# New toy



## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Just got 256’ of eel cable, a small assortment of cutters some cable baskets and a drill adapter today! Very impressed with the quality. Cable is a tad heavier than I thought it’d be but 8 cables in a basket is manageable. Anyone have any cutter recommendations? I was thinking about getting the general 3” and 4” rotary saw blades and a 3x4 expansion blade. Not much 6” down here so i dont think ill needthe 4x6 expansion.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> Just got 256’ of eel cable, a small assortment of cutters some cable baskets and a drill adapter today! Very impressed with the quality. Cable is a tad heavier than I thought it’d be but 8 cables in a basket is manageable. Anyone have any cutter recommendations? I was thinking about getting the general 3” and 4” rotary saw blades and a 3x4 expansion blade. Not much 6” down here so i dont think ill needthe 4x6 expansion.


The general rotary saw blades are good. I pretty much only use the 3" as the 4" doesn't always get past squashed or misaligned portions, or worse, it will go past but not back.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

The cable guy said:


> Just got 256’ of eel cable, a small assortment of cutters some cable baskets and a drill adapter today! Very impressed with the quality. Cable is a tad heavier than I thought it’d be but 8 cables in a basket is manageable. Anyone have any cutter recommendations? I was thinking about getting the general 3” and 4” rotary saw blades and a 3x4 expansion blade. Not much 6” down here so i dont think ill needthe 4x6 expansion.


Put your cables inside an old tire,you can roll it to the job and they stay tucked in good


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

sparky said:


> Put your cables inside an old tire,you can roll it to the job and they stay tucked in good


Would sitting in a tire not cause the cables to hold moisture and rot faster? Ive had that issue with drum cables in the past. Never stored sectional cable that way


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## Nazareth (Sep 30, 2017)

How do you not get sht all over the house


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> Would sitting in a tire not cause the cables to hold moisture and rot faster? Ive had that issue with drum cables in the past. Never stored sectional cable that way


My cable is in a steel drum all the time and all it takes is some snake oil to keep it nice. Drill some weep holes in one sidewall of the tire so when you get it outside you can tip it over and drain it. Sun would heat up those tires nice too.

Or you could just get a drum unit


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

95 percent 6" clay here and a lot of 6" Building Traps.. You running those cables with a drill or with a machine.. I store my k1500 cables in a tire.. i have small hole drilled in side but there's never that much water in there to worry about.. grease keeps them cables from getting too rusty.. I pick and choose now... General is my bathroom machine.. k1500 is my unfinished basement/ tree branches from hell machine.. Nice to get new toys

like I said 6" is the common size so roots get THICK sometimes before they block the pipe.. I like the 1500 when its super sludgy or greasy... its a preference and I like using both. if its a toilet stack i like the general it sucks to lug that sucker up but gets the job done when its a hard object in there...I also have a 1/2" cable for that style job too.. I use general's 3" and 4" rotary saw blades daily and they are great they are flexible and I work up to the 2- 4" rotary saw blades through on mainlines and thats max what I will put through without a camera and that'll last at least a year 95% of the time sometimes longer depends on root growth..

Where'd you get those cables they look sturdy AF


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Nazareth said:


> How do you not get sht all over the house


No basements and shallow mains here so usually not an issue. For commercial jobs the k5208 has a rear guide hose so not much to worry about




Venomthirst said:


> 95 percent 6" clay here and a lot of 6" Building Traps.. You running those cables with a drill or with a machine.. I store my k1500 cables in a tire.. i have small hole drilled in side but there's never that much water in there to worry about.. grease keeps them cables from getting too rusty.. I pick and choose now... General is my bathroom machine.. k1500 is my unfinished basement/ tree branches from hell machine.. Nice to get new toys
> 
> like I said 6" is the common size so roots get THICK sometimes before they block the pipe.. I like the 1500 when its super sludgy or greasy... its a preference and I like using both. if its a toilet stack i like the general it sucks to lug that sucker up but gets the job done when its a hard object in there...I also have a 1/2" cable for that style job too.. I use general's 3" and 4" rotary saw blades daily and they are great they are flexible and I work up to the 2- 4" rotary saw blades through on mainlines and thats max what I will put through without a camera and that'll last at least a year 95% of the time sometimes longer depends on root growth..
> 
> Where'd you get those cables they look sturdy AF


i plan on running both with k5208 and with a drill depending on situation. I too use the general rotary saw blades on the k60 at my current place of employment. Got the cables from eel. Ordered them from Jerry👍


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Camera came in😀. Went with mytana vs ridgid due to ease of repair. Got a rycom locator off of ebay a week ago. And a 1/4" counter top machine made by roto rooter from ebay yesterday. It's all coming together 😎


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> Camera came in. Went with mytana vs ridgid due to ease of repair. Got a rycom locator off of ebay a week ago. And a 1/4" counter top machine made by roto rooter from ebay yesterday. It's all coming together


I dont know about ease of repair. My old boss had to send his in and got it back like 3 weeks later. He couldn't just repair it. Side note I don't think the mytana brand is very good. Neither their cable machines nor their camera.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Hmm I've never heard anything bad about their machines before. I was under the impression that if a camera head or pushrod breaks you could order a new one and change it out yourself. I will say they weren't my first choice but vue-rite told me they don't sell new systems anymore. Ridgid was a no go for me due to having to send stuff out to a repair center to get it fixed


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

Most of the time it is not the camera that needs repair it is the push cable and they must be sent in. But the Ridgid has the best push cable. The only camera heads I know of that actually do go bad are the Vivax units.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> Hmm I've never heard anything bad about their machines before. I was under the impression that if a camera head or pushrod breaks you could order a new one and change it out yourself. I will say they weren't my first choice but vue-rite told me they don't sell new systems anymore. Ridgid was a no go for me due to having to send stuff out to a repair center to get it fixed





Cuda said:


> Most of the time it is not the camera that needs repair it is the push cable and they must be sent in. But the Ridgid has the best push cable. The only camera heads I know of that actually do go bad are the Vivax units.





