Asking for a friend

This question goes beyond the basics of "get a good crimper" or a shrink tubing printer for labeling.
Beyond the correct wire gauge/type and not even breaker selection.
I understand all of that. I'm looking for the stuff that isn't in the boolks.

How do you make the wires look like art-work where all the wires jive and route perfectly?

There are panels that are wired correctly, function correctly and don't look entirely like a rats nest.
That's about where I'm at.
I'm comfortable wiring a functional panel with the appropriate breakers and requisite load calculations so that its proper, safe and functional...
I've even learned how to tie it up with lacing chord.
But the bundles always seem to look a bit out of sorts.
This wire is too long, that wire is on the top when it should be on the bottom....

What are the unwritten secrets to organizing a wiring bundle so when it's done - it looks finished?

The best advice I can give you on this issue is to leave both wire ends extra long until everything is tested and working OK, then you can move wires, even to the point of redoing ends until it all lays just as you want. I know it seems wasteful but you can never stretch one that is too tight while you can always shorten one so it lays pretty.

This is easy to say but I, myself, never seem to be able to follow my own advice very well.

I agree on leaving the wires long. I dont like using extra connectors though, so I leave them long and then lay them into place to where they are going, then cut to the proper length and terminate. That's how I'm doing my 206 right now, and as I'm not exactly sure where all the wires are going to run yet, I've just left them long enough that they will work anywhere in the panel. Once i get my monitor figured out then I'll know where the rest of the wires will go. Seems wasteful, but it's really not that bad and will make a nicer product I think.

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No idea if this is relevant, but I used to walk through a high-end avionics shop on unrelated business, and I'd see the panels they were working on. They'd have all the wires run and bundled and hanging out of the instrument holes, waiting for the instruments to be installed. It looked to me like they wired from the engine/airframe backwards, then attached the instruments last. I'm guessing they had a schematic and weren't working off memory, especially since all the wires were white.

I wish I'd taken some pictures. Some of the wire bundles were as fat as my wrist, and I remember thinking that if I had to sort something like that out I'd quit flying instead. No birds nests though...every wire went into a bundle and disappeared into the firewall.

The backside of my panel looks like a hay bailer hit a barb wire fence during a tornado, so I have no personal expertise.

David, I’ve had success by building a mock up out of plywood sheet which allows me to use it as a jig to get all the lengths and bundles organized outside the airframe with both ends left long.

Then the bundles are transferred to the airframe and the ends trimmed to length.

Not sure if this makes sense or not. I have nails placed in the wooden jig which allow the bundles to be secured at approximately the same spots that I plan on securing them in the aircraft. It takes some expertise to know how to measure and choose your lengths for the runs. Too long is just as bad as too short, but easier to fix by trimming of course.

A poor mans, homemade version of this:





Once you have the template for an airframe, you can duplicate it again and again if needed.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see any of the jigs I’ve made used more than once! They usually sit around for a few months and then get thrown away when no one else wants them.

I think Aryana has it. A plywood mock up. I’d add that a lot of long skinny nails, maybe finish nails with small heads, could keep it more organized. Use enough to create combs that the wires can be run through. Bending a big bundle around a single nail won’t produce the results I believe you’re after. To put it another way, create multiple lanes divided by nails. More lanes in the core of the harness, fewer in the extremities. Route wires in lanes to minimize lane changes. Tie wrap them when you’re done and then pull the nails. Then cut the tywraps off as you apply lacing.

Not first hand knowledge, just a hypothesis to spur additional ideas.

How will you label all the individual wires?

I’ll add that I got the idea many years ago from Raytheon in Florida, who was my customer at the time and gave me a tour of their facility that was doing avionics upgrades on old military aircraft.

If you google “aerospace avionics wiring jig” you’ll get a bunch of images that will give you more ideas.

Thanks for the replies so far.
I've seen the wiring boards before. They look like the right way for when you're making multiple of the same harnesses but never thought about it for one job.

Leaving the wires extra long makes the most sense to me on a job like this.
I've been trying to route, label, and place each wire as I go while checking it off a list - which gets it done but looks like ass.
Luckily, wire and terminals are relatively cheap as airplane parts go.
This might even be faster in the long run.

For wire marking, I picked up a DYMO Industrial RHINO 5200 Label Maker on the advice of Greg Hren. It prints onto heat shrink tubing which makes the whole process a piece of cake.

Another thing, make sure you leave enough wiring behind the guages so you can pull them out far enough to unhook without having to go up behind the panel. If that makes sense...

