Southwire recently introduced two new Southwire Hand Cable Benders for 350 and 500 MCM diameters. Both benders feature a forged, one-piece high steel strength design with black oxide finish and dipped grip handles.
Our Take
To the layman who’s familiar only with wire gauges common in residential homes, it won’t be immediately clear why a cable bender is necessary. After all, even ol’ granny could make a pretty good loop in the 12-gauge wire they’ve seen coming out of the service panel. But as the scale of service grows, so too does wire diameter and the effort it takes to manipulate it into the service panel for termination. I used my best Schwarzenegger impersonation as I thought about how that last sentence sounded. In any event, these new Southwire Hand Cable Benders for 350 and 500 MCM diameters are just the right tools for heavy gauge wire that must be brought to heel to make the connection.
A Simple Solution
Cable bending tool designs range from simple to sophisticated: manual, ratcheting (still mostly manual), to hydraulic assistance. The Southwire’s are about as simple as it gets, but that’s no knock against them – there’s no need to be more complicated than necessary. The one-piece, forged high steel bender, black oxide coated for durability, basically turn into a lever when the cable is in the tool’s C-shaped mouth. If you look closely, the edges of the mouth are beveled away from the cable to protect its insulation. On the other end, the dipped grip handles cushion your hand is it applies the significant force it takes to bend such thick wire. As you might imagine, the 500 MCM bender is longer – by 2-1/4 inches – than the 12 inch long 300 MCM bender.
We don’t yet know what the prices will be, but we can safely assume that these simple benders will be more affordable, fail-safe, and leak-free than their more sophisticated brethren. They might require a little more elbow grease, but when reliability and simplicity (and affordability!) is the name of the game, we have no problem giving it a little extra effort.
Southwire Hand Cable Benders Features
- Black oxide finish for corrosion resistance
- Dipped grip handles
- Forged one piece design
- High strength steel
Southwire Hand Cable Benders Specifications
- 350 MCM Model Number: CB12-350
- Height: 12 inches
- Width: 1.86 inches
- Depth: 0.85 inches
- Weight: 0.95 ounces
- 500 MCMModel Number: CB14-500
- Height: 14.25 inches
- Width: 2.22 inches
- Depth: 1.35 inches
- Weight: 1.6 ounces
