Just saved 45 minutes on a single drop by taping my fish tape to the coax before pulling

I keep seeing guys jam a connector on the end and hope it holds, but after 6 years in this trade I found that a strip of electrical tape around the connector and tape head lets you pull 100 feet through a ceiling without the coax popping off, anyone else been doing this or still fighting with loose pulls on the regular?

2 comments

2 Comments

lane.joel7d ago

Oh man, I've been that guy who trusted a connector to hold and ended up chasing a loose coax through a drop ceiling like it was playing hide and seek. Your tape trick is solid, I've used it for years now and it saves a ton of headache. I still don't do it every time, but I regret it when I don't.

carr.xena7d ago

I used to work with a guy on a big commercial job in downtown Austin who swore by taping the connector to the tape head with a half-hitch knot in the tape before wrapping it, and I swear that knot keeps it from slipping even on 200 foot pulls through conduit. @lane.joel I think that hide and seek thing happens to all of us at least once, but I've started actually using a tiny dab of silicone caulk on the connector threads before taping it, which I know sounds extra but it keeps the whole thing from spinning loose when you hit a tight bend. I tried the connector-only method twice and both times I ended up with a coax tail dangling in the ceiling while I fished blind for it, so now I just keep a roll of tape in my pocket for every pull. It's one of those things where the five seconds of prep saves you twenty minutes of headache later on.