What harness shops need to know, written down.
Practical guides for harness shops, each with a short answer first, worked examples, sources with dates and an FAQ.
- Quoting · 9 min read
How to quote a wire harness: material, labour, setup, margin
A harness quote is material, labour from counted operations, setup per batch, one-off NRE and margin. Step by step, with a worked example from a default table.
- Quoting · 6 min read
Wire harness RFQ checklist: what to get before you quote
What a harness quote needs — drawing, revision, connection list, part numbers, quantities, test and marking needs — as a checklist to send back to the customer.
- Quoting · 7 min read
Labour times for wire harness work: crimp, insert, tape, test
Times per operation for harness assembly — cutting, crimping, seals, inserting, taping, testing — with sources and honest labels, and how to time your own.
- Documentation · 7 min read
How to calculate wire cut lengths from branch lengths
Cut length = the route through the branches + an allowance at each end + loops and slack, rounded up. The rule, an example, and why bundle sums come out short.
- Documentation · 5 min read
Strip lengths for crimp terminals: where to find the right value
The strip length comes from the terminal maker's application specification for that terminal and wire size. Where to find it and how a cut list should show it.
- Documentation · 6 min read
Revision control for wire harnesses: one change, every document
Handle customer changes without the cut list, BOM, labels, board and quote drifting apart: frozen revisions, stable IDs and a diff of what changed downstream.
- Documentation · 5 min read
Cable assemblies vs wire harnesses: what changes for the shop
A cable assembly is jacketed cable with connectors at the ends, usually unbranched; a harness is a branched bundle built on a board. What changes for the shop.
- Documentation · 6 min read
A cut-list CSV your wire-processing machine can import
Komax and Schleuniger publish no cut-list file format: lists go in through a converter you set up once. Export one row per wire, in mm, and map the columns.
- Documentation · 6 min read
A from-to list in Excel that imports without retyping
One row per wire: wire, from connector and pin, to connector and pin, cross-section, colour, length. The header names, units and sheets that import cleanly.
- Formboards · 7 min read
How to print a formboard at 1:1 (and check that you did)
Print formboard PDFs at 100 % or Actual size, never Fit: on A4, Fit shrinks to about 96 %, 80 mm short on a 2 m board. Settings, tiling, a 100 mm check and plotters.
- Parts and wires · 5 min read
Wire gauge: AWG to mm² and back, for harness work
AWG to mm² conversion table for harness wire (28 to 4 AWG), the formula behind it, and why there is no exact 'nearest metric size'. Mixed units in one harness, handled.
- Parts and wires · 6 min read
Wire colour codes: IEC 60757, DIN 47100 and how lists write them
IEC 60757 two-letter colour codes, the DIN 47100 core sequence, and how connection lists write a base colour with a stripe — BK/WH, sw/ws, BKWH — read right.
- Engineering · 8 min read
Choosing a fuse for a wire: the checks, step by step
A fuse protects the wire, not the load. Check the load against the fuse's derated rating, the fuse against the wire's derated capacity, and short-circuit I²t.
- Engineering · 7 min read
Voltage drop in wire harnesses: formula, limits, example
Voltage drop = current × resistance per metre × loop length, corrected for temperature. Published limits by sector, and an FLRY-B example: 1.5 vs 2.5 mm² at 10 A.