correct zip tie tension for wires and cables

[coppercone2]

I have a panduit zip tie gun and I am wondering what the correct tension to use is.

I noticed with teflon wire you don't really have a problem at maximum settings but I was wondering what is allowable for softer insulations like silicone and complex cables and stuff like coaxial cable. Can this gun tie hard enough to damage insulation over long periods of time or can you get away with using maximum for everything so long it makes sense to do so for the application?

[glarsson]

Careful With That coAx, Eugene.

A zip tie gun will easily damage coax cables. A company I worked for in the 1980:ies installed several hundred meters of RGB coax in a building. All of it had to be replaced due to ghosting video due to damaged coax (impedance changes where zip ties deformed the coax).

[coppercone2]

so that means the softest setting where the wire is barely touched (it rips it off before it tightens over the wire because of the bend radius).

[Gyro]

Careful With That coAx, Eugene.

A zip tie gun will easily damage coax cables. A company I worked for in the 1980:ies installed several hundred meters of RGB coax in a building. All of it had to be replaced due to ghosting video due to damaged coax (impedance changes where zip ties deformed the coax).

Ah, the equivalent of the old mechanical torque metric of 'Tighten until the treads just strip and then back off half a turn'.