# Drum break



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I have an idea about what I’m thinking to make. A foot pedal instead of your boot to stop the drum once torsion builds too quick. (Really thinking about this as a training tool for my kid.) He’s getting better, but getting the feel, autofeed, and yank is like learning a stick shift for him.

Thinking a bicycle type break with a spring.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

Marco had a handle bar bike brake to stop the drum.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> Marco had a handle bar bike brake to stop the drum.


Yes and mine broke few months after I bought it


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

sparky said:


> Yes and mine broke few months after I bought it


Yeah, we stripped all that crap off immediately.
I remember my father taking the auto feed off and throwing it in the garbage can after the machine was delivered. Brand new.

He stripped it down to the bare bones. 

I keep it greased up with bearing grease. That’s the key to making the machines last.
Also replace the bearings so everything spins true. Wobble of old bearings will wear the machine out.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I’ve never seen a Marco in person, just pictures here. To be honest, I’m not a very good teacher when it comes to drain cleaning. I’m over sensitive when it comes to what the cable is feeling like when I’m not the one feeling it. Probably more so now that I don’t have a boss to buy a new one. My kid is getting better, but there’s still times that he doesn’t react quick enough when it starts to bind.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

OpenSights said:


> I’ve never seen a Marco in person, just pictures here. To be honest, I’m not a very good teacher when it comes to drain cleaning. I’m over sensitive when it comes to what the cable is feeling like when I’m not the one feeling it. Probably more so now that I don’t have a boss to buy a new one. My kid is getting better, but there’s still times that he doesn’t react quick enough when it starts to bind.


How old is he ? Man I’d be scared to let anyone under about 16 run my machine. Maybe not even that young. Thing can/will hurt ya bad. And age wouldn’t be my deciding factor, you have to be a buck to handle the machine when that cable gets away…….

No long hair, no hoodie strings, no loose clothing. Good gloves. And don’t force the cable, which we all do……


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## WashingtonPlung (Jul 25, 2016)

Thought this is what you meant when you said drum break Zach on TikTok


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> How old is he ? Man I’d be scared to let anyone under about 16 run my machine. Maybe not even that young. Thing can/will hurt ya bad. And age wouldn’t be my deciding factor, you have to be a buck to handle the machine when that cable gets away…….
> 
> No long hair, no hoodie strings, no loose clothing. Good gloves. And don’t force the cable, which we all do……


Just turned 14. I’m strict on attire. However he has a problem with remembering wearing socks for those houses… 

I’ve been teaching him to force the cable, but he hasn’t figured out the breaking point/failure point yet. Hope he doesn’t. He’s watched me use reverse to unstuck a cable and take it to that point without failure a few times, he’s not there, but gets to see it.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

Tell him if the cutter head isn’t turning then he’s not cleaning. When the head stops turning, pull it back then go forward again.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> Tell him if the cutter head isn’t turning then he’s not cleaning. When the head stops turning, pull it back then go forward again.


Build tension, pull back and shove it back in. His problem is the autofeed. Putting in neutral or slightly in reverse, depending on the feel and distance of the cable. He tends to get too much cable between the machine and the clean out. I have no desire for him to cable a highwall yet.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

OpenSights said:


> Build tension, pull back and shove it back in. His problem is the autofeed. Putting in neutral or slightly in reverse, depending on the feel and distance of the cable. He tends to get too much cable between the machine and the clean out. I have no desire for him to cable a highwall yet.


I’ve never liked an auto feed.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> I’ve never liked an auto feed.


I’ve worked with and without. It’s an advantage for time in most cases, but when you really need to feel the line, I loosen it up and go by hand. Kid ain’t even close to that yet.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> I’ve never liked an auto feed.


I’m about 100% auto feed on all drains. Except my SuperVee obviously


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Debo22 said:


> I’m about 100% auto feed on all drains. Except my SuperVee obviously


The autofeed Vee is a PITA! Not recommend!


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## hewhodigsholes (Oct 28, 2020)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> I’ve never liked an auto feed.


I prefer autofeed on anything over 3/8" cable, simply because it gets so dang heavy, and because I have a jacked up shoulder from a dumb teen making and illegal left turn in his truck and totalling my RSX. I'm starting to prefer autofeed on the smaller cables too.

It's all in the feel. I can tell what the cable is doing so long as I have a hand on it. Now the younger guys at my company with only a year or two of experience tend to wreck cables left and right whether there's an autofeed or not.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

hewhodigsholes said:


> I prefer autofeed on anything over 3/8" cable, simply because it gets so dang heavy, and because I have a jacked up shoulder from a dumb teen making and illegal left turn in his truck and totalling my RSX. I'm starting to prefer autofeed on the smaller cables too.
> 
> It's all in the feel. I can tell what the cable is doing so long as I have a hand on it. Now the younger guys at my company with only a year or two of experience tend to wreck cables left and right whether there's an autofeed or not.


Lol! Years ago we hired a guy, about 10 years my senior. Decent plumber, but he couldn’t clean to save his azz! Give him a brand new 5/8 cable and he’d destroy it in three jobs. We eventually switched him to a 3/4 cable, which he then destroyed the wheels on his k750. He was the type when on call, you’d call him, give him an address, number and what the job sounded like and hang up. If you didn’t make it a quick call you’d be listing to him whine for a half hour about how he just cracked his first beer.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

It’s not about the feel of the cable for me. 

I just don’t like auto feeds. I’d rather manually put the cable in the drain and pull it back.

