After Hours REWIND: Virtual QAs!

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I will admit I was kind of like creating the link for this so you probably just saw I will be at the big city conference . I'll talk about that in a minute . Big for me . Um , so every thursday night and the last week of the month we do virtual qas , virtual qa . So I've got some pictures that were sent to me .

Some of the pictures were sent to me by a project that they actually did and some of the pictures that were sent to me were um pictures , that stuff that they saw while they're working .

We have some things , some housekeeping we got to get out of the way first . Now the next thing we always do is check out the QR code , which will be on the screen here in just a second man . I need to talk my wife into doing this stuff for me . There we go . There's the QR code right there . Right there .

So you know , if you like this content , if you like what I do and you want to help support the program , buy me a cup of coffee . Click on that link or scan that QR code with your phone . Buy me a cup of coffee .

You can even schedule a 15-minute one-on-one Zoom call with me after hours , of course , course , because I do have a day job , so I always do that . That's after hours .

It's just a way that you can support the show , because it costs money to put all this stuff up and , uh , honestly , the wife's getting mad at me because I'm not making enough to pay for the show . So , secret , secret , I don't want to get in trouble . So , yeah , try to support the show if you can .

Um , if you go to patreon , you can support us there we got , we got things as little as five dollars a month . Every little bit helps to support this show , every little bit . So today's acronym challenge because you know that's the next step that we go to is knock noc . Noc acronym challenge . What does noc mean ?

I'll give you a few minutes to figure that one out NOC , what does that acronym mean ? And you know we're doing that live acronym challenge at Big C , this on Wednesday , right ? So let me see , nobody has answered it in the TikTok feed . Let's switch over to the thing . Oh , look at that , there it is , right there .

Home Lab Tech Support Network Operations Center . They got it just a hair before you , big Daddy . Just a hair . I mean , it was so close , so close . So that's what knock means . Let's go ahead and clear that . Let's get to the rest of the show . Clear off this graphic . Remember how to do that ? Oh , yeah , da-da-da-da . Clear off this graphic .

I can't remember how to do that . Oh , yeah , there it is Bingo , Bingo . So we've done the thing .

Today's motivational minute and I don't know where I heard this , so I can't attribute who it was , but it kind of ties in with the theme for tonight If you don't have time to do it right the first time , when , if you don't have time to do it right the first time , when are you going to have time to go back and redo it ? I'll say that again .

Let it sink in If you don't have time to do it right the first time , when are you going to find time to go back to do it right ? When you do poor quality work the cost of quality you know you got to pay somebody to go back out and do that again you lose customer confidence .

You might impact your schedule at your competition or at your office with other projects . It could damage your reputation . You should always do your best . Always do your best . Okay , a good technician is there was a . There was a post on Facebook this week and somebody it was .

It was a long diatribe and somebody says I don't care about your opinions , blah , blah , blah , blah . A good technician will listen to everybody's opinion in the journey to make their stuff better . Okay , it doesn't mean you'll necessarily deploy what their opinion stuff is , but you got to listen because some people are smarter than you .

There's people smarter than me out there and I listen to them . Right , and I listen to people . There are people in this industry I know this is going to shock you who have less experience than me and are smarter in some subjects than I am . I'll give you a point . So last night I'm sitting in my house watching TV .

After hours watching TV , my phone alerts me . Bing , instagram there's a live feed . Tech World was on . They were doing a live stream . They were talking about access control . I know nothing about access control . I'm a structured cable guy . So I hopped on and I listened . I learned a whole bunch of stuff .

Did you know and I didn't know this the access control guys , they are as fanatic as dressing out the cables inside their cans as we are dressing our closets . Yeah , isn't that kind of cool . So , yeah , always make sure that you do the best you can . Okay , hey , did you catch last week's show ? By the way , last week's show , anybody Catch it .

Make sure you catch it . Make sure you . We talked to Grant Schmelzer from Chesapeake . One of the things I get asked quite often is I get asked questions about apprenticeship training programs . Iec , which has offices all over the United States , has them . They have them .

They also have electrical apprenticeship programs and I have always been a huge admirer of the electrical apprenticeship programs , the joint apprenticeship training stuff , because they do it right . They do it right Now , hey , oh , by the way .

