# Safety tip- which cord is which?



## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

I can't remember if I shared this tip here or not, but I picked up this idea from a common shipyard practice. When the shipyard works on our ships, they have racks of welders, cutting torches, and air manifolds stationed all over the ship. From here, gear is run to job sites. To keep track of what goes where, they tag the ends of the hoses at the manifolds so the right one can be shut off without having to trace the hose.

When I'm working, I usually have 2 router motors that I'm working with, because I hate to change bits. To make sure I plug in or unplug the right tool when I have more than one on my bench or table, I use colored tywraps. One on the cord by the motor, one by the plug. It makes identifying each one a quick and easy process.

It really comes in handy at my cordless tool charging station, where 3 chargers share 2 outlets. The blue one is the makita, the green one the hitachi.... Okay, so I am a little bit obsessive sometimes.


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## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Great idea Doug, thanks for sharing... and I hear yah on the cordless charger stations! 

Corey


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Doug, color coding does make things easy. Air nailers are another good example. Use green for your brads and brad nailer, blue for your finish hails, red for pins. It helps make sure you grab the right fasteners for the tool you are using.


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## Joe Lyddon (Sep 11, 2004)

Very good, Doug!

Sure beats the food twistems my wife gets at the market!  

... or a label wrapped around the wire & back on itself!

Now, I guess you can get those colored cable ties on ebay, etc.?

Edit:
Good for computer network cables too... yes?


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi kp91


That's a good tip,,, I used about the same on my air lines,, I have the compressor in the corner of the shop and have 1/2" copper tubing running all over the shop but I use flex lines that plug into the air manifold at the compressor and I use yellow,red,blue,green,white on the hose ends so I know which one I need to plug in for the shop, I unplug the lines every nght ,I do this just in case the lines blows and so it will not burn up the motor on the compressor at night time or if I'm not home or in the shop  I have cooked one 5hp. motor in the pass and it was a expensive lesson to learn....

I need to find a device that will power down the motor if it runs longer than 15mins. at one time...but will reset with a button or with a switch once it's fliped back on.




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kp91 said:


> I can't remember if I shared this tip here or not, but I picked up this idea from a common shipyard practice. When the shipyard works on our ships, they have racks of welders, cutting torches, and air manifolds stationed all over the ship. From here, gear is run to job sites. To keep track of what goes where, they tag the ends of the hoses at the manifolds so the right one can be shut off without having to trace the hose.
> 
> When I'm working, I usually have 2 router motors that I'm working with, because I hate to change bits. To make sure I plug in or unplug the right tool when I have more than one on my bench or table, I use colored tywraps. One on the cord by the motor, one by the plug. It makes identifying each one a quick and easy process.
> 
> It really comes in handy at my cordless tool charging station, where 3 chargers share 2 outlets. The blue one is the makita, the green one the hitachi.... Okay, so I am a little bit obsessive sometimes.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Joe,

Home depot, Wal-mart, harbor freight and big lots is where I've seen the neon and colored cable ties.

Bob,

You could use a water heater timer ($20), or some other heavy duty timer, so that your compressor won't start up at night. I can't think of a 'cheap' way of putting a 15 minute run time on your compressor, a good 20 amp TDOE relay can be $60 plus.

The switch I listed below has a bunch of trips, you could set it so it could only run every other 15 minutes during the normal day.......

(I just kill the 2 20 amp breakers in my shop when I leave)

http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007070222212449&item=11-3148-250&catname=


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

You will also find colored velcro straps at your dollar store for identifying tools or wire bundles.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Thanks Doug

I have a timer like the one in link that I use on the pump for the pond pump that works great for that type of job.

I have been playing with a device for a long time, (for the comp.) the one I have come with will pull a 50amp. beaker in a box that the power cord plugs iinto for the comp.,it runs off a clock IC with a 12volt DC relay that runs a auto. door lock/trunk device that will pull or push the breaker off and on but it's so dam big, but it needs to be because of the 50amp. pull of the comp. I just need to find a electrical engineer to get all the parts into a standard outlet box for a 50amp.service... 12 volt 15amp. power supply,breaker,outlet,12 volt relay,IC clock,etc.  lot's of luck  

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kp91 said:


> Joe,
> 
> Home depot, Wal-mart, harbor freight and big lots is where I've seen the neon and colored cable ties.
> 
> ...


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Bj, I know that I'm going to regret asking, but why not do as Doug suggests and as I do?

"(I just kill the 2 20 amp breakers in my shop when I leave)"

Years ago I had a garden reticulation system where water from the bore was insufficient so I used to pump it into a 1000gal. tank and reticulate from there with a separate pump. The point of this story is that one night the tank sprung a leak and the pump kept going all night because I had fitted an air pressure level switch to the tank. I therefore fitted a solar time switch to make sure it didn't happen again.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Harry

Well to start with breakers in the load center are not made to used as a switch that's to say they are not made to be turn off and on to many times unlike a light switch on the wall,,,  just not made the same way inside the breaker.

The light switch is a $1.25 item and my 50 amp.breaker runs about $28.oo dollars...

And then again my breaker cabinet/load center is in the corner of the shop and it would take a bit of work to get to it plus that's why I have a comp.that will keep the air up at 175lbs.when I need it but I don't want it to run at night time or when I'm not home and a device would take care of that error real quick...15mins.run time max thing....at one startup.. 


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harrysin said:


> Bj, I know that I'm going to regret asking, but why not do as Doug suggests and as I do?
> 
> "(I just kill the 2 20 amp breakers in my shop when I leave)"
> 
> Years ago I had a garden reticulation system where water from the bore was insufficient so I used to pump it into a 1000gal. tank and reticulate from there with a separate pump. The point of this story is that one night the tank sprung a leak and the pump kept going all night because I had fitted an air pressure level switch to the tank. I therefore fitted a solar time switch to make sure it didn't happen again.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hey Doug

Do you know if anyone makes a 50amp.1phz. one like the link you posted ?

http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007070222212449&item=11-3148-250&catname=

I think it would do the job, just set and for get it for the night time ,but if I'm not home on the weekends that could be a big pain if it runs longer than 15mins. in the daylight hours and I'm not home ...  or not in the shop ....

Like I said I have been playing with this error for a long time and just can't find anything that would do the job short of making my own...


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Bob,

An UL listed Molded case miniature circuit breaker tested to UL 489 standards must be able to endure 6000 full load switching operations. It's going to take me a long time to reach that.

Intermatic is the company that makes the "little grey boxes" for the water heaters, but I don't know what their largest unit is.

I'll PM you with some suggestions for your timer circuit in the near future.


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

I was at the local BORG here and noticed that the Rigid brand of power tools are starting to come with a picture of the tool at the plug end. So far, Rigid is the only one I saw with this feature, but I'm sure the rest will follow soon. 

Mind you, I'm not about to swap out all my tools for a picture, so the coloured zip ties are a great idea.


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## seawolf21 (Jan 19, 2007)

Good idea. I use the colored velcro ties which are 5 in a pack and cheap. Menards has them.

Gary


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

I've been using electrical color coding tape on my power tool cords for years to solve the same problem. Every power cord has different color bands. It's available in 10 different colors, so I used 2 bands of tape for tools numbered 11 and on (100 possibilities for 2 bands). When reading the bands I always start with the band closest to the tool or plug.

Black = 0
brown=1
red=2
orange=3
yellow=4
green=5
blue=6
violet=7
gray=8
white=9

These are the same color and denominations as color bands on resistors, etc.

Charley


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