How to use Plastic Cable Ties

Ties come in all varieties.

Plastic ties are for me a way of life, having used them at work since about 1990  as a Technician.

Alway cut the completed Ties with a flat faced cutter, the tag left by anything else will cut you.

I always rub my thumb over a cut Tie to make sure there is no tag left to injure me later.

When tying together I find two loops are better than one.

This is good for soft materials like rope but not cables.

We ran thousands of cables down risers in buildings, by using the above method.

Whether it was one floor or twenty, cables carefully tied were not damaged.

Coaxial cables and wire cables were sensitive to staff tying diagonal ties, which is a no-no.

I have Ties from 100mm to 500mm long in all colours.

Indoor any will do but outdoor ties should be Black.

UV- stabilised is best but in my locale of Australia the UV is extreme and they last a year or two.

At work we used stainless steel ties for signs and coaxial cables attached to Mobiles towers

they have a small sliding clip to slide the tag into after tying.

Sliding your hand over these thin steel ties can result in cuts, be aware!

Goodluck from Myles VK6ZRY

24/02/2014

A final note:

For temporary bundles, I like to leave the Tags on as the cable ties might tighten and expose sharp tags.

I also have Velcro ties, we used them at work for bundles of Optic fibre pigtails in racks.

They would come in a roll of about 200...

Of course they are for permanent indoor use as the Sunlight will degrade them.