• @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I do cable a lot for my work. I have probably a mile of cat 6 at this point. I do fiber too, and yes I want a big chunk of undersea cable to make art with.

    Edit, I accidentally replied my own comment:

    Honestly we just throw chunks of fiber away. For our purposes, if it’s over 320 feet it’s going to be fiber anyway. I made the mistake one time of underestimating the amount of fiber I’d need and cost my company a lot of money. Now I always over order and the extra goes in the trash because it’s worthless. Next time you see guys doing fiber they might just have some scrap fiber to give you.

    A few weeks ago I had a guy come up to me and jokingly say hey you should give me some of that copper line. I was feeling generous and gave him an unopened 1000ft box of cat6. Don’t tell my boss!

    Edit edit- it was plenum, and the good stuff that goes for $300+ on eBay, please don’t tell my boss. I never sell it because I like my job.

    • @rumba@lemmy.zip
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      43 days ago

      kingly say hey you should give me some of that copper line.

      Haa! that’s great. Imagine trying to harvest those 22g strande from the TP :)

      I hit an auction for an electrician that went out of business, I got a bunch of remnant boxes for different coax for around $10. They all had between 100 and 500ft left. Most of it’s just RG8 but there’s some strange dual cable sat line in there that’s almost decent. I do a little home networking so I have a few hundred feet of cat 6. on hand and prob a half spool of cat5 that I’ll never use. And I have.

      Mostly I want the big stuff because I see it but never actually get to touch it. It’s like I’d probably want a mainframe if I hadn’t spent plenty of time screwing with one.

      • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        I was rereading this thread today because I’m a cable dork and I thought you might like this bit I forgot to tell last night.

        So on that job where I underestimated the fiber, after I made the shitty call to my boss to tell him how bad I fucked up, I cut it around the mid point to make it easier to rip out. I swear to god not even 15 minutes later my boss calls back and says hey whatever you do don’t cut it! Pull it all out and wrap it up we’ll use it for another job. I’m like, sure thing boss. Luckily he either forgot about it or more likely gave me a break.

      • @MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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        53 days ago

        Might as well scrap that 5 if you’ve got enough 6. They melt it away to conserve the copper. You might get some decent money. I’m typing with gloves because I’m about to go do ice breaker and snow for the hood. Good luck!