Electrical Tools and Their Uses

• Pliers are made from metal with insulated handles for cutting, twisting, bending, holding, and gripping wires and cables.

Hacksaw

• This tool is used to cut metal conduit and armored cable. The blade has a size of 12"X1/2"X24T.

Electrician's Knife

• Linemen use this to remove insulation from wires and cables in low and high voltage transmission lines.

Portable Electric Drill

• A small drilling machine with a chuck capacity of 1/4 to 3/8 is used to make holes on metal sheets and concrete walls.

Combination Pliers (Lineman's Pliers)

• This tool is used for gripping, holding, and cutting electrical wires, cables, and even small nails.
• Linemen commonly use this tool for heavy tasks.

Side Cutting Pliers

• Pliers are used for cutting fine, medium, and big wires and cables.

Wire Stripper

• This is used for removing insulation from medium-sized wires ranging from gauge #10 to gauge #16.

Long Nose Pliers

• These are used for cutting and holding fine wires.
• These can reach tight spaces or small openings where other pliers cannot reach.
• It also creates terminal loops of copper wires.

Stubby Screwdriver

• Comes as either Standard or Philips screwdriver.
• It features a short shank or blade and a shorted handle, and is for use in tight spaces.

Allen Screwdriver/Wrench

• Could be in the shape of a screwdriver or a wrench.
• Designed to drive screws with hexagonal slot heads.

Standard/Flat Screwdriver

• Blade tip is wedge-shaped and resembles a negative (-) sign.
• Used to drive screws with a single slot head.

Philips Screwdriver

• Has a cross tip resembling a positive (+) sign.
• This is used to drive screws with cross slot heads.

Screwdrivers

• Made of steel that is hardened and tempered at the tip.
• These tools is used to loosen or tighten screws with slotted heads of various sizes and shapes.

Hammers

• Used for driving, pounding, and pulling out nails.
• They are made of hard steel, wood, plastic, or rubber.
• Claw, Ballpeen or Rubber Mallet are types of hammers.

Clamps

• This is an electrical material used to hold and anchor electrical conduits in place.

Connectors

• Used to attach metallic or non-metallic conduit to the junction or utility boxes.

Conduits/Pipes

• These are electrical materials used as the passage of wires for protection and insulation.
• They can come as rigid metallic, flexible metallic conduit (FMC), rigid non-metallic (PVC), and flexible non-metallic or corrugated plastic conduit (CPC).

Utility Box

• A rectangular shaped metallic or plastic (PVC) material in which flush type convenience outlet and switch are attached.

Electrical Wire/Conductor

• This is an electrical material.
• Stranded wire is multiple strands joined together to make a single wire.
• Solid wire is made of a single strand of copper or aluminum wire.
• These are used in wiring installation inside and outside buildings.

Flat Cord

• A duplex stranded wire used for temporary wiring installations and commonly used in extension cord assemblies.
• Flat cord comes in a roll of 150 meters and sizes of gauge #18 and gauge #16 AWG (American Wire Gauge).

Junction Box

• An octagonal shaped electrical material where the connections or joints of wires occur.
• The flush type lamp holder is affixed here.
• Junction boxes are made of metal or plastic (PVC) Polyvinylchloride.

Fuse

• It is a circuit protective device that automatically blows and cuts the current when overload or short circuit happens.

Circuit Breaker

• A protective device used to automatically blow and cut the current when trouble in the circuit such as a short circuit or overload occurs.

Male Plug

• A device inserted into a convenience outlet to conduct electric current.
• A flat cord is attached to one end, and the other end is connected to a current-consuming instrument or appliance.

Switch

• A device that connects and disconnects the flow of electric current in a circuit.
• They are classified as hanging, flush, and surface types.

Lamp Holders

• Devices that hold and protect the lamp, also called Lamp Sockets/Receptacles.
• Are classified as flush, hanging (weatherproof/chain), and surface types with many designs and sizes.

Convenience Outlet

• This is a device that acts as a convenient source of electrical energy for current-consuming appliances.
• It is where the male plug of an appliance is inserted and fastened on the wall or connected in an extension cord.
• Outlets may be single, duplex, triplex, or multiplex and could be surface type or flush type.