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Drop ceiling cable runs keep snapping my coax - anyone deal with this?
Last week in a new build in Dallas, I was pulling RG6 through a suspended ceiling grid. The T-bar clips I used kept catching the cable and snapping it. Two broken ends in one hour. I switched to J-hooks halfway through but they slowed me way down. How do you guys handle grid ceilings without destroying cable?
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bennett.harper20h agoMost Upvoted
Wait, are you running the cable through the grid itself or just using the T-bar as a cable path? I gotta disagree with everyone who thinks J-hooks are the way to go here. They're slow as hell and still leave cable sagging in a grid ceiling. The trick is to run the coax in the channel right above the T-bar, not through the clips. Use a standard cable tie or a small zip tie to secure it to the grid wire itself, pulling the cable tight so it doesn't droop. That way you're not fighting the clips at all, and you won't snap another RG6. The clips are meant for the grid's weight, not your cable runs, so forcing them is asking for trouble.
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the_hayden19h ago
Started reading up on this after my own mess last month, and I found a good tip from an old commercial AV forum. They said to use the little plastic cable "bridles" that sit right on top of the grid, not the T-bar clips. They're basically a small U-channel that clips over the T-bar itself, so the cable sits up in that channel and never touches the sharp edge. It kept my RG6 from snagging, and I could zip tie it to the grid wire after, like bennett.harper said. I tried one of those T-bar clip methods once and I agree, they're just not built for this. Your mileage may vary, but that bridle trick has saved me a lot of time and broken ends on recent jobs. Ended up buying a bag of them on Amazon for like eight bucks.
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calebc4021h ago
Wait when you say the T-bar clips were catching it, were you trying to run the cable parallel to the grid or crossing through the clips themselves?
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