By the way , since I've got a lot of people watching here today , I want to do a show on union versus non-union from a technician's perspective . Now , I've got a bunch of people who are willing to come on the show as non-union . I mean as union , I need some non-union people .

So if you're a non-union and you want to get on a conversation and have a civil conversation with union technicians and talk about it , reach out to me . I need some non-union people for this , okay , because I really , really want to do that show , right ? So who's that ? Somebody says they are non-union .

So if you're interested in coming on the show , shoot me a message on one of these social media platforms . Okay , I can come on as a non-union . I use hired union guys for data center bullets . Excellent , ed . Yes , there's another one . As a non-union . I use hired union guys for data center bullets . Excellent , ed . Yes , there's another one , so there's two .

I know Ed will follow through and the other guy , if you follow through as well , that will certainly help . Certainly help , okay , because I'm really looking for that . All right , what was the next thing ? I kind of lost track of where I was . Oh , the Bixie Conference . Bixie Conference is next week , next week , yay , I can't wait .

I will be there on Monday and Wednesday and potentially Thursday morning . Monday I'm attending two classes and then I'm going to the exhibit hall . Monday night You'll see me walking around the exhibit hall . I won't be there Tuesday because my wife's having surgery and I'm going to be by her side on Tuesday If everything goes well . She gets released Tuesday .

I'll be at Bixie on Wednesday . If something happens , then I will be at my wife's side , no matter what . So you got to do what you got to do when you're a family man , right ? But if everything goes smoothly , I will be there at Big C on Wednesday and then , wednesday at 1230 pm , go to the exhibit hall , find the AM booth .

I think it's booth 820 , if I remember correctly . I'm doing a live acronym challenge . You know I do the acronym challenge on LinkedIn . All the time I'm doing a live acronym challenge . You know , I do the acronym challenge on LinkedIn all the time . I'm doing a live one . Yes , and the winners ? The winners can win their choice of a Wire Monkey shirt .

Let's Talk Cabling Podcast shirt , vfl . Where's my other stuff ? I'll have my cable strippers with me . I'll have some UHN strip tools with me . I'll even have an Oregon threaded tool with me . So I'm going to be doing that live Q&A . So if you're at Big C Wednesday 1230 , come check me out at the AEM booth , okay , so that way you might

win something . Oh , of course , I will also have podcast stickers , right ? So I have the regular podcast stickers and the wire monkey stickers , yeah , and also the knowledge is power sticker . You don't have to do . If you just see me walking around at big C , stop me . Say , chuck , let me have a sticker and I will give them out as long as I have them .

Okay , I have , I think two or 300 of them . I don't think I'll come across 300 people at the Big C Conference that'll absolutely just want stickers , but I'll have a bunch of them . So hope to see you there at the Big C Conference . Okay , alrighty , now let's get into the live QA portion . All righty , now let's get into the live QA portion .

Now these are QAs the pictures that were sent to me , sent to me by people . Let me take my TikTok phone down . So is there a way I can change the screen on the TikTok while I'm in midstream ? Guess not , so I'll have to do it this way , okay , so here . What we're seeing here is this is a network on somebody's home .

This was sent to me via trevor on facebook , so here's the things that I really really like about this . Trevor did a really good job of dressing his cables above that cabinet . It's kind of hard to tell because I can't zoom in on it here . Right , did a really good dressing the cables . Now , the things he could have done better he used tie wraps .

Now , tie wraps are okay , but I will tell you right out of the gate it's always better to use Velcro than it is to use tie wraps . If you use tie wraps , take care to not cinch the jacket and spaced them evenly . Also , when I looked closely in that cabinet , it looks like he mounted that cabinet to that plywood with drywall screws .

I would have used lag bolts or something a little bit thicker with a fender washer . And then another thing I don't like about this is that you see that that door is open Right behind the door . What is that ? That is an electrical distribution panel . He's way too close to that . He should be at least about two feet away from the electrical distribution panel .

So I just realized I didn't have the microphone in front of my face so you probably can hear me a lot better now , right ? So yeah , you should be at least two feet away from that electrical distribution panel . Um , oh , like I said , uh , so he's got coax cables and he's got four pair cables going into that cabinet .

I I would have liked to have seen the wraparound cable labels on the coax cable , because it's kind of hard to tell . There's a very little ledge there and that ledge is not big enough for a cable label there . So I would highly suggest that he put wraparound labels on that . But other than that , I think Trevor did a really good job .

