About Wiring Harness Tools, If you’re in an industry that works with electrical systems, you must need a wiring harness at some point.
But since wiring harnesses aren’t a one-fit-all design, you must manufacture yours or get a company that makes custom ones.
For this reason, you need the right wiring harness tools to make your work easier and ensure cables are standard.
Today, we discuss the required wiring harness tools and the benefits of combining hands, automated, and semi-automated tools.
Advanced Wiring Harness Tools and Products
Generally, custom wiring harness manufacturers use thousands of tools to ensure quality cables that pass established standards.
There are over 5000 tools for tasks such as over-molds, junctions, housings, and connectors.
Whether you seek to establish your manufacturing or want to vet your manufacturer, here are the harness tools to check:
Cable Tying Tools
When choosing a cable tying tool, check the one with recommended standards for retaining the cable tension.
You can get various tools that use various styles, technologies, and sizes.
For large-scale production, I recommend using automated tying tools to fasten to the manufacturing process.
Tied wiring harnesses
Wire Harness Fixtures
While most people don’t give much thought to wire harness fixtures, they are vital in manufacturing.
They ensure the correct height, uniform wire bundle spacing, and distance from the harness board.
Like cable-tying tools, you can get manual fixture-inserting or automatic tools when doing large-scale production.
Ferrules
Ferrules refer to compact rings that you crimp on a cut-off wire. They are usually constructed from metal or plastic, and they seal and enhance a connection while securing it.
For a successful ferules application, you need a skilled technician lest you destroy the wire quality.
For example, too much or too little pressure when handling the ferrules may damage the seal.
Ferrules in blue wires
Cable Tie Mounting Unit
You use this kit to join the cable ties to other cable assemblies manually. Although this tool is limited, it’s vital to get one with installation versatility.
Printing and Media
While these materials are not necessary for the cable functionality, they play a vital role in marketing and identification.
For instance, printers help you design and print labels that give your cables a unique identification number.
These labels help market and show quality standards while helping the end user know the cable specifications and usage.
Remember, you will need both the printer and programs that help you design these labels.
Abrasion Resistance Products (Inbuilt)
Abrasion resistivity does not only ensure functionality and integrity but also ensures cable quality, safety, and longevity.
For instance, you will need a harness that can withstand the sun, friction, and other harsh environments.
Therefore, your engineers must develop a combination of components to get the best cable material.
An example of an abrasion-resistant product includes edging grommets that protect the wires of your cable.
Others are spirals that allow for flexibility and heat shrink to prevent damage by heat.
Tools For Compressing Connectors
Connectors are the wire-ending components that connect with the motherboard and other components.
You will require an automated connector compressing machine if you are going large.
However, for small-scale production, you can get a custom hand-made connector compressor according to your needs.
Luckily, there are several options for automatic and manual connector compressing tools.
Terminal Wire Harness Tools
You cannot overlook this tool because no harness can connect to any electrical system without a terminal.
You typically use it as a crimping tool to ensure a custom terminal, depending on your system.
As usual, you can get a machine to help index and crimp connectors faster.
You can also get a manual one, but I recommend automated crimping machines for terminal quality and consistency.
Wairing harness terminal
Benefits of Using the Three Categories of Tools Simultaneously
As you may already know, most manufacturing processes, including those for wiring harnesses, use automatic machining.
However, there are instances when you must combine automatic, semi-automatic, and hand tools.
Now let’s see some of the benefits of combining these three categories of tools in your manufacturing process:
Helps in Maintaining Quality
Typically, quality is the key to standard, safe, and functional cables.
As such, you need to test the quality of your designs before you can use them in an electrical system.
Unfortunately, there are automated machines to make cables, but none for testing.
For this reason, you must combine manual, semi-automatic, and automatic processes to achieve the desired quality.
Enhances Production Flexibility
Using various categories of tools and machines also ensures flexibility in the production process.
However, you must have engineers who can maximize the usage of various tools and materials. Doing so guarantees not only quality but also timely task accomplishment.
Reduces Cost
As you may know, using manual tools only requires an increased workforce, which may be expensive.
Therefore, when you use the three categories of machines, you reduce labor while increasing production.
In addition, automated and semi-automated tools also reduce errors, which can be costly.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, we can see various vital yet overlooked tools for manufacturing wiring harnesses.
We have also outlined some materials you can use to get the best harness that fits your needs.
However, note that there are other tools and materials out there, depending on the usage of your harness.
When choosing these tools, combine manual, semi-automated, and automated ones for maximum production.
