Wire duct brands comparison - good vs bad?

Per title - what's the worst and best wire duct brands you have worked with, and why? They all look the same on the outside, but there are definitely additional 'quality-of-life' features on the more expensive stuff. Yes, I am fishing for recommendations....

I'll go for the T&B branded grey duct. Fingers are strong enough that they usually don't accidentally break off and are the correct pitch for most applications. Bonus feature is the blue shrink wrap on the cover that gets peeled off on completion of the project!

Legrand - narrow fingers and gaps and a tool to cut out the lower section of the sides and then snap. No other cutting tools or fiddling about required.

Some German brand I saw on Grohmann-built machines about 20 yrs ago. The fingers tips are rather rounded in shape so the cover is held securely yet it does not take ridiculously hard effort to remove it, like Panduit and everone else’s. And nice C-shaped wire catch pieces inside.

We use Panduit grey wide finger.

I hate T&B with a passion. The sales rep tried to bring in a box to the shop. I asked him to run the back of his hand against the inside where the wire runs. He noticed how sharp it was. We then did the same with Panduit. Nice and smooth. My guys arent going to get their hands cut up socwe can save a few dollars.

I've been working with the cheaper Iboco stuff and I definitely see what you mean about the sharp edges. Thing is, I can get it so much easier and at half the price.


I am also curious about the use of wide fingers - is that for durability or more for looks? I've found the narrow fingers to be quite nice to work with, especially when I have many smaller signal wires coming into a small area, like into a PLC card or some other sort of dense termination point.

Yes the thin fingers are nice for aligning small wires. We change all the time so wide finger is easy to stock and and break out when you have larger conductors.

The cost vs pain for my guys I just cant justify the difference. Once the guys see you care about them and not just a dollar they appreciate it. I let each guy select the drill and impact they like. Most of them reach for a Dewalt drill but a Milwaukee impact. If they are happy and we all make money its a win win for us....

For 40x100, Phoenix Contact is way better than Hellerman Tyton. HT has "raised" sections every few holes, and if you try rivet on those, it distorts. PC is flat all the way.

JeffKiper said:

Yes the thin fingers are nice for aligning small wires. We change all the time so wide finger is easy to stock and and break out when you have larger conductors.

The cost vs pain for my guys I just cant justify the difference. Once the guys see you care about them and not just a dollar they appreciate it. I let each guy select the drill and impact they like. Most of them reach for a Dewalt drill but a Milwaukee impact. If they are happy and we all make money its a win win for us....

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Considerate of you to think of your guys like that - at the moment it's just me and I would have to work on anything I create in the future as well so it wouldn't affect others. But if I were to start making stuff for the wider market where I wouldn't necessarily be the one doing the work myself, I would definitely spend more on creature comforts.

the_msp said:

For 40x100, Phoenix Contact is way better than Hellerman Tyton. HT has "raised" sections every few holes, and if you try rivet on those, it distorts. PC is flat all the way.

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Do you mean if you use the bumps as mounting points for in-duct clips like they are made for, it warps somehow? Or are you trying to fasten the duct to the subpanel by screwing through those bumps? I haven't yet tried using the in-duct clips and dividers, but if they cause warpage then I can get flat-bottomed duct even cheaper anyways.

Treat yourself as good as you want other to treat you. When I shake a customers hand I want them to see the way they are to treat me and my guys.

I had the attudue of its will be alright when I started. Cheap ment more money in my pocket. It didnt take long to figure out that good hardware was cheaper than cheap hardware and more labor.

Old saying is "An expert will spend money to save time, a beginner will spend time to save money". I not an expert and far from that. We only have x amount of time on this earth so make the most of it. We use rockwell 1492-IFM modules anywhere we can. The cost way more than terminals. We have way less miswires and installation time is way less then half time. Dollar for dollar its a zero difference time is half. So we can actually move on to something else and finish the job faster. Yes it cost more in hardware but we are moving on.

rjk_cmh said:

Do you mean if you use the bumps as mounting points for in-duct clips like they are made for, it warps somehow? Or are you trying to fasten the duct to the subpanel by screwing through those bumps? I haven't yet tried using the in-duct clips and dividers, but if they cause warpage then I can get flat-bottomed duct even cheaper anyways.

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I don't use the in-duct clips, so the latter.

What I mean is, my holes are spaced (water jet) every 50mm I think, and in order to get the HT to line up with that, with no raised bits, there's an incredible amount of wastage. PC is better in that respect.

I use aluminium rivets and a pneumatic rivet gun, one press for each rivet. Panels are priced so the faster they're built = more profit.

I have a Phoenix Contact duct cutter and an Icotek DIN rail cutter. Both PT and HT I snap the fingers by bending, I haven't yet invested in a duct finger cutter.

I hate Panduit. Almost impossible to remove the cover when making changes in the field.

We've been using Iboco for many years without issues. Haven't noticed the sharp edges - will look into that.

Used some NSI in the past. Everyone hated it, because you could break off fingers just running wires through the duct.

Anything with open slots is OK. This Betaduct closed slot stuff I cannot understand. Why it exists or why anyone would use it. Popular in the UK for some reason.