Cable Tidying Guide

Zip ties

Zip ties or cable ties, whatever you call them, they seem to have been around as long as anyone can remember and are used everywhere. These simple, single use (mostly) pieces of plastic come in a huge variety of sizes and colours to suit all needs and can be picked up in a huge variety of non-computational places. Whilst they don’t mask the mass of cables at all they do effectively and cheaply keep together small or large quantities of cable.

What is it?
Whilst I’m sure everyone has used a zip tie before, just for continuity's sake they are a short strip of plastic with notches moulded into one side. At one end is a one way gate which locks into those notches when the length of plastic is passed through it. The idea is obviously to wrap the length of plastic around the cables before passing it through the gate because once it’s in, it isn’t ever coming out!

Tie mounts are a method of attaching zip ties (and hence your cables) to a surface. They bits of plastic with a sticky bit on the bottom to attach it to a surface, then on the top loops to pass through your zip tie.

How easy is it to use?
Extremely simple, is the short answer. As described above, you pass it around the cable and then into the hole at one end, job done. Whilst you cannot reuse them, they cost so very little and often come in packs of 100 or more so if you make a mistake cutting it off and redoing it with a new one doesn’t cost too much time or money at all.

Coupled with tie mounts they can be used to hold large or small quantities of cables to virtually any surface at any angle making them extremely versatile and useful when hiding cables.

How does it look?
Not the most fantastic thing in the world unfortunately. The ties don’t cover the sight of ugly cables in a single, uniform covering like split loom or cable braiding does, but when used with tie mounts can be used to mount cables in places out of normal view.

Cost?
Cheap as chips, depending on where you buy it from. Buying in bulk is usually cheaper and they can be had in many, many places like stationery shops, general purpose shops and electrical shops. You can get packs of various sizes to suit all your cable management needs so they tend to be a good investment for a future quick fix. The more unusual colours tend to cost slightly more, but considering the size of a tie compared to the length of cable, whether you would see it and whether it would make any aesthetic difference is arguably negligible.

What should I use it for?
Cheap fixes and large solutions where the need for aesthetic value is negligible, for example like keeping together large quantities of Ethernet or power cables, or solutions that require a discreet application.

Velcro Hooks

Probably something not many people ever consider but they are available. It can't be denied that Velcro is a fantastically versatile invention and using it to keep cables together is another innovative use. Unlike zip ties, Velcro is infinitely reusable so if you change your mind it takes 2 seconds to whip it off and redo it, and I suppose it’s less wasteful than zip ties so better for the environment.

What is it?
Different manufacturers make different products, but generally it’s a length of Velcro with the hooks on one side and loops on the other, so wrapping it around a cable on itself creates a loop that holds.

How easy is it to use?
As easy as cable ties, you just literally wrap it around and you’re done - and since they are reusable it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake or find the need to add another cable later.

How does it look?
If anything, a little worse than cable ties unfortunately because they are less discreet. The nature of their use means that they don’t cover the cable, just keep it tidy and whilst they are colourful, they don’t necessarily look at all that good. Our advice? Get black velcro for black cables and keep it subdued.

Cost?
Because they are multi-use they are generally more expensive than cable tie . You can get anti-static ties at around $4 but usually a pack of 5-10 will cost around a few pound/dollars.

What should I use it for?
General reusable applications where aesthetic value isn’t important. Due to the variety of sizes, velcro can be bought in it can be used for a many cable solutions but due to the cost per unit it’s better to use them when you intend to change it often. If you want a semi-permanent to permanent solution, use zip ties.

Conclusions

There's a whole industry with many, many products devoted to solving your cable tidying woes. What we've given you here is an overview of the main methods, and we think they work best if you mix them up and use what you think is best in each case. Again, we can only iterate that what looks good and how much you pay for stuff is totally down to you!