[HH] DIY wire grid wiring ducts

[Drew Van Zandt]

I believe our bending brake is about 3' wide, but I'm not 100% certain; I
hear we got a nice new one a couple of days ago, and I have not been into
the metal shop since.

PVC pipe hangers and pipe with one side chopped off works pretty well,
though.

*
Drew Van Zandt
Artisan's Asylum Craft Lead, Electronics & Robotics
Cam # US2010035593 (M:Liam Hopkins R: Bastian Rotgeld)
Domain Coordinator, MA-003-D.  Masquerade aVST
*



On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 8:05 PM, Tom Metro <tmetro+hhacking at gmail.com>wrote:

> While looking for something else I ran across:
>
> Wire Mesh Cable Tray
>
> http://www.drillspot.com/products/606488/cablofil_cf30_100ez_wire_mesh_cable_tray?s=1
>
> or
> http://www.progresswire.com/popups/cable%20tray.html
>
> which is just a galvanized steel wire grid bent into a U-shape to form a
> wiring duct. Seems like a good idea. (These are used in places where you
> have a bunch of network and telecom cabling, like leading into a wiring
> closet or spanning across a computer room.)
>
> But as seems to be typical for the wire management industry, they're way
> overpriced. They want about $100 for a 10' section. (Panduit's plastic
> wiring ducts are similarly overpriced.)
>
> (I've considered a bunch of other options for substituting commodity
> components, like a vinyl gutter. But nothing really fits the task well.)
>
> I'm wondering if a commodity grid panel, like one of these 1' x 5'
> gridwall panels that cost $8 each, could be bent into a U-shape to
> accomplish the same thing. (The 3" grid spacing might be somewhat coarse.)
>
> Does AA have a bending brake that could handle 5' wide stock? (Could use
> 4' or 2' stock instead.)
>
> One problem is that bending would kill the finish, unless the panels can
> be found with electroplated galvanizing. Most seem to be painted or chrome.
>
> (Too bad you can't just "drive over to China" to pick up materials. Of
> course they have OEMs that create the raw stock:
> http://www.china-wiremesh.com.cn/Welded_Wire_Mesh.html
> US manufacturers only seem to make custom wire grid products.)
>
> (FYI, this is for low voltage wiring so UL and NEC compliance isn't
> necessary. Generally not a great idea to bunch together a bunch of high
> voltage wires anyway.)
>
>  -Tom
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