Zip-Ties & their safe use!!!!!

[PerfTech]

Zip-Ties & their safe use!!!!!
In the forty five years of building, restoring and flying aircraft I have seen and learned many things, both good and bad. In the last few years I have witnessed first hand a rapidly growing trend that is very disturbing. I see people using more and more zip ties and fewer Adel clamps in locations that are critical and potentially dangerous or possibly even deadly. The problem is compounded many fold by the ramped use of (From lack of knowledge or being cheap) inferior zip ties purchased from Harbor Freight. The plastic doesn't begin to approach the quality of that in the ties used by the telephone company or other reputable commercial enterprises. These cheap knock-offs are not intended for use on anything that means anything. Most flying general aviation aircraft are thirty, forty or fifty years old and are assembled using lots of Adel clamps. Had they used plastic zip ties they would most likely all be broken by now. Ask yourself, do I care if this falls off as soon as I walk away? If your answer is yes, then by all means, do not use those cheap ties. They rapidly degrade with age and temperature, Becoming brittle and failing. They will do this in a matter of days if used in under cowl applications where temps are high. The use of zip ties has made many operations easier and they are a great product if you use the quality ones as designed. One way to tell is the good ones have a stainless steel tang that locks them, not a plastic tab with ridges. These good ones are also made of a very strong nylon that is heat, cold and ozone resistant. I seriously doubt many out there would consider using bolts from Harbor Freight or Home Depot in the construction of their aircraft, even in areas that are non structural. Good zip ties are very important to your end result and are readily available on line from a multitude of suppliers. I will post a link below to the quality ones as this in not the place to cut corners. Read the information and get the proper ties for the job. Thanks, Allan
http://www.mcmaster.com/#zip-ties/=g4hfqv