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Getting the Message

'Speed Director' radar display just the ticket for mounting hardware

Portable message boards, flashing directional arrows, and similar LED-display roadway signs serve to alert motorists about road conditions, work zones, or repatterned driving lanes. This technology requires internal bundled cables and wires to be mounted quickly and securely.

“In the past we would use plastic adhesive-mounted bases,” recalls Geoffrey Culver, an engineer at Wanco, Inc, Arvada, CO, manufacturer of highway-safety warning products. “But, ultimately, we found that adhesive mounts would fail and fall out, and wires would move out-of-position.” Culver cites heat as the primary cause for potential adhesive-mount failure, especially since the black background on the message boards is a natural absorber. Time and temperature cycling also potentially influence in-use performance of adhesive cable-tie mounts, he adds.

The engineer arrived at a solution to the problem of adhesive-mount failure during the design stage of Wanco’s “Speed Director” radar display for permanent and temporary installations. Potential tie-mount failure was bypassed in this product line by specifying TY-D self-clinching cable tie-mount hardware from PEM Fastening Systems, Danboro, PA.

Inside the Speed Director, TY-D cable tie-mounts (12 mm long with a profile of 175 mm) install permanently without adhesives or screws (which can loosen) at specific locations to provide secure attachment points for wire mounting. The self-clinching hardware installs in steel or aluminum sheets as thin as 0.040 in. (1.02 mm) or as thick as 0.125 in. (3.18 mm), and cable ties slide easily through the hardware’s eye for fast bundled-wire mounting.

In addition to comparing favorably with adhesive mounts, variably sized TY-D hardware offers advantages over other tie-mount methods. Unlike rough-edged lances in a sheet, for example, this hardware does not create openings that can result in EMI/RFI or contamination of electronics by dust or dirt. Unlike screw-mounted bases, this hardware eliminates screws to inventory and handle. And, unlike snap-in and screw-mounted bases, this hardware will not protrude on the opposite side and will not affect backside appearance or clearance.

—SG