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A1Skinner wrote:Another thing, make sure you leave enough wiring behind the guages so you can pull them out far enough to unhook without having to go up behind the panel. If that makes sense...

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Yes. There are a few places where service loops make good sense.
The MVP-50 has lots of remote boxes where service loops will make it easier to put in and out.

Bagarre wrote:….How do you make the wires look like art-work where all the wires jive and route perfectly?....
What are the unwritten secrets to organizing a wiring bundle so when it's done - it looks finished?

I think a lot of it is experience.
Go look at a construction job, see if you can pick out what work was done by an apprentice vs what was done by an experienced journeyman.
I've seen wiring on old-school HVAC control panels that were works of art.
And others that looked like a spaghetti dinner.

hotrod180 wrote:I think a lot of it is experience.

This, plus knowledge of industry practices, MIL-standards, along with a few thousand invested in crimpers, strippers, heat guns, pin/socket extractors, go/no go gages, hand tools, etc.

Terminal boards/blocks and covers can be extremely useful in making everything look perfect. Very easy to get wire lengths just right and easier access in most cases. I have them mounted on both sides behind my panel. Skygeek and Chief both have good selection of parts.

Ditto on the label maker.

hotrod180 wrote:

Bagarre wrote:….How do you make the wires look like art-work where all the wires jive and route perfectly?....
What are the unwritten secrets to organizing a wiring bundle so when it's done - it looks finished?

I think a lot of it is experience.
Go look at a construction job, see if you can pick out what work was done by an apprentice vs what was done by an experienced journeyman.
I've seen wiring on old-school HVAC control panels that were works of art.
And others that looked like a spaghetti dinner.

um, duh!

I am asking for the the people with "a lot of experience" to share their tips and lessons learned with a person that doesn't have "a lot of experience".
For example: the advice given earlier in this thread.

I don't have the time to wire up 50 or 100 panels to gain the experience or learn the tips and tricks by trial and error so I'm not sure what to do with advice like "I think a lot of it is experience".

akgreg wrote:Terminal boards/blocks and covers can be extremely useful in making everything look perfect. Very easy to get wire lengths just right and easier access in most cases. I have them mounted on both sides behind my panel. Skygeek and Chief both have good selection of parts.

Ditto on the label maker.

I only have one terminal block I was using for headset jack connections but I think you're right that using a few more would help.
I did get a good grounding block to run ground to one location on the firewall.

Found another good tip I thought I'd share.

Don't shrink the heat shrink labels until the project is done.
This way, you can orient and position them as you want so they all look the same.

Bagarre wrote:Thanks for the replies so far.
I've seen the wiring boards before. They look like the right way for when you're making multiple of the same harnesses but never thought about it for one job.

Leaving the wires extra long makes the most sense to me on a job like this.
I've been trying to route, label, and place each wire as I go while checking it off a list - which gets it done but looks like ass.
Luckily, wire and terminals are relatively cheap as airplane parts go.
This might even be faster in the long run.

For wire marking, I picked up a DYMO Industrial RHINO 5200 Label Maker on the advice of Greg Hren. It prints onto heat shrink tubing which makes the whole process a piece of cake.

Do you need to buy special hat shrink to write on or will it work with any? I should pick one up as well...

David

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A1Skinner wrote:

Bagarre wrote:Thanks for the replies so far.
I've seen the wiring boards before. They look like the right way for when you're making multiple of the same harnesses but never thought about it for one job.

Leaving the wires extra long makes the most sense to me on a job like this.
I've been trying to route, label, and place each wire as I go while checking it off a list - which gets it done but looks like ass.
Luckily, wire and terminals are relatively cheap as airplane parts go.
This might even be faster in the long run.

For wire marking, I picked up a DYMO Industrial RHINO 5200 Label Maker on the advice of Greg Hren. It prints onto heat shrink tubing which makes the whole process a piece of cake.

Do you need to buy special hat shrink to write on or will it work with any? I should pick one up as well...

David

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The label maker has shrink tube in a cassette that it prints on. Looks just like the other label maker cassettes but has various tubing sizes.
The smallest is 1/4" tubing that shrinks 3x and works well on 20gauge.

They have it in 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BP ... UTF8&psc=1

A1Skinner wrote:Do you need to buy special hat shrink to write on or will it work with any? I should pick one up as well...

David

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Yes, there’s special roll of heat shrink that you buy that goes in the DYMO printer.

EDIT: Bagarre just beat me to it!

Bagarre wrote:The label maker has shrink tube in a cassette that it prints on. Looks just like the other label maker cassettes but has various tubing sizes.

Thanks for sharing, gonna have to pick this up.