Warning: The wire labeling system I used for 15 years was holding me back

I used to label every single wire with those little white plastic rings and a fine point Sharpie. It looked neat and organized, but last year while troubleshooting a faulty altimeter on a Cessna 172 in Dayton, I realized the labels kept sliding off and bunching up inside the bundles. My new system uses a Brother P-Touch with shrink tube over each label so it stays put. The change happened after three hours of tracing a short that was caused by a label pinching a wire. Now I spend an extra 10 minutes per harness during initial build, but I save hours on the back end. Has anyone else found that their old labeling method caused more problems than it solved?

3 comments

3 Comments

janarivera25d ago

Shrink tube is the only way that lasts.

milaw1424d ago

Shrink tube is the only way that lasts" - I used to totally think that too. I was all about heat shrink for years and thought anything else was junk. But then I tried those Tyvek zip tie tags on a job last month and man, I gotta admit I was wrong. They don't melt or fall apart like I figured they would.

grantw3225d ago

Brother P-Touch with shrink tube is solid, but I actually stopped using plastic labels entirely a couple years back. Went to a flag style tag made from Tyvek material that you zip tie onto the wire. The stuff is super tough, doesn't melt, and if you write on it with a regular ballpoint pen it stays readable forever. Plus Tyvek is way thinner than shrink tube so it doesn't add bulk in the bundles. Just a different approach thats been working way better for me, especially in tight spots like behind panels.