Re: bale needle

[Mikal Jakubal <mjakubal@asis.com>]

Greg wrote:
>I thought that you use it as a big sewing needle. It would be pulled though
>leaving the wire in place, am I wrong?

No--if all you're sewing is wire or twine, it's just like a needle and
thread. The conduit trick is for thicker things like Romex or other pieces
of conduit or cable that can't just be pushed through or threaded through a
needle. Here's how I've used the conduit trick:

For reasons too long to go into now, I've had to thread lots of pieces of
3/8" cable at an angle through the bales, way up under the loft, where it
is impossible to get any leverage 'cuz I'm up on a ladder. What I've been
doing is duct-taping the end of the cable to a regular bale needle, and
pushing the cable through with the needle. Then I have to go outside and
cut off the tape and continue pulling the cable through the wall. The bale
needle (3/8" steel rod) has a bent over end for pushing--the rod itself
bends if I try to hammer it too much--so it gets pulled back out the way it
went in. The  piece of pointy conduit has a good pounding surface on the
other end--important because it's easy to pound a piece of conduit
diagonally through the wall, but extremely difficult to push a bale needle
with cable taped to the end through the wall. With the conduit in place, I
stick the cable in to the crimp on the other end, go around outside and
pull the conduit through, making sure the cable inside comes along with it.
I pull the conduit off the end of the cable and pull the latter through. 

Mikal

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