Surplus wire from Cincinnati's process plants

Re-control, not replacement

A packaging line at a Cincinnati plant rarely gets torn out whole. The mechanicals stay. The drives get swapped, the control cabinet gets replaced, and the field wiring is caught in between. Old 600 V control cable comes off a tray that is being reused, shielded VFD cable arrives for motors that used to run straight across the line, and instrument runs are re-pulled at a different pair count. The surplus lives in that overlap.

The overlap is also why the lots here are awkward. A drum of four-pair shielded control with 300 feet left. A coil of 14 AWG VFD cable with a foil and braid shield. Three partial spools of thermocouple extension in three different calibrations. None of it is heavy. All of it has to be identified before it is worth a conversation.

Where each family comes from

Machine tool and plastics machinery work leaves control cable and small-gauge machine wire behind. Consumer goods and packaging lines, running long shifts, release washdown-rated cable and SOOW drops that have been repaired one time too many. Food processing and distribution adds refrigeration and conveyor work. Aerospace engine work at Evendale adds instrumentation with tight specifications and unusually complete records.

The tray material is the easiest to move and the least valuable per pound. The instrument material is the reverse, which is why a lot that mixes both should be split before it is photographed.

• Multi-pair shielded control, 16 to 18 AWG
• VFD cable, three conductor with ground
• Thermocouple and RTD extension
• SOOW drops and washdown cord
• TC-ER tray from line moves

Switchback drives and river flats

Cincinnati plants sit on hillsides. A switchback drive with a 40-foot trailer on it is a different job from a suburban dock, and some of these buildings load at the third floor with a freight elevator as the only route. Below, along the Ohio, Hamilton and Middletown work the river flats, where barge terminals and rail sidings make heavy movement simple.

CSX and Norfolk Southern serve the corridor, and the Ohio River offers a bulk option that most wire lots never need. For a pallet of control cable the real question is whether a lift gate can reach the door and whether the elevator will take a reel.

What a process-plant seller should have ready

Because these lots are small and technical, the print matters more than the footage. Control cable turns on conductor size, pair count, shielding and whether it is rated for tray or only for raceway. VFD cable turns on shield construction and voltage rating. Thermocouple cable turns on the calibration code printed on the jacket, which most people read straight past.

Photograph the print on each distinct type and keep the types apart when palletising. A gaylord of four cable types is reviewed as one uncertain lot. Four labelled boxes are reviewed as four clear ones, and the difference shows up in the number.