# Trouble Threading 4" GRC with Ridgid 1224



## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

*rigid treader*

we got a automatic rigid dont know the number , did you put the dies in the order of the numbers they have on these , we dont use nu clear on rigid only on alum pipe like blue stuff windex looking stuff . we use just plane rigid cutin oil on rigid , if we need more or run out we use 90 w rear end oil truck oil ,when you lock down your pipe does it stay locked or does it need to be relocked meaning does it slip in the jaws . does the die move up and down when threading a little bit up and down ? when you start threading are you jogging in slow not just forcing it on , and are you checking your pipe ends sometimes the new pipe is egged out when its new you cant see it unless you check with a coupling ,people like to bagg up the ends when they are taken off the fork lifts and moved around the job site . check your adjustment on the die does it line up on that pipe size to the arrow line .if its a little bit off it will cut chunks out and it looks bad , i see most guys ream out pipe before they start threading but some old timer told me dont ream out until your threaded then ream out it makes it a better cut , and we change or clean out every day we do lots of threading in one day , we use water and oil to flush out the lines and pump,this is just my thinking dont listen to me i just pull feeders in all day good luck ,


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

Nick brought up a good point about the dies being in the proper order (by number) also, did you set up their spacing using a new threaded nipple?


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Never used a 1224. I use a hog-head with plain old black Ridgid oil, and never had any special problems.


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## Mountain Electrician (Jan 22, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> Never used a 1224. I use a hog-head with plain old black Ridgid oil, and never had any special problems.


Me too. It takes to men and a boy to move it around, but it works well. I've never used anything else to thread big pipe.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

*pipe threadin*

yes its a 1224 we got two on site ,ive use the old hogs head i agree it works great just litte bit setting them up ya know drive shaft pipe stand and mule but we have gotten spoiled with the auto machines they have wheels and one piece,i really was the main reason my company now has the new 1224s as one day when i was just learning how ,i was not watching what i was doing i was threading 3 1/2 inch just nipples but special cut to size not your standards you know ,well this female electrician walks by and i forgot to stop threadin went past the point of no return and it broke the brass looking ring inside , busted it flat out parts all over the electrical room .well i didnt tell them about how it happen and they didnt ask . my safety dept said that it was a unsafe tool and was glad i didnt get hurt , and we need to get these things off the jobs before someone gets hurt . but the guys on my crew knew what happen it was a different nipple i was looking at . but the old hogs head can get you out of a jamb sometimes when you cant get a big machine in a tight area and you dont want to walk 20 miles to thread a stick of pipe. just to add rigid has a point on type of pipe and where its made there is bad pipe that goes for emt to rigid . we have seen rigid but more so emt thats junk stuff emt 2 inch mostly that can not get a 90 degree bend perfect ,when we sent it back and got a new bunch it bent like butter. and we know about bendin on that seam ya know what i mean .


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## paul d. (Jul 13, 2008)

if you have lots of big pipe to thread chain hoghead to vise. works real good.


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

paul d. said:


> if you have lots of big pipe to thread chain hoghead to vise. works real good.


Have no idea why you would chain it down, it works so much better when you either hook it up to a power vise with the proper rod and handle or you just put it on the pipe and use a power drive like a 700 with the adapter to spin it.


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## paul d. (Jul 13, 2008)

just chain down hoghead. attach porta power/adpt ,and then all you have to pick up is pipe. maybe somebody else can explain better.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

The hog head has a couple of bars that will latch it onto a tristand. I've accidentally had a whole tristand, pipe and all, doing cartwheels when I let the die run a little dry on oil. That was a little intense. Nobody died, and nothing broke.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> The hog head has a couple of bars that will latch it onto a tristand. I've accidentally had a whole tristand, pipe and all, doing cartwheels when I let the die run a little dry on oil. That was a little intense. Nobody died, and nothing broke.


