Wire Management Photos?

I started building my layout last July.  Just finished the first of three electrical panels.

You definitely want pre cut holes in your cross members to feed cables through. 1/2" hole-saw will probably work.

There are multiple ways to manage the wires when you are done You will probably need a few different types. The hard plastic clamps for the plastic conduit are nice because you can use only 1 screw and pivot if you need to work on that area later.

You'll find the varieties in the electrical section at home stores, house \commercial wiring and audio\video section.

I prefer types that need a screw and use #6 x 1/2" sheet metal screws. Fast in.

If you can pull your buss wires before installing the tops, it sure saves a lot of under the table time. Than you can cut and connect later. If you build in sections, you can stand the section on it's side and wire while standing or sitting comfortably. Sorry, I drifted off topic, but I consider the installation process as wire management and time and back pain management.

But I make so many more interesting "discoveries" with my system.

Greg

I guess I've found a happy medium, somewhere between Mike and ai's ultra neatness and Greg's "wild and crazy". I don't believe in drilling holes in the benchwork for wires. I use a number of different methods to secure wires, most involve tie wraps.

This may be my most common method, with a tie wrap through a nylon strap style hanger. Easy to add or change, unlike holes in the wood.


I'm still making changes to this bundle. In order to use the above method to support these, an extra tie wrap is needed to turn the loop 90 degrees.


I found these nylon brackets at the local surplus store years ago. Very handy when running wires. They can be left in place, or removed and replaced when the job is done.





I use 10 colors of wire, the same 10 that are used to mark resistors, color symbol for number. I also have 10 colors of electrical tape that I can use to further mark wires.

hi guys!  Here are a couple more wire management photos. One is of a 66 block I just started wiring today for switches on the second panel of my layout.

Some nice wire organizations. I wish mine looked like them.

As noted above it is so much easier to stand while working and avoid a painful case of train neck and train back by extending bus wire runs prior to covering the grid work.