The Dane said:


> I dont know about ease of repair. My old boss had to send his in and got it back like 3 weeks later. He couldn't just repair it. Side note I don't think the mytana brand is very good. ..........



I have had a ridgid seesnake cs6 pak(The monitor on a frame with the roatating plastic drum and 100' of cable) for ~6 years now and it's never needed repair. Occasionally the cnnection resets which I think is the rotating connector in the head of the camera. I was told by @gear junkie that it's unusal for them to go more than 3 years without a head replacement. I use mine almost everyday and usually several times a day.

I don't particularly like most of ridgids current production methods, the quality has certainly gone down over the decades. But I must admit this camera has been great to me.

As for sending it in to repair, we would likely order a whole new cable with camera head already attached to use while we sent the other cable in for repair so we wouldn't be without a camera for more than a couple days. Then we'd end up with a spare camera head/cable too.


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

I've seen numerous problems with the full sized ridgid reel camera heads. Multiple sonde failures And Lights not working. I've never kinked a pushrod but I've seen others do it.

I'm not trying to bash ridgid but they do fail. (Just like everything else in life). If I can reduce down time by doing repairs myself than it seems like a better option than having a spare unit in the shed so I can send the broken one off. One of these days but not today. Will still be a few months before I go off on my own anyhow.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

But you can order the ridgid cable with ends ready to install if you want to do it yourself. Point is seesnakes will last the longest but they also cost the most too. Or just use your other one like it was super fragile and make enough to get the seesnake. seen a thousand guys not buy the seesnake at first but usually do in the end.


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## Danny3Xd (Mar 30, 2021)

Cool, nothing like new toys! I've just got but never used the spiral saw tooth cutters. Seems like a great idea and looking forward to trying 'em.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Danny3Xd said:


> Cool, nothing like new toys! I've just got but never used the spiral saw tooth cutters. Seems like a great idea and looking forward to trying 'em.


Better not try it with that 1/2" cable, especially if it's some cheapo cable. I run a general 5/8" and wouldn't use the root saws on anything that size if it wasn't general, eel, or dcd. Ridgid cable is crapola.

I have a ridgid K-750 and run 3/4" general cable in it. I suggest you do the same since you're new. You'll likely wrap your wrist up with that 1/2" going after roots.


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Personally I believe pear shaped blades are a better choice for Drum machines which rely on torque rather than speed to clear roots. Especially for those who are newer to the game


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> Personally I believe pear shaped blades are a better choice for Drum machines which rely on torque rather than speed to clear roots. Especially for those who are newer to the game


Not sure what you mean by pear shaped. I usually use a single serrated side cutter first so I don't bite off more than I can chew and then will use a single light duty root cutter followed by two light duty root cutters. That usually clears all traces of roots in a 4" pipe, except the little burrs sticking through the cracks.


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

@skoronesa I grew up on drum cable with threaded ends. The general blades don't work in anything but slotted end cable but a pear shaped blade is similar to the side cutters like you showed in the first picture. The problem with starting out with a spiral root saw on a drum is if you bite off more than you can chew and throw the machine into reverse you run the risk of corkscrewing the blade deeper into the mass. That comment wasn't aimed at you btw just precaution for those coming in with a tad less experience. Those are the blades most homeowners get their rental equipment stuck with before giving me a shout to come get it out


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> @skoronesa I grew up on drum cable with threaded ends. The general blades don't work in anything but slotted end cable but a pear shaped blade is similar to the side cutters like you showed in the first picture. The problem with starting out with a spiral root saw on a drum is if you bite off more than you can chew and throw the machine into reverse you run the risk of corkscrewing the blade deeper into the mass. That comment wasn't aimed at you btw just precaution for those coming in with a tad less experience. Those are the blades most homeowners get their rental equipment stuck with before giving me a shout to come get it out


I wasn't taking it personally, just adding my two cents


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## Danny3Xd (Mar 30, 2021)

skoronesa said:


> Better not try it with that 1/2" cable, especially if it's some cheapo cable. I run a general 5/8" and wouldn't use the root saws on anything that size if it wasn't general, eel, or dcd. Ridgid cable is crapola.
> 
> I have a ridgid K-750 and run 3/4" general cable in it. I suggest you do the same since you're new. You'll likely wrap your wrist up with that 1/2" going after roots.


It is for a 5/8s cable oddly enough on my brand new K-750. I started drain cleaning in 1998 and they weren't even available then. But good advice in any event.

Having a machine shop, I plan on experimenting on making specialty cutters and tools. I like my Ridgid machines but am not impressed with the options available.


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Speaking of ridgid camera failures second sonde went out within 1 year on the same full sized reel. Delaying my repair with an hour round trip😣


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

Found a rothenberger r600 on eBay and the price was right. Got it today and tested it out. Works well. Needs some minor adjustments but it grips and spins 5/8 and 7/8 cable just fine👍. The cord will definitely be shortened tho.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> ..........The cord will definitely be shortened tho.


My general 91 has like 15' of cord which would be nice if it was neoprene jacketed and the cord hooks were actually large enough to hold it all. I have it all wound up nice with like 15 zipties. Every once in a while some jagoff uses it when I am out from work and cuts all the zipties and then winds the cord around the whole frame because they're lazy as phuck.

I've been threatening to shorten that cord for years. In that time I've changed motors thrice, each time they come with a new cord pre-attached.


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