Cable lacing is a method for tying wiring harness

Cable Harness

A cable harness, also known as a wire harness, cable assembly, wiring assembly or wiring loom,is a string of cables and/or wires which transmit informational signals or operating currents...

es and cable looms, traditionally used in telecommunication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

, naval, and aerospace applications. This old cable management

Cable management

Cable management refers to an important step during the installation of building services and the subsequent installation of equipment providing means to tidily secure electrical, data, and other cables...

 technique, taught to generations of linemen, is still used in some modern applications since it does not create obstructions along the length of the cable, avoiding the handling problems of cables groomed by plastic or velcro

Velcro

Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...

 cable tie

Cable tie

A cable tie, also known as a zip tie or tie-wrap , is a type of fastener, especially for binding several electronic cables or wires together and to organize cables and wires.-Design and use:...

s.

Cable lacing uses a thin cord, traditionally made of waxed linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

, to bind together a group of cables using a series of running lockstitch

Lockstitch

A lockstitch is the most common mechanical stitch made by a sewing machine. The term "single needle stitching", often found on dress shirt labels, refers to lockstitch.-Structure:...

es. Flat lacing tapes made of modern materials such as Nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

, Polyester

Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate...

, Teflon, Fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

, and Nomex

Nomex

Nomex is a registered trademark for flame resistant meta-aramid material developed in the early 1960s by DuPont and first marketed in 1967.- Properties:...

 are also available with a variety of coatings to improve knot holding.

Styles

The lacing begins and ends with a whipping

Whipping knot

A whipping knot or whipping is a binding of twine around the end of a rope to prevent the fibres of the rope from unravelling.When a rope is cut, there is a natural tendency for the cut end to fray. A whipping is one way to try to prevent this, by applying multiple turns of twine tightly around...

 or other knot

Knot

A knot is a method of fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or several segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object—the "load"...

 to secure the free ends. Wraps are spaced relative to the overall harness diameter to maintain the wiring in a tight, neat bundle, and the ends are then neatly trimmed. In addition to continuous or running lacing, there are a variety of lacing patterns used in different circumstances. In some cases stand-alone knots called spot ties are also used. For lashing large cables and cable bundles to support structures in telecommunications applications, there are two named cable lacing styles: the "Chicago stitch" and "Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 stitch".

Some organizations have in-house standards to which cable lacing must conform, for example NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

specifies their cable lacing techniques in chapter 9 of NASA-STD-8739.4.

External links

• NASA Technical Standard NASA-STD-8739.4 on Crimping, Interconnecting Cables, Harnesses, and Wiring
• NASA Workmanship Standards Pictorial Reference for NASA-STD-8739 series of workmanship requirements documents
• Online excerpt from Electronic Installation Practices Manual (1951) , "Chapter 9, Cabling"
• Online excerpt from Workmanship and Design Practices for Electronic Equipment (1962)
• Cable lacing tutorial using modern lacing tape
• History, tools, and techniques
• FAA Advisory Circular 43.13B paragraph 11-158