Securing wire bundles
 

What is the best practice for securing wire bundles running through the fuselage? Adel clamps? Tie wrap adhesive mounts? Tie wrap screw mounts? Has anyone taken a tie wrap mount and secured it to the structure using blind rivets?

secure wire bundles
 

I think all of the methods you suggest are widely used. I use the adel clamps, although they can be difficult, and I use the adhesive squares with tie wraps. I have never tried the screw on sqaure for tie wraps, trying to keep the number of holes in the airframe to a minimum.

Mike Ice
wiring, wiring, wiring

I found adhesive tie wrap mounts to be the most effective, and not the kind you buy at Home Depot. Do a web search on ClickBond fasteners. They glue to your aluminum using dental epoxy and come with a little plastic fixture to hold it in-place until the epoxy dries.

The Click Bond fasteners are expensive ($13.50 for 4). Seems like using the screw type mount but with a blind rivet would be inexpensive and effective. Adding nut-plates for screw type mounts and Adel clamps can some times be a pain depending on access to the sub-structure.

I used mostly adel clamps, but if I had it to do over I would use the plastic squares and tie wraps. I've used them on a few things and they are STUCK! Don't use the adhesive they come with though. Remove the original sticky stuff and attach them using Shoe-Goo. I know it sounds funny, but it really sticks.

wax thread
 

No one has pointed out the use of wax thread. If you tie you bundle together every 4 inches or so, it adds a lot of strength to the bundle. That way you will not need as many supports. For supports I used the sticky squares with wire-ties.

Kent

How its done in a 747.
http://www.dslextreme.com/users/mwss/rv/100_0584.jpg

I'm not linking to the pic because its huge, cut and past the address.

tieing wires
 

Ditto to Steve and Kent, I used waxed lace for the bundles (every inch) and square tie mounts with cable ties where support was appropriate. I removed the adhesive and secured them with proseal and they're not going anywhere either.

Ron
-10 finishing

Good source for this kind of thing
 

Richco makes a gazillion of different cabling products including blind hole clips, adhiesive clips etc.

Browsing the full catalog should at least generate some ideas.. Browse down to 'Cable Management'

Cable Clips

Main Page

John

Wax string is my choice over zip ties for binding wire bundles when all else is equal. Cheaper, and NO SHARP ENDS drawing blood. I've got about 99% wax string and 1% zip ties. I find the task relaxing, especially when I can build a harness on the bench.

I think a plane should be built with a mixture of clamping methods with each application carefully selected for the unique characteristics of each fixing point.

High vibration and a heavy bundles require adel clamps.

Low vibration and a light bundle can be served by a zip tie held down by any number of means.

Sticky plates using the contained adhesive strip may be good for several wires but not a grunch of them. A larger bundle may need a better adhesive to stay fast.

1 zip tie through a short piece of fuel tubing (the blue, soft plastic tubing) and then around the bundle works well and provides a stand-off. You usually need 2 small holes through the sub-structure to affix the zip tie. Or, you can go around another bundle or a tube with this method. I put a bit of silicon tape around a tube before installing the zip tie to prevent it from fretting.

Alternately, using a second zip tie in place of the fuel tubing works very well but doesn't provide the cushioning the fuel tubing does.

For low clearance areas, I have drilled 2 #30 holes (or bigger if dictated by the zip tie) about 3/8 to a half inch apart and in line with the bundle. Through this, I install and close a zip tie leaving it just loose enough to insert a second zip tie through, and then secure the second one around the bundle. This works similar to the sticky plate method but there is no adhesive to fail.

Of course, the fuel tubing and 2 zip tie methods can only be used on interior structures where the holes aren't a problem.

Make sure to protect the wires with spiral wrap or sleeving when using zip ties as clamps, the zip ties concentrate the stress in a very small area.

Jekyll