Techtips

Techtips

It's an iron-clad rule around my garage: When safety-wiring anything, never cut off the excess wire without immediately picking up the clipped-off piece and depositing it directly in the trash. Otherwise, it’s a flat tire waiting to happen or a hard-to-see piece of metal likely to end up somewhere it doesn’t belong-like stuck in your knee or hand when you get down on the floor to do some low-altitude work. You also need to be careful about the trajectory of clipped-off pieces when safety-wiring something in the vicinity of an opening that would react unfavorably to the ingestion of wire or even the clipped end of a cable tie.

Here’s a nifty idea that prevents the cut-off piece from flying away in the first place. Carefully clean the entire cutting head of a pair of Dykes (wire-cutters) with a good solvent to remove any grease, then wrap a stiff rubber band around the handies to hold the jaws tightly shut. Apply a smooth, even coat of silicone sealer, about Vieto 1/32-inch thick, all around both sides of the entire cutting head. Let the silicone dry overnight, then, with the rubber band still in place, use a razor blade to cut all the way through the silicone precisely at and in line with the junction of the cutting surfaces. Remove the rubber band, and you now have a set of cutters that won’t allow clippedoff pieces of safety wire or cable ties to escape. When you snip the wire/tie, the silicone adjacent to the cutting edges holds the cut-off piece, preventing it from zinging across the garage.

Paul Dean