Brief Description: Instrument Panel Final Wiring - Part 1
I've had the instrument panel wiring completed for a couple of weeks now, but I needed to go back to make everything neat and tidy and finish up a couple of loose ends. A while back I'd ordered some spiral wiring conduit and had been debating whether or not to use it. I had finished the various harnesses off with wire ties and they looked okay, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the look and function.
All of the harnesses connecting to the center removable instrument panel have sufficient length to allow the whole panel to be partially removed so that the various connectors can be unscrewed and the whole panel completely removed as a unit. I don't really relish the idea of ever having to do that particularly once the top skin is riveted on, but I'm sure there will come a time when it will be required.
To facilitate this removability, I had to make sure that there were service loops at lease 6" or so for every cable connecting to the center panel. The problem seemed to be that it left these cables kind of "unsupported" behind the panel. This is where the spiral binding came in really handy. It really stiffens up the cable run and also allows the start of a run to be nicely wire tied to the airframe so that there is little pressure on any given particular wire. The pressure is distributed across the whole set of wires and specifically to the spiral binding.
Another added benefit of the spiral binding is that I removed most of the wire ties from the cable runs. This is significant because I was finding that the square heads on the wire ties were always catching on things and hanging up the wire. They're also are sharp and I found that when ever I stuck my hand behind the panel, I'd get a cut or scrap from all the wire ties. With the spiral binding, there is generally just a single wire tie at the extreme ends to keep the binding in place. The cables should move in and out with the instruments and panel much easier now.
