Fire hazard or no? three-way block

Les

Les

Well-Known Member
I am posting this in the What Went Wrong forum (feel free to move it mods) because these are an accident waiting to happen!

Yes, I've been on the hunt for gear and lots of ebay cruising has led me to yet another scary find. These appear to be home made and out of what appears to be wood/fiber.

STAGE PIN 3-FER 3FER for theatrical lighting cable - eBay (item 190307479652 end time Jun-12-09 18:28:15 PDT)

Judging by this model number/spec's however, it appears though it is or was UL rated.
15A 250V & 20A 125V
E 11417 UL

Can someone enlighten me on this?
 
Relax, Les. They are not wood, but a fiber resin of some sort. Perfectly safe, (Safer than a plastic 2P&G connector, in fact) and manufactured by Union Connector for at least 25 years. Fairly recently discontinued, although I'm not sure why. [Edit: NOT discontinued, still on UC's website:
Catalog # Description UL Listed
G3255 20A. Branchoff, Cable Yes
G3255MT 20A. Branchoff, Male tap Yes
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]

Here are my own:
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From 2008 BMI Supply Catalog.pdf :
Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, adapter .................................. 47.25
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From 2007 BMI Catalog:
Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, adapter ..................... 43.94
Union 3-way Stage Pin Branch-off, cable mount .............. 37.80
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That's actually quite a relief! Here I was thinking there were some bootleg stagepin cubetaps running around that someone had made in their wood shop. Now I can sleep at night!

Thanks for the clarification.
 
Yep, as previously stated, totally safe. They are just your standard run of the mill Three-fer Block, got a bunch of them sitting around our theatre here.
 
We have 25 or so of them in use constantly. Other than tightening the pin sockets because they're old, they work great. Most of them have new cable and plugs as well.
 
Wow, blast from the past! I remember when ALL stage pin connectors were made out of that stuff! It would discolor or burn in an overheat as compared to melt. (would not flame up) In some ways that is better then melting. Only problem I remember is the same problem with all older SP connectors, where the pin gaps would collapse causing a poor connection. Back then, they were all two pin with a strain relief for each of the fluffy wires to go in ;)
 
Derek, is that bottom example made for use on the end of cables? Could we get another pic of that baby?

I know ship don't like these three-fer block things, but I do.
 
Okay, just for you, GTG.:grin: Perhaps not as safe as the ones Les found:!: Considering this is the connector at the other end of the 12/2 cable:
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One of the branch-off, three-ways has no markings, and was originally two pin, yet some clever soul "modified" it to accept the newfangled (beginning in 1960 according to Kliegl literature) 3pin connectors, by drilling a 1/4" hole (Common, but frowned upon, practice until at least 1980.)
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The other, I suspect, is older. It says "PAT JULY 5-10 KLIEGL BROS" (I'm certain that it does not date from 1910, however.)
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It too has been drilled out for the center pin, but also features a unique hole designed to accept a fig.8 shaped spring, in another misguided attempt to make a locking connector. [This 1957 Catalog page, lower right corner:
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shows that spring.] [Edit: this "feature" began in 1929, according to this:
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]
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Thanks Derek!

Not to hi-jack but I've got a few old medium screw base adapters that are interesting. I should get pics.

I wish I had more to contribute to the history threads.
 
What do you mean I don't like these threefers? Few years ago I bought some for a client, much less many years before turned a two pin into three pin version - and it is simple enough to do - tough my holes were not well enough lined up and the plugs didn't go in so well as to fully seat. Would never attempt to do so again of course but that I did was educational. Love the engineering of them cube taps - lots to learn about how to do stuff in just taking them apart.

I would of course prefer a spliced two or threefer with tails for each outlet or inlet for cable management reasons but such devices are perfectly fine say on a FOH catwalk deck. Never attempted the locking type but well familiar with them. Whipped versions of them in my opinion are better also.
 
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jneveaux said:
we used to refer to that material as bakelite. don't know if that is what these are or they still make that material any more. it was before the age of modern thermoplastic resins.
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nope, not that material and I think it is still in use especially say with the Halo Lazer track light fixture lamp cap amongst other stuff. Good stuff, easy to carve and no less good than many other types of material. Brittle when abused or pounded, good when fesh or used properly.

Cube taps were sort of a softer fiber like material almost similar but somewhat different to Masonite. Kind of like the Hardboard as if a wax and Bakelite were a part of the compound. Almost like as if Bakalite were combined with silicone and fiberglass at the same time. Good stuff.
 
What I wonder is, why are those three-fer blocks made out of that material? Yet virtually nothing else in the electrical world of theatre is? If it's such a good material like Derek said then why wasn't it used more often? I would love a Male or Female stagepin connector that wouldn't melt when it overheats.
 
Sony said:
What I wonder is, why are those three-fer blocks made out of that material? Yet virtually nothing else in the electrical world of theatre is? If it's such a good material like Derek said then why wasn't it used more often? I would love a Male or Female stagepin connector that wouldn't melt when it overheats.
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As posted before, I have seen a lot of the connectors made out of it in the past. To me, it looks like those kind of connectors are milled and drilled. I suspect that injection molding is the norm now as it is cheaper to produce. I would suspect you would only run across it in specialized low volume production, where the cost of setting up injection molding becomes prohibitive.
 
Can't say for sure, but they do look milled and drilled! The plant probably looks more like a woodworking shop! Shame about the price, but I would suspect it is very labor intensive.

Hey Derek, one thing the Kliegl chart you posted brings up- Growing up, the connectors were always referred to as 15 amp. These days, the same connectors are called 20 amp. In the chart, the 955 is pictured with the caption of "15 amp" and then in the table listed as 20 amp! Appears even then there was some ambiguity in description! :rolleyes:
 
JD said:
Can't say for sure, but they do look milled and drilled! The plant probably looks more like a woodworking shop! Shame about the price, but I would suspect it is very labor intensive.

Hey Derek, one thing the Kliegl chart you posted brings up- Growing up, the connectors were always referred to as 15 amp. These days, the same connectors are called 20 amp. In the chart, the 955 is pictured with the caption of "15 amp" and then in the table listed as 20 amp! Appears even then there was some ambiguity in description! :rolleyes:
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nope, there was 15a and 20A versions plus many other sizes over the years.

Why that material in use, because that's what it was and it worked well. Cube taps as I know them are not so much used due to them being inflexiable as to direction of cords off them mostly. Hanging off a pipe or something, you got like two cables going off in a supported by pipe way, two others very much opposed in a non-supported to the pipe type of way that might catch on other scenery. Threefer modern at least goes into lead in and output directions as easy to support in reasoning behind doing such a thing.
 
ship said:
nope, there was 15a and 20A versions plus many other sizes over the years.

Why that material in use, because that's what it was and it worked well. Cube taps as I know them are not so much used due to them being inflexiable as to direction of cords off them mostly. Hanging off a pipe or something, you got like two cables going off in a supported by pipe way, two others very much opposed in a non-supported to the pipe type of way that might catch on other scenery. Threefer modern at least goes into lead in and output directions as easy to support in reasoning behind doing such a thing.
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True enough, but those little square block 3-fers sure eat up less storage space.;)
 
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