OT- worth the price of admission

I had to assemble a dial that was friction held to be resettable to "0" with 3 ball bearings. Could not hold all three at the same time and had to come up with something. This works turning a frustrating job into an easy one, zip tie all together.

Ah, the old zip tie trick. Is there anything they can't do? I lost one of my balls a good few years ago, I think it's under the bench somewhere. You can reuse those things if you flip the catch up with something fine. Steve

The mind boggles.

My double entendre gland is working overtime, alas! This is where I regret being a moderator.

Neil

Oddly enough, they aren't very good at holding bamboo canes together trying to put up a framework for tomato plants. At least the smaller ones tend to break if the loop into which they are formed gets twisted. Apart from that, the man who invented the zip tie deserves to be knighted and canonised, and awarded the Nobel prize.

Most of the length gets wasted, and they aren't reusable (easily) so a eco-warrior's nightmare and the inventor should be shot.

edit: not shot - waste of lead and I'm anti-gun. Hung with natural fibre rope.

Edited By Bazyle on 15/06/2015 23:43:29

zip tie ? oh you mean cable tie. Is zip tie an Americanism.

A quick search shows that the zip tie, cable tie, ty-rap, or whatever you want to call it, was invented in America in 1958 by R.Howard and H.Betts. Howard & Betts introduced the cable tie with the name Ty-Rap. The Wikipedia article states 'The name [zip-tie] probably comes from the installation of a cable tie which produces a "zip" sound as the pawl rides the slope of teeth.'. The Electrician that trained me called it a Ty-Rap.

**LINK**

Steve

You can actually get re-usable cable-ties, see here. Many other suppliers are available and have been for years, only thing is if you leave them full length the end is always in the way. The old fashioned route of using lacing twine to wire bays may have been a bit more environmentally friendly but took a lot of work to do.

Not if you do cut the ties do it as close as possible to the catch otherwise it leaves sharp ends to scratch you.

Baldric

Even better than cable ties are these http://www.zeroclips.com/products/Multi-Clip-Range/Multi-Clip.html - used to be sold by Proops at the MEX (2 for 50p!) but now only available in LARGE order quantities (but I managed to get a small order by 'phoning sales). Practically unbreakable, grip adjustable and HUGE! applied force, almost unlimited applications. Usual disclaimer.

Rgds

Bill