# From tangled ankle breaker to overhead roll-away ext cord



## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Haven't been around here for way too long. Or in the shop much either. Finally got some time to keep working on organizing, starting with floor clutter 

OK, you know one of the problems..... all of us start off with something like this....









The dough-rollers among us solve this with a custom designed, geothermally-heated 2000 sq foot building with sunset views of the ocean, in-the-floor DC ducts and electrical receptacles everywhere you look..... and then there's the rest of us. Years back I saw a magazine tip to partially solve this problem on the cheap, and I finally tried it. I'm so pleased, I thought I'd share and maybe save someone else some grief.

























2 screweyes (recommend setting 'em at 90degrees to the wire, if possible)
steel wire
turnbuckle
plastic snap together shower hooks
gorilla tape
small zip ties (for anchoring ext cord to a shower hook)
piece of string (holds up the 12 feet on the free end when not in use)

Using snap together plastic shower hooks, you can remove the ext cord if needed; The wider plastic hooks spread out the pressure of the cords dead weight across more of the cords insulation; a couple turns of gorilla tape further protects the insulation from the edges of the zip ties; The bit of string (pink in my pic) holds the long free end of the cord when it is pushed back against the wall.

One bit of caution.... Be wary of overloading the wire, since if it snaps it could whip around a bit... It's no good saving a sprained ankle at the cost of an eye.

This was a reader tip someone sent in to some rag or other, and I wish I could thank them by name, but I can't find it. Anyway, thanks man! This works great!


----------



## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

I had a couple of cords I just couldn't do without. I got tired of walking on them so I ran them in a 1" conduit high overhead. 

I like your Idea and may also incorporate that into my shop. I also put one on an 8' boom and it swings overhead to power what ever I roll up. 

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


----------

