Shop name for the handheld vibrator crews push into fresh concrete to consolidate it. Heads run from pencil vibes about 1 in across for tight rebar to 2.5 in and larger for walls and mass work. Good practice is to drop it in vertically, let it sink a few inches into the previous lift, hold it until the surface goes glossy and pull it out slowly, never using it to drag concrete sideways.
Get the stinger in every two feet along that wall and quit using it to push the mud down the form.
Laying a running stinger against the rebar or the form face shakes paste loose and can mark an architectural wall.
Also heard as
- vibe
- vibrator
- pencil vibe
Related terms
Consolidation
Working fresh concrete, usually by vibration, so it fills the form completely and releases trapped air.
Lift
One layer of concrete placed in a wall, column or mass pour, or the height cast between horizontal joints.
Segregation
Separation of coarse aggregate from the mortar in fresh concrete, leaving rock-heavy and paste-heavy zones.
Honeycomb
Patches of bare, loosely bound stone with open gaps, left where paste never worked in around the coarse rock.
Same word, different worlds
Shop name for the immersion vibrator head pushed into fresh castable to consolidate it.
Welding, Brazing & NDEShop name for the electrode holder that grips a stick rod and carries welding current to it.
Electricians' SlangLead that drops from a pole-top fuse cutout to a transformer's primary bushing, in lineman and service talk.