Tell me in the chat box on a scale of one to ten . On a scale of one to ten , how well do you think Trevor did so ? Put that in the chat box . Put that in the chat box . Let's go to the next question . This one was posted in a low-voltage nation group . The guy posted was Tony Nugent .

I hope I said that correctly , tony , I don't want to get anybody's name wrong . Let's talk about the good things Tony did here . He did an excellent job dressing out that cable Excellent job . There's only one or two spots where the dressing kind of bows out a little bit . But he has no divers . He has no divers .

A diver is where a cable goes into the bundles . And here's a true shine of a professional . All those Velcro strips are lined up right . He's got them equal distances and they go straight , horizontally and vertical . They're . They're even everywhere . The only spot where he has an extra row is down there towards the bottom right hand corner of the screen .

That those velcros there , I think , are actually holding it to the ladder rack . So he put an extra row there . Um , do you know how difficult it is to dress a cable like that ? A bundle cables , a single , a single bundle of cables , not to mention eight to ten bundles of cables like tony has here .

Right , tony , I think , did a fantastic job dressing out those cables . And another thing I really like about this install when you look at that back wall , you'll notice that there's those rectangle-shaped things where he didn't paint . For those who don't know , that's the fire stamp .

You're not supposed to paint over the fire stamp because the inspector is going to want to see that . And that's exactly what Tony did here . I think he did a fabulous job . I think his cable dressing is almost on par with all green lights , maybe low-volt wire being , and even Sean Rupp , he's getting up there , he's getting up there .

I would consider him a B or maybe even an A type of technician for installing that . Here's my only concerns with this particular picture . So he's got those 10 bundles of cables . I'm assuming there's probably 24 in each of those bundles . He's got two rows . He's got a row of five on the bottom , a row of five on the top .

My concern is and I wouldn't be able to confirm this unless I was actually there on the site my concern is the weight of all those cables on the on the bottom of the bottom bundle , on the rungs , because you don't want to crush the cable .

That's my only concern , but I can't say that's the issue because I I don't have a picture of the bottom side of the cable track . And another issue that I have here and this is not an installation issue , this is a design issue , so it's probably not Tony's fault , it's probably whoever estimated it .

I would highly recommend , highly recommend that somebody that they would have put the post on the side of that ladder rack to keep everything in nice and neat right , there we go . So that's what I recommend for that one . So again , I get really good . We got another picture of him , so continue on .

There's that same ladder rack , but now we're looking the other direction . So the thing I really want to focus on here is look where those cables turn to come out of the cable tray down into the racks . He used bend radiuses . Yes , that's a common mistake that most technicians oversee is that whole thing .

Looking at the ladder rack , it goes into the wall , butts into the wall and it's anchored to the wall , and he used good lag bolts for that . So he did a really , really good job on that . One Retaining post that's the word I was looking for that . So he did a really really good job on that .

One Right Retaining pose that's what that's the word I was looking for earlier . And now , one of the things that I noticed here . Now , keep in mind this is a work in progress , a work in progress , and I know that just because watch I'll go into the next picture and you'll see why I call this a work in progress . He's not done terminating yet .

So when you're doing QAs on projects that are a work in progress , they're not done yet . You don't have to wait to the end . Matter of fact , you don't want to wait to the end to do a QA inspection .

You want to inspect it If it's a large project , like Tony's got here , at least once a week , if you're the project manager , if you're the operations manager , project manager , if you're the operations manager , because it's better to catch any problems early as opposed to the end of the project , right ?

So I think this is a work in progress because he hasn't terminated yet . One of the things I did notice is there's no bonding and grounding . So I'm assuming that's because it's a work in progress .

Here you can see a better picture of those bend radiuses , like I really like to see , and I would really also like to see , and you can't tell from this picture . So the cables come down out of the cable tray , they go down that vertical manager and then they turn and come back up and go to the panels .

I would like to see how big that turn is to make sure you didn't exceed the bend radius there . Okay , this is looking at the backside of that same panel again , but now he's looking at the bottom two rows .

Pro tip , when you're terminating patch panels , especially on large projects , especially on large projects , right , always start at the bottom and work your way up . Start at the bottom and work your way up . He's got cable labels and everything . He doesn't exceed the bend radiuses man . It looks good .

