I enjoyed reading the thread about toasters, so I want to throw this one at you smart people. I use a curling iron that has the power cable coming out of the end of the handle. The cord is on some sort of pivot so that it spins freely. The theory is that you can wind your hair around the iron and the cord doesn’t get twisted. However, after many MANY years of using a variety of curling irons, I find that the cord still always gets twisted. I can’t figure out why. So every week or two I have to dangle the thing by the cord and let it spin to unwind. Here are some photos for illustration:
A quick google search gives me articles recommending that you either tie the cord up (like in that first picture) when you’re not using it, or do the handyman powercord thing.
Those seem like a hassle to me. If it pivots apart from the handle, why does it get twisted to begin with?
The problem is that cheap cord. For this anti-twist measure to work the iron would have to use a cord made of a material that mechanically couples one end of the cord to another. (I don’t know the exact term, but, basically, when you twist one end of the cord, all the cord would twist as well).
I’m not sure if that mechanism is correct, either - a proper twist relief mechanism would have sliding ring conductors inside it so the entire curling iron can be turned freely.
It’s one of those things - if you twist up the cord, a reasonable quality modern power cord will still survive years of getting twisted. Odds are that something else will fail first. And the fixes I just outlined - a better twist relief fitting, a stiffer, thicker cord - aren’t worth the cost if you can just replace the whole curling iron for another 15-40 bucks.
Probably because you wrap the cord around the handle to store it.
You must warp it the same direction each time, which eventually leads to the cord having a permanent coil put into it, which then leads to it tangling.
Try to wrap it in the opposite direction every other time.
Sorry I should clarify the issue. I never wrap my cords. I leave it plugged into the wall at all times, with the cord hanging over the edge of the counter and the iron laying on the counter. (I make sure to turn it off when not in use.)
Because of the pivot built into the joint between the cord and the handle allowing it to rotate infinitely, the cord should never twist. It doesn’t appear twisted in the moment I’m using it. But after a week or two, the cord dangling over the edge of the counter is twisted and starting to form into loops because of it.
SOMETHING is making the cord twist, but I can’t tell what. Anybody want to buy a cheap one and dissect it to see what’s going on?
My guess (having never really played with one) is that it binds and then it becomes easier for the cord to twist elsewhere rather than where it’s ‘supposed’ to twist.
I’d think the best mechanism would be to get a cordless one. Whether or not the exist, how well they work, how long the battery lasts, how heavy they are, I don’t know, but I don’t know how much research is being put into making sure curling iron cords don’t get tangled. Though it’s probably not a bad thing to keep an eye on, the less they get tangled up, the less the people are fighting with them, the less often they fall off counters, the less often people grab the wrong end because they put it down differently…
I would think it’s because the pivot at the handle obviously isn’t friction-free, especially if there’s lateral force on it from a dangling cable, so there’s gradual cumulative twisting along the length of the wire.
Before cordless phones, the whole twisted lead thing used to drive me nuts. I would go round my office, and sometimes other peoples offices too, a couple of times a week, dangling the handsets to untwist them.
The reason they twisted (I read this somewhere and then observed it to be true) was because every time you pick up the phone, talk and put it down again, you rotate it one complete turn.
