soft aluminum with a stranded steel core. It is a self dampening a d self cooling wire. On cold mornings when the sun would come out and heat things up, you could stand under the line and hear it crackling as the strands separated. It's wild stuff

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Wild .would like to hear it's song..

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It almost sounds like a bunch of small sticks clacking together. snap-krackle-pop
Not sure if this is where PG&E would purchase that wire but here is a little description
https://www.midalcable.com/acss-aluminium-conductor-steel-supported
We had a job where we pulled in 90 miles of this stuff on 230kv towers. 1,113 kcmil ACSS. All helicopter work... that was a fun job

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Cool using helicopters as one of your tools..

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We didn’t climb the towers we got air lifted. Lol

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