Variety of Cable Ties Article

Cable ties, also known as tie wraps and zip wraps, are available for every conceivable need ranging from cable management to retail product packaging. Here's a recap of each major type, along with some examples of how they are used.

Standard Ties

• Typical use: cable management

• Length: 4-60 inches

• Tensile strength: 18-175 pounds

Black zip ties: are made with carbon additive to provide resistance to ultraviolet light, making them preferred for outdoor applications such as tower mounted antenna cable routing and others.

Colored cable ties: coding cable bundles facilitates maintenance and upgrades. Standard ties are available in a spectrum of colors, including high visibility fluorescent.

Specialty Ties

Releasable cable ties allow you to release and re-use ties to accommodate adding new cables to a bundle in cases where changes and upgrades are anticipated – for example, during field service or development/build-out operations.

• Length: 6-14 inches

• Tensile strength: 50 pounds

• Color: Natural or UV-resistant black

Duct strap cable ties are used for securing flexible air ducting to aluminum and other metallic duct work. Their extended length and tensile strength also makes them ideal for securing very large cable bundles.

• Length: 36 inches

• Tensile strength: 175 pounds

• Color: Natural or UV-resistant black

Ladder ties are ideal for managing small cable bundles. They are also used to bundle merchandise together and for securing product information and pricing tags to retail products. Ladder ties can also be used as bag closures.

• Length: 7 inches

• Tensile strength: 40 pounds

• Color: Natural or UV-resistant black

Tefzel cable ties are weather, UV, corrosion and radiation resistant. They are extremely rugged and used in applications where high temperatures, radiation or corrosive environments would degrade other tie wraps. Tefzel wraps find applications in nuclear energy, satellite and spacecraft and other extreme environments where durability and ruggedness are required to bundle cables together securely over long periods of time.

• Length: 4-14 inches

• Tensile strength: 18-50 pounds

• Color: aqua blue

Stainless Steel Ties

Stainless steel ties are the most durable and reliable ties available, capable of working in harsh environments where corrosion, vibration and environmental conditions would compromise other ties.

Stainless steel ties are used in three principal applications -- banding, clamping and bundling – where strength and durability are needed. Stainless steel ties band items together: For example, an insulation blanket can be wrapped around a pipe or HVAC duct, then banded in place. In a typical clamping application, such as securing the joint of a flexible plastic pipe to a pipe fitting, stainless ties deliver strength and longevity. They are used in bundling applications for cable management, often outdoors, where greater tensile strength and durability are needed.

• Length: 5-27 inches

• Tensile strength: 150 pounds

Adhesive Mounts

Adhesive mounts are used to secure a cable bundle wrapped with nylon ties inside plenum spaces of buildings, to walls, ceilings or office furniture. Peeling off a backing paper reveals an adhesive that quickly reaches its maximum holding strength. For greater holding power these mounts can be secured with a self-tapping screw.