 
I have seen that done many times and discussing the look on the operators face later is priceless. Never seen anything broken in the process either. We attach a drive bar to the threader that chucks in the vise jaws and a ring that attaches to the pipe handle on the vise so the threader is stable, the pipe rides on pipe stands and spins, it is much simpler and faster once you get the stands leveled off.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

*hog head pipe vice*

well we use a 161 geared hogs head and we dont chain it down we slide the pipe into it clamp down pipe rolls on roller pipe stand and hog hangs off drive shaft and the pipe it threads great we cant see how it would need to be chained to a pipe vise . its got to be free to thread or your pipe not to chip up the dies it needs to move up or down a little we thread 6 inch and 4 inch everyday . the 700 the one randomkiller was talking about is what we call a power pony thats a different issue its good for threading with pipe in a vise but its still hand held putting a hog 161 in a vise is not what it was made for we got some old hogs but we use only for 4 or 6 inch nipples because they dont auto stop threading and we can thread better than the new high dollar threaders by rigid that stop on a dime ,1/4 of a inch means alot to us its the differance between a lock nut and a bushing going on with a panel thats 1/4 stainless thick ,hope i didnt offend anyone this is just my why of thinking there may be another hog head we never have seen whats the model no.?when we broke our hog it was not because it was hanging free it was because we went past the stop point all the way up metal to metal it ripped it apart , it broke the gear inside because i didnt stop .we dont use a power pony on 6 inch to drive a hog we use a mule on the floor threader.it rests on the mule but able to sligthly move up or down just enough not to chip a die or cross thread ya know what i mean .


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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

Running 4" g.r.c. ,My Heroes.


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

nick said:


> well we use a 161 geared hogs head and we dont chain it down we slide the pipe into it clamp down pipe rolls on roller pipe stand and hog hangs off drive shaft and the pipe it threads great we cant see how it would need to be chained to a pipe vise . its got to be free to thread or your pipe not to chip up the dies it needs to move up or down a little we thread 6 inch and 4 inch everyday . the 700 the one randomkiller was talking about is what we call a power pony thats a different issue its good for threading with pipe in a vise but its still hand held putting a hog 161 in a vise is not what it was made for we got some old hogs but we use only for 4 or 6 inch nipples because they dont auto stop threading and we can thread better than the new high dollar threaders by rigid that stop on a dime ,1/4 of a inch means alot to us its the differance between a lock nut and a bushing going on with a panel thats 1/4 stainless thick ,hope i didnt offend anyone this is just my why of thinking there may be another hog head we never have seen whats the model no.?when we broke our hog it was not because it was hanging free it was because we went past the stop point all the way up metal to metal it ripped it apart , it broke the gear inside because i didnt stop .we dont use a power pony on 6 inch to drive a hog we use a mule on the floor threader.it rests on the mule but able to sligthly move up or down just enough not to chip a die or cross thread ya know what i mean .


 
Either the pipe or the threader has to be secured, if the threader is secured to the pipe and the pipe is on roller stands how is it that the drive shaft doesn't spin the threader and the pipe? I beg to differ with you on the threader can't be mounted to a power vise. If you buy the whole kit it comes with a bar that attaches to the shaft of the threader with set screws and you chuck that in the power vise, then there is a handle that hangs on the pipe stop on the vise to stop the threader from spinning. If the threader is fixed to the vise all you have to do is slide in the pipe on roller stands, dog it down and away you go. Picking that die up and attaching the drive shaft is heavy bakk busting work, once you do it the other way you will never want to do it with the drive shaft again.

http://ridgetool.richfx.com/catalog_ridgetool/pilotmay06/index.aspx

take a look at the catalog page 55 and zoom in, it shows the three ways to use the threader.


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## Mountain Electrician (Jan 22, 2007)

randomkiller said:


> Either the pipe or the threader has to be secured, if the threader is secured to the pipe and the pipe is on roller stands how is it that the drive shaft doesn't spin the threader and the pipe? I beg to differ with you on the threader can't be mounted to a power vise. If you buy the whole kit it comes with a bar that attaches to the shaft of the threader with set screws and you chuck that in the power vise, then there is a handle that hangs on the pipe stop on the vise to stop the threader from spinning. If the threader is fixed to the vise all you have to do is slide in the pipe on roller stands, dog it down and away you go. Picking that die up and attaching the drive shaft is heavy bakk busting work, once you do it the other way you will never want to do it with the drive shaft again.
> 
> http://ridgetool.richfx.com/catalog_ridgetool/pilotmay06/index.aspx
> 
> take a look at the catalog page 55 and zoom in, it shows the three ways to use the threader.


