
Wiring and Cabling: How to Lace Cable Harnesses (1962) - Lammy
http://www.dairiki.org/hammond/cable-lacing-howto/
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myself248
This is the Navy manual. The stitch described here would be called a "running
stitch" by a telephone installer, and is just one of several stitches in our
repertoire.

This PDF describes several more, including the starter, Kansas City, and
Chicago:
www.dslreports.com/r0/download/1377481~846610918062e1c57e36f03a5c37b426/lacing.pdf

It does not include the "power stitch" or "H stitch", though this and the
others are all over YouTube if you're curious.

~~~
wsh
Besides the technique, it’s also important to use the right kind of lacing
cord. A current standard in telecommunications is nine-ply waxed polyester
twine, traditionally in white or natural color.

In aerospace, flat-braided lacing tape is sometimes used, in aramid (Nomex),
glass fiber, or other materials suitable for more demanding conditions.

~~~
stan_rogers
30 years later and my index fingers are still spontaneously repulsed by "NSN
4020-01-208-7645: TAPE, LACING AND TYING". Tough stuff, much tougher than the
skin of a person's knuckle joints. Military aircraft are mostly made out of
wire.

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sdfjkl
The problem with these laced harnesses is the same as with zip-tied ones - you
can't add or remove anything (without destroying it or making a mess of it,
unless you re-tie/lace everything), and that it's difficult to use the
simplest and fastest method of wire tracing, which is tugging on it and seeing
where it goes.

Therefore the currently best method is IMHO a slotted wire duct. Put the cover
on and it's neat and tidy, but easy to pull the cover off, add or remove wires
and trace where they go.

That's probably why that method is now industry standard.

Example here, with cover on in the middle and covers removed top and bottom:
[https://blog.hellermanntyton.de/wp-
content/uploads/2017/01/P...](https://blog.hellermanntyton.de/wp-
content/uploads/2017/01/Panel_Builder_Overview_DE_01850px.jpg)

~~~
abakker
Another downside to it is EMI. tying all the wires tight together increases
the odds of any EMI problems vs letting them be loose in the wire duct.

In a previous CNC machine, I zip tied everything together very carefully, but
was getting phantom steps in one of my steppers (even with shielded wires).
Unclipping the zip ties caused the problem to go away. (after that, I added
plenty of ferrites, too, as a measure of safety, but clipping the zip ties
killed the only real symptom)

~~~
7177Y
One other way to solve this is to:

\- use EMI sheilded conductors (at greater expense), or

\- use twisted pairs where applicable.

I believe the CAN standard is based on twisted pairs, and they work very well
for other ground/signal based configurations.

~~~
abakker
I had actually used EMI shielded wires - but, I think I must have had a faulty
connection from shield to ground. Practically speaking, EMI shielding is hard
to get right if you're not a pro. I only recently got an Oscilloscope and was
able to measure what the EMI noise actually looks like on a wire. That helped
a lot in getting rid of it, too. VFDs are pretty awful - the one in my machine
nominally outputs 8amp,220v, 500hz power, containing that is a matter of
extreme care. My previous CNC (now sold) really just didn't make any attempt
and just counted on physical separation of wires and software filtering of
signals.

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klodolph
I recently started using this technique. I love it.

It's not too hard to learn how to do it in a functional sense. I don't need to
do it well, just tie up some cables.

Whether it's useful depends on how often you are adding or removing cables.
It's not a fast technique. I use it for my PC monitors + keyboard + mouse +
audio, and it's been much less of a hassle because the wires don't get tangled
any more. The real boon is in my audio equipment. For example, I have a
(musical) keyboard, and that needs 10' 2x audio + 2x MIDI. Having those cables
tied together has made a huge difference, preventing them from getting tangled
with other cables, and making it easier to keep them out of the way. I also
have a 19" rack of audio equipment, and I use this technique in the back of
the rack. Barring equipment failures, I don't expect to change anything in the
rack for the next few years.

It's functionally equivalent to using _lots_ of zip ties or velcro ties, and
most useful if you have e.g. multiple cables that that traverse the same 10'
distance.

~~~
myself248
For that use, I would get some Techflex F6 split sleeving, or some of the
velcro-closure stuff. Not only does it hold them together, it also provides
quite a bit of protection from abrasion if you drag the resulting "snake"
around the floor or whatever.

The problem with lacing an assembly that might flex, is that the cord keeps
the cables from sliding against each other, and makes the assembly very stiff.
So any flexing force is concentrated at points where it can overcome that
stiffness, and this is bad for the cables long-term.

Inside equipment, lacing is used to keep wires from abrading against each
other. In an office, it's used to secure them to frames for density,
organization, and seismic reasons. In all cases, every piece of connected
equipment is rigidly mounted, and no part of the laced form ever has to move
relative to any other part.

~~~
klodolph
That's what I would get if I were "in industry" and had a lot of cables to
deal with. I just have my personal equipment, and one spool of string is very
convenient to buy and shove in the closet when I don't need it.

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zokier
One example where cables are laced down is Curiosity rover, as noted in this
forum thread:
[https://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4028](https://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4028)

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econcon
Some days ago I was looking to make a lat pulldown DIY setup for home use, I
had hard time finding suitable pulley for the purpose. Most cables and pulley
I found got abraded fast.

~~~
7177Y
I'm interested. How does this relate?

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russfink
Looks like what I learned in scouts, vis. lashing a rope end.