I’m all for everyone else using them. 👍


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> It’s not about the feel of the cable for me.
> 
> I just don’t like auto feeds. I’d rather manually put the cable in the drain and pull it back.
> 
> I’m all for everyone else using them. 👍


Every good cleaner has their own ways. What works for me won’t work for you, and vice versa. I worked with a guy once where we would swap jobs if one of us couldn’t get a line open. It was the same story every time. “You couldn’t open this?!! I got it open in 15 minutes!”


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

I understand everyone has their way. I just don’t feel an auto feed helps clean the drain any better. 

I like to go back and forth with the cable, rapidly. Can’t do that with auto feed. I do this the entire way pulling the cable back into the drum.

In certain instances they’re nice but those for me are far and few between. Auto retrieve is nice when you have 225’ of 3/4” innercore cable out with some roots on the end.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

I usually run my cable out and hit the obstruction and get the drain flowing.

Then continue all the way through the customers sewer lateral.

At this point I’ve opened the drain but it’s not clean.

While I’m retrieving I like to clean. So I swab the line with my cutter head going back and forth and slowly pulling the cable all the way back out of the pipe.

Pulling 100’ of cable back would take me 10 minutes or so. Maybe longer depending on the tree situation on that property. Or a might hit a bad 10’ section swabbing back and forth for 10 minutes.

I’ve considered mounting an auto feed on my machine but after weighing the pros and cons, it just wasn’t worth the initial expense, the initial time or the ongoing maintenance, for me.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> I usually run my cable out and hit the obstruction and get the drain flowing.
> 
> Then continue all the way through the customers sewer lateral.
> 
> ...


I run a main in a very similar way. I prefer to send it out once, work each spot until I know it’s clean or I’m sure it’s a misalignment. As far as maintenance or rebuilding an autofeed goes… at 13 my kid rebuilt my backup for the first time last year. Took him a half hour, very little instruction. Maybe $10 in parts and grease? But, like I said, everyone has the system that works for them. I had a boss once that took six months to order bearings, so I’ve run a machine without an autofeed. Sometimes, depending on the feel, I’ll loosen it up and just hand feed. An extra 5lbs up and down the stairs doesn’t scare me.


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

I can jam a screwdriver into the front of my machine and the cable will pull itself out……

Hillbilly auto retrieve

I do that when I have 150+ of cable out with roots on the end to pull it back.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Never heard of a screwdriver trick! I might have to try it.


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> I can jam a screwdriver into the front of my machine and the cable will pull itself out……
> 
> Hillbilly auto retrieve
> 
> I do that when I have 150+ of cable out with roots on the end to pull it back.


Show us a picture


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## The cable guy (Oct 31, 2020)

When I learned I was taught to feed in and clean the line by hand then autofeed the cable back. I ****ed up quite a few cables and hurt myself several times my first year on the road. Personally I wouldn't recommend teaching that way it was expensive and painful. Autofeed is a safety device and should be implemented when teaching new guys to run cable, though you get a better feel for it and can clean a line faster by hand the risk of getting wrapped up in cable is higher. Focus on teaching him to start backing off when the cable starts to build tension then when the tension breaks free to jam it back into forward. Try to explain that that when that blade is breaking free it's spinning alot faster letting the spring even out. I have a son the same age and I can't imagine putting him behind a drum. Maybe a sectional. They're much safer.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

The cable guy said:


> When I learned I was taught to feed in and clean the line by hand then autofeed the cable back. I ****ed up quite a few cables and hurt myself several times my first year on the road. Personally I wouldn't recommend teaching that way it was expensive and painful. Autofeed is a safety device and should be implemented when teaching new guys to run cable, though you get a better feel for it and can clean a line faster by hand the risk of getting wrapped up in cable is higher. Focus on teaching him to start backing off when the cable starts to build tension then when the tension breaks free to jam it back into forward. Try to explain that that when that blade is breaking free it's spinning alot faster letting the spring even out. I have a son the same age and I can't imagine putting him behind a drum. Maybe a sectional. They're much safer.


Yes, neutral, build some tension, not as much as I do, yank back and slam it forward. I know the breaking point of a cable in any state, he doesn’t for sure. Safety is paramount! I do take over when I have a concern and have him watch my every move. Between last week he’s cabled 6 mains all on his own. He could’ve done one more yesterday but I overbooked the day so he just did clean up. Lol! He started out pulling back and quickly learned when to stop the drum and pull back by hand to prevent more mess/clean up time.

The only sectional I have is the 1500 and generally only use it on 6” lines. I hate using it, but it’s a necessary evil. I just warn the customer to lock up all pets and children.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

OpenSights said:


> I’ve worked with and without. It’s an advantage for time in most cases, but when you really need to feel the line, I loosen it up and go by hand. Kid ain’t even close to that yet.


What he said


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

OpenSights said:


> Never heard of a screwdriver trick! I might have to try it.


Only works on Markos


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

The only way to really learn drain cleaning is by doing and trial and era,yea we can give descriptive advice on how it’s done but ultimately a person just has to go hands on and build your own technique


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## TerryTotoSucks (5 mo ago)

sparky said:


> Only works on Markos


You know what’s up


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

TerryTotoSucks said:


> You know what’s up


😉


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## rooterboy (Jul 16, 2009)

sparky said:


> Only works on Markos


This is not a drum machine remedy but, the Milwaukee sectional machine has a retrieval function, and my cheap Chinese K 50 copy also has the same feature like a slotted end that gets in the loose wound of the cable and you screw it back.

With sectional cable and a cast-iron vent you can also use the edge of the vent and pull the cable on the lip of the vent this acts like a screw driver and it screws the cable out of the drain


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