I can't wait to see the finished picture of this thing when he gets done . The finished picture . Hey , in the chat box , tell me on a scale of 1 to 10 , what do you think Tony did here ? Keep in mind it's a work in progress . On a scale of one to ten , what do you think is tony's score ? All righty , now let's shift conversation a little bit .

This was actually a picture of that somebody sent to me . Uh , they , actually they alerted me to was on the social media platforms .

What you see is a a wall mounted rack that was mounted to a gypsum board wall with plastic anchors plastic anchors and you know , I got in a conversation with somebody not too long ago about why you should not use this Because , number one , you know plastic anchors melt in the heat .

Number two , while they might be rated for the weight for the rack and the patch metal that you installed in it , you don't know . You don't know what they're going to put in that rack in the next seven to 10 years . Right , that rack is going to get heavier and heavier . Now here's some things that I recommended that this person should have done right .

I highly recommended that number one . He put in a plywood , right , put in plywood . That plywood should be mounted to the wall with either toggle bolts or galvanized screws going into the studs . That's the best way to do that . And then make sure you use AC grade three-quarter inch all that other fun stuff that the Bixie tells us to do .

And then make sure you use AC grade three quarter inch all that other fun stuff that the Bixie tells us to do , and then you can mount that wall rack to the plywood . Again , don't use drywall screws , use something that's capable of holding that , because if you don't , this is what could actually happen .

It may not happen right after the install , it might happen a year or two later . And now you have to go out and explain to the customer why your poor quality workmanship caused their network to go down Right , caused their network to go down Again . Do better , do better .

Here's another picture . This one again was sent to me online by somebody . I don't have the complete story behind this . It looks like it's some type of industrial plant , maybe because you typically don't find enclosed racks with waterproof connectors on them .

So my biggest thing here is I would not have come in from the top as they did , because if you have any kind of leakage water , chemicals , whatever that water will follow those cables right straight into that thing . You should actually come down below that enclosed panel and then come up to it . Make like a drip loop . Make like a drip loop .

Now , this person did use tie wraps and I said earlier , tie wraps are okay , prefer Velcro . If you look at the blue tie wrap the tie wrap on the blue bundle just above that curve where the purple is , that appears to me like it's cinched , and that's the one thing you want to really really watch out for .

Okay , hey , on a scale of one to 10 , tell me in the chat box what do you rate this install ? What do you rate this install ? I would like to see the inside of it , though . I really , really would , alrighty . So now going to a . This is a set of pictures that was emailed to me on one of the social media platforms . I don't remember which .

It was either Ian or Besmark Industries one of those two , I can't remember which off the top of my head . Looking at picture one , let's see if I get my camera to kind of look at that without having any kind of issues . I'm sorry , tiktok peeps , you can really see this better on YouTube . So , number one , you see where they spliced that cable .

I'm just going to put this back up in the holder because I really don't think . Are you guys able to see that on TikTok ? Let me know , yes or no . If me holding it like that helps you see it ? Okay , if it is , I'll put it back and hold it again . So and hold it again . Um .

So , number one , upper left hand corner , you see where they put a four pair cable and then they , uh , I didn't think so . Um , no , somebody says yes , so I'll hold it back up there again . So they have a four pair cable and they spliced it to a patch cord . They use the . Those type of splices are called dolphins .

It's used a lot in pots and pot stuff . You don't want to ever splice a cable . You really want to run a new cable . So that's not a good thing . That might work for pots , but it's not going to work for uh , not going to work for data . It could cause you a lot of problems .

Number two again another splice using dolphins , but this one's actually spliced outside to an outside camera . Ding , ding , ding , ding ding . Yeah , somebody needs to be corrected there . Number three when you look at that one , you're looking at a manhole , in case . It's kind of hard to tell . It's filled with water , filled with water .

And the cable that's inside of it is not outside plant cable , it is indoor rated cable . That's another big no-no . Another big no-no . Moving on to number four and number five . Number four , number five again , these were not pitches . That somebody actually did is something they came across cables laying on the ceiling tile . Big problem there .

Big , big , big problem . That's a code violation . By the way , the cables have to be at least three inches above the ceiling tile . And it's also another code violation because it's not done in what's called a neat and workmanlike manner . Neat and workmanlike manner , right .