Good link, RK. Thanks.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

*hogs head*

yes , you are correct i guess i should have said, we dont chain it down to a pipe vise period ,but what your page 55 shows is fine ,we just slide it on our drive shaft and yes we slide on a homemade steel solid bar inside the mules tubing but it moves up down or side to side when you start threadin but were just threading nipples i agree randomkiller ,our crew has two solid bars that go on the mule it rides inside them two bars we dont pick it up ever ,but its kind of lose and can move a little floats some what not free to take off in mid air .just like the picture in the middle only differance is we have homemade drive shaft and solid steel bars that attach to the mule on both sides to keep it from rolling up or down one in the picture as shown and other is for safety .i have never seen it attached to a tri stand before ya learn something everyday this is a lot better in a tight spot no mule just a power pony. easy to move around i guess our crew needs to see this. must be our safety dept ,they always are coming up with new ways to be safe .guess they dont like the tri stand method . we call a power vise a mule , we call a pipe stand a tri stand ,


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

nick said:


> yes , you are correct i guess i should have said, we dont chain it down to a pipe vise period ,but what your page 55 shows is fine ,we just slide it on our drive shaft and yes we slide on a homemade steel solid bar inside the mules tubing but it moves up down or side to side when you start threadin but were just threading nipples i agree randomkiller ,our crew has two solid bars that go on the mule it rides inside them two bars we dont pick it up ever ,but its kind of lose and can move a little floats some what not free to take off in mid air .just like the picture in the middle only differance is we have homemade drive shaft and solid steel bars that attach to the mule on both sides to keep it from rolling up or down one in the picture as shown and other is for safety .i have never seen it attached to a tri stand before ya learn something everyday this is a lot better in a tight spot no mule just a power pony. easy to move around i guess our crew needs to see this. must be our safety dept ,they always are coming up with new ways to be safe .guess they dont like the tri stand method . we call a power vise a mule , we call a pipe stand a tri stand ,


 
I have never liked using a power drive (700) for the geared threaders, it feels awkward to have the drive move back and forth while spinning. Having to keep lifting the threader on and off is a PITA as well. There have been times that I used the threader on a pipe in place coming out of concrete or something along those lines and used the 700. 
If your safety people are having you use homemade parts for a threader it puts any liability on the company as a whole if a guy was injured. Been there done that. About half of our company is mechanical guys from the plumbers and pipefitters locals, they fab many jigs and that type of thing for jobs, much to the dismay of our safety guys. My older brother is the head safety officer for one of the larger GCs we work for and I have had ear fulls of bs from him about that type of thing on "his" jobs.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

*home made stuff*

i know what you mean , they tell us to wear safety glasses , kevlar gloves and hard hats , we get a safety meeting each week , go to 10 hour osha classes and then when it comes to the money pit its ok to do that because it will cost a dollar to replace that part .our benders are in the same boat our tool man welds and repairs our stuff but he doesnt work for greenlee yet . we even make are own mandels to save money they take a 4 inch holesaw cut out 4 inch disc chunks out of a old tire and put about 6 of these attached with a stainlees cable to pull thur are conduits . and we bring in close to 300 mill a year .whats that ? randomkiller i can not wait to open my own shop someday but iam learning from the best now .


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

nick said:


> randomkiller i can not wait to open my own shop someday but iam learn from the best now .


That's a good thing for people with the right mindset. I have never had a desire to have my own business at this point. I figured I would wait til I retire from here and open a small shop of some type so I can make my own hours and have the freedom to come and go as I please.
I always joked about a dive/gun/bait store, now it seems more like a partial plan.


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