Tag: electrician diploma
What to Know About Conduit Bending for Your Career After Electrician College
September 12, 2019
Conduit bending is an essential skill electricians learn during their training. Various materials from rigid steel to EMT (electrical metallic tubing) will call for bending at some point or another. If you’re studying to become an electrician, there are numerous reasons why this is an important skill to have under your belt.
While you’ll be taught about conduit bending during your courses, it’s good to have some idea of what it is beforehand. Here’s what students in electrician college need to know about conduit bending.
There Are At Least Four Different Ways You Can Bend It
With regards to conduit bending, there are several methods you can choose to get the job done. Among them are the 90º (also known as the “stub up” bend), back to back, offset, and the saddle bend. The stub-up bend is where one end of the conduit is bent upward into a 90º L shape. Back to back bends are where parallel stub-up bends are made to a 90º angle on both sides, making a U shape.
An offset bend is where a shift is made somewhere along the conduit even though the bend continues to run parallel to where it was initially. Lastly, the saddle bend is where one portion of the conduit is bent at 45º over an obstacle before returning to its original plane. You’ll learn to develop your conduit bending skills during maintenance electrician training.
Bending Conduit Involves a Lot of Marking
After you’ve undergone the first step of selecting the proper bender and removing cutting burrs if necessary, you’ll need to mark the points on the conduit for bending it properly. You’ll then need to decide where the conduit should start, the necessary length of the bend, and where you need it to change direction. Then, you’ll need to mark the bend’s midway point before measuring to make sure those marks will bend correctly, and then mark another line on the floor.
In other words, make sure you buy yourself a Sharpie if you want to be an electrician! However, if your bend is for exposed work like in factories, use a pencil instead to prevent the ink from bleeding through after the conduit is painted.
You’ll Want a Good Bender After Electrician College, But it’s Not the Only Tool You’ll Need
Whether it’s made of steel or aluminum, it should go without saying that having a good bender to use after getting your electrician diploma is important. However, aluminum ones are preferred over steel, as the latter type is a lot heavier. It’s also very useful for newer electricians to have a handle as well as multiplier markings on the bender, to streamline the calculation process.
While a bender is easily the most essential tool you’ll need here, it’s not the only one. You will need a strong, high-quality level, and ideally one with rare-earth magnets and levels attached to them. Additionally, you will do well to have a tape measure and a framing square on hand, as both will be key in helping ensure you get the correct angles and measurements for the bend.
Do you want to study at an electrician college?
Contact North American Trade Schools to find out more about our programs!
3 Environments You Might Be Working in After Electrician School
September 09, 2019
If you’re about to begin a career as an electrician, there are numerous possibilities for where you might work. You could ply your trade in homes, office buildings, construction sites, or industrial factories. Whether you want to work indoors or outdoors, travelling or just at one site, there’s an electrician job for you.
Wherever you end up going, your job remains to ensure electricity safely goes straight from the source to those who need it the most. Here are three places you might find yourself working in after completing your program to become an electrician.
1. You Could Find Yourself Working in People’s Homes After Electrician School
Residential electricians work on wiring and lighting in people’s homes and apartment buildings, among other living spaces. In this career, you could find yourself going to different homes, carrying out the necessary tasks to make sure residential buildings and units have electricity in place, and installing it both indoors and outdoors as necessary.
Your tasks could include determining where equipment and fixtures will be located in the home, working on security and air conditioning systems, and ensuring electricity can travel from the source to the home’s circuit breaker. Whether you’re working on an existing home, or one that’s still being constructed or undergoing renovations, you’ll be able to work on electrical wiring and fuses to keep tenants and families happy and their homes running smoothly.
2. You Could Work in Any Environment Specializing in Maintenance
If you you’re the type of person who likes fixing things that are broken or not working properly, being a maintenance electrician may be the route for you. Travelling and commuting between different worksites is common for people in this job, so you could find yourself working in various environments. If you want a job where your workplace will change every day, this job could be a great fit.
As a maintenance electrician, you could be performing tasks like troubleshooting using testing devices, performing preventative maintenance, rewiring connections or electrical equipment in homes or businesses, or working on equipment in factories or manufacturing units. Regardless of where exactly your career after studying to become an electrician takes you, your problem-solving skills and ability to carry out the necessary maintenance procedures will serve you well if you want to become a maintenance electrician.
3. You Could Work in Office Buildings (or Outside Them) as a Commercial Electrician
Businesses need light and electricity during the work day and sometimes even at night, so they need commercial electricians to help set up their electrical systems and keep them running. In this environment, you could be installing lighting, wiring, and/or control and security systems, while adhering to all safety requirements.
Alternatively, you could work as an electrician on a construction site where a new office building is being built, or at a factory as an industrial electrician where you may work on hydraulic and other machinery. Regardless, whether you work in a small corner of an office building or a wide-open construction space, your career after electrician school can lead to you working for a number of successful businesses.
Want to get your electrician diploma?
Contact North American Trade Schools to learn more about our programs!