So when the fire department puts out the fire , the very next thing they're going to do is they're going to be checking for extension . They're going to be lifting the ceiling tiles to see if the fire spread into the cavity of the ceiling . They're not going to be able to open up those ceiling tiles and if they do , stuff might fall out and injure them .

Code violation . Code violation On number four . I don't know if you noticed this violation . Code violation on number four . I don't know if you noticed this that white cable is draped across a sprinkler pipe . That's not only against any c code , that's against the sprinkler code .

So problem there in number five , in the back there , but towards that vent , you see a , uh , a bundle of cables that kind of go up and come back down . They're supported by ready for this a bridal ring , kind of go up and then come back down . They're supported by ready for this a bridal ring . Yeah , a bridal ring .

Not supposed to use bridal rings for high-performance data cabling because the thin edge of that bridal ring crushes those cables . And now you've got all that weight . So I'm just going to take a guess . I'm going to guess that bridal ring is probably three feet above the ceiling tile .

So now you've got six feet of cable times the number of cables all on those bottom cables in the bridle ring . Those cables I guarantee you are getting crushed . I guarantee you they're getting crushed . All right . And then let's go to the last one . We've got some good ones here . This one was submitted to me a while back .

Looking at number one , the upper left-hand corner , what you're looking at is a glass panel , like a modular furniture kind of thing , with a cable strapped to the outside , inside of a latching duct going up into the ceiling tile . Notice what they did ? They tore the ceiling tile .

You know , in that scenario I probably would have taken the latching duct up above the tile and then cut a notch in the tile , so that way it wouldn't have damaged the tile . Looking at number two , they're that same glass panel . The cable comes down and then turn and goes across . They didn't use any outside corners .

Right , they make inside corners , they make outside corners , they make couplers , they make right angles . They don't make left angles , though . Why don't they make ? Trivia question why do they not make left angles ? If you know the answer to that , put it in the chat box . Why do they not make left angles ?

Yeah , going down to number three , you see some cables coming out of a ceiling somewhere that looks like it might even be a home . It's a solid ceiling Problem . Number one the electrical cable is running through it .

You want to have at least 12 inches of separation , maybe even more , between your cables and the electrical and also they didn't patch up that hole . I would have either put a sleeve through that hole or I would have closed that hole off with either duct seal or probably some type of fire stop . It's probably not a fire rated barrier .

If it is , I would have used fire stop . What that does is it keeps dust and odors and insects from crawling from the ceiling into the living part of the building . So always seal it , never leave a hole like that . Ever leave a hole like that . Okay , going to number four , you see a face plate .

I want you to pay attention to that cord plugged into the left . It's a patch cord that somebody crimped an end on , which , by the way , you're supposed to use . You're supposed to use manufactured patch cords . You're not supposed to fuel , construct patch cords . They didn't make it right . The cable jacket doesn't go into the back of that APHC .

That's supposed to go inside the APHC . That way when you crimp it , it kind of pushes on the jack and helps lock it into place . As you can see , they obviously didn't do that and if you look below the faceplate , they stapled it to the wall . Ding , ding , ding . How many things can you get wrong in one install .

How many things can you get wrong in one install ? There you go . Somebody wants to know where can I send my pictures to ? You can either email them to me at chuck at letstalkcablingcom , or , if you're on one of the social media platforms you're on TikTok reach out to me . I think you can send pictures through TikTok . You can send it through Instagram .

You can send it through a bunch of other places too . So there's a way to do that . I hope everybody enjoyed the show . I hope you learned from other people's mistakes what not to do . And also , when you're doing QAs , if you're doing a QA with somebody , always start off with the positive stuff . Always start off with the positive stuff .

Say , hey , you did this . You notice , I did that tonight . That's how I do QAs , man , I love the way you dressed the cable , the Velcro's right , blah , blah , blah , blah

. Now let's talk about some things you can do to improve . That's the way to do a QA . We do QA once a month , the last week of the month , so the next QAs will be in three weeks three and a half , no four weeks . So if you have pictures you want to send them , make sure you send them to me and I hope to see everybody at the Bixie Conference .

I might even be doing some live streams at the Bixie Conference , so make sure you watch , okay , I have my phone with me . I might even do some live streams at the Bixie conference . Yeah , that'd be kind of cool . Till next time , everybody Remember , knowledge is power and this episode is out . Take care everybody .