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As can be seen in Figure 1.25 , heat has the effect of shrinking heat-shrink imagine that! Keep the heat gun moving, don t just let it sit in one position.

This still doesn t quite show you how to use heat-shrink. So let s take a quick look at heat-shrinking the end of a typical wire. This is quite like the key frames in a mini-heat-shrink how to video.

A typical wire end, stripped and ready to shrink, is shown in Figure 1.26 . We re going to make it longer than required, so we can later cut it to the exact lengths needed. The drain conductor will get a thin piece of shrink, and a larger piece of shrink will go over the breakout of the conductors from the outer plastic jacket.

The same wire with the drain conductor half shrunk is shown in Figure 1.27 . Note the difference in diameter between the shrunk and unshrunk portions. It looks good, so we re going to keep shrinking.

Figure 1.25 The effect of heat.

Figure 1.26 Wire ready to shrink. Figure 1.27 Drain conductor half shrunk.

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In Figure 1.28 , the heat-shrink is fully shrunk, but note the space that sopened up between the end of the shrink and the outer jacket. To x it, grip the exposed end of the drain conductor with pliers and push the shrink down toward the breakout from the outer jacket with your ngers. Do this until the shrink is ush with the outer jacket. Don t neglect this step! It simportant in making your shrunk wires durable.

Notice how snugly the drain conductor shrink butts up against the outer jacket in Figure 1.29 . I was a good wireperson! Now we cap off the wire with a bit of shrink just wide enough to slide easily over the outer jacket. Observe in Figure 1.30 that we leave a bit of the cap-off shrink over the inner conductors and the drain, for strength and insulation.

Fix this space!

Figure 1.28 Drain conductor fully shrunk.

Figure 1.29 Cap-off before shrinking. Figure 1.30 Cap-off after shrinking.

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A burst of hot air from our trusty heat-shrink gun and the cap-off is complete. The HS gun shown is a medium heat model, but you can still melt insulation, start res and burn yourself with it.

Some heavy-duty heat-shrink guns are actually paint-stripping heat guns, but caution: a paint-stripping gun can very rapidly melt wire insulation and start res. If you have a hard time nding a lighter model heat-shrink gun, a paint stripper is an acceptable alternative. But be careful!

I hope you ve now gained a deep spiritual understanding of heat-shrink, and will never again mistake it for a drinking straw or a bit of doll s house-sized garden hose. Used properly, heat-shrink is an invaluable tool.

Wire labels

In the olden days, wires were labeled with numbered markers (Brady markers) that were adhesive backed; then the numbered markers were covered with transparent heat-shrink. All very slow and tedious, and what you wound up with were mysterious numbers that then had to be cross-referenced to the wires and the actual function(s) of the wires in a list or book. And God help you if you ever lost that list/book.

Fortunately, there s now a fast, easy, durable way to identify your wires: self-adhesive wire labels. You can write on them with a razor-point permanent marker, or print on them with an ordinary inkjet or laser printer.

The labels come in various sizes and shapes, but they all have similar characteristics. They re all rectangular, with a small part of the rectangle covered with an opaque white coating. The rest of the label is clear plastic, and the entire label is adhesive backed. To use it, write or print on the white part. There is no standard numbering system for audio wiring, so you ll have to use the markers in a way that makes sense for your installation.

After you peel the label from its backing sheet, stick the white part on the wire rst , smooth it down, and then wrap the clear tail of the label around the wire and over the white part that has the info on it. The clear section acts as armor over the section you ve written on. The wire can then be moved or snaked through walls without damaging the new label. Very cool!

The Radio Shack version comes in small packs; the Panduit versions come on sheets suitable for printing. The Radio Shack version is catalog no. 278-1616 ( http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname CTLG & category%5Fname CTLG%5F011%5F010%5F008%5F001 & product%5Fid 278%2D1616 & site search ).

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Panduit makes several different label sizes. The 1 inch by 1{5/16} inch size works for almost all the wires I handle. This gives a writeable area of 1 inch by {1/2} inch.

The Panduit number for a slightly larger label (1 inch by 1.5 inch) is S100X150DJ ( http://www.panduit.com/products/Products2.asp?partNum S100 X 150YDJ & param 361 ).

A Panduit label that was printed on an inkjet is shown in Figure 1.31 . Nice, isnt it? Sharp, clear and fast to work with. This type of label is put on wire as shown in Figure 1.32 . Stick the white part of the label on the wire rst. Wrap it at a right angle to the wire, so the label s layers overlap equally on the left and right sides of the label. Smooth out any wrinkles as you wrap it.

Figure 1.31 Panduit wire label.

Figure 1.32 Applying label to wire.

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Figure 1.33 shows the nished label: easy to read, permanent, durable, yet fast to change if the need arises. Print them on an inkjet or laser, or write small runs by hand. An ideal installation tool use them!

These kinds of labels come on printable sheets. Figure 1.34 shows a view of the labels on their backing sheet. Well, OK, it snot the whole sheet there are a few missing. But you get my general drift here, right? Still, its hard to see the labels clearly. Figure 1.35 provides a closer look. Here we can see the labels better. The thin rectangular box around the printing is a line-up guide I made to align the labels on different printers.

Can t stretch your budget for printable wire labels? Or maybe you ve run out of labels at 3 a.m. but just have to get the job done? No problem write on white artist s tape or ordinary masking tape and then place it around the wire.

Figure 1.33 The nished label.

Figure 1.35 Close-up of label sheet.

Figure 1.34 Whole sheet of labels.

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Then cover your writing with some permanent (frosted)-type Scotch tape or clear packing tape, and you have a legible, durable label. Not as good as a store-bought label, but quite workable.

One way or another you must label your wires clearly! Don t even think about skipping this step you ll regret it many times if you do.

Tie-wraps

Tie-wraps are long, straight lengths of plastic designed to curl around wires and lock to themselves, thereby forming the wires into a cylindrical bundle. They come in a broad variety of sizes and lengths, so you can choose the size you need for the wire bundle you re working with.

But bundling the wires is only part of the job; you must also nd ways to mount them. For example, let s say you ve run and bundled your wires, but they re lying loose on the oor. You constantly trip over them, run your chair into them, and unplug them at critical moments by accidentally pulling on them. And they re beginning to show a bit of wear at the points where you keep hitting them.

How do you get the wires up off the oor and mount them securely? Lucky you there are lots of ways to do it, from commercial mounts to plain old rope.

Commercial tie-wrap mounts

These come in a variety of sizes and styles. Some are adhesive backed, some have screw-through mounting holes, and some have both. I recommend putting screws through even adhesive-backed tie-wrap mounts, as I ve found the adhesive will inevitably fail from the weight of the wires attached to the mount. Here we consider commercial tie-wrap mounts, but don t limit yourself in thinking of ways to support your wires.

In Figure 1.36 we can see the duality of the tie-wrap. They are made at, but have to curl into hoops when used. Once the tie-wrap s tip (thinner end) is inserted in the clamping (thicker) end, it cannot be released, except for uncommon reusable tie-wraps. However, the details of the tie-wrap mounts aren t very clear, so let s go to our next shots.