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Stuck a coax fitting in a tight crawl space with a zip tie trick
Couldn't get my crimper in a corner under a house in Charlotte, so I looped a heavy duty zip tie around the fitting and pulled it tight with pliers. It held long enough to get the line secured and saved me a huge headache. Anyone have a better fix for spots where you can't swing a tool?
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the_viola6mo ago
Yeah but it works in a pinch.
4
kevin3316mo ago
Hey, isn't a zip tie gonna crush the dielectric inside the fitting over time? That can mess with the signal. I keep a few extra-long coax connectors in my bag for spots like that. You can hand-tighten them onto the cable first, then just screw them into the port. It's a more solid fix for tight corners.
2
phoenix1496mo ago
Kevin's got a point about the long-term crush risk. The_viola's right that it works now, but that zip tie is gonna bite you in a year when the signal gets flaky. Honestly, just re-running the cable right is less headache than doing this twice.
2
wade_kelly774mo ago
This is the same mentality as people who use a paperclip to fix a car fuse - yeah it works for now but you're just gambling with when it'll crap out. @kevin331 is spot on about the dielectric issue, those zip ties can deform the fitting over time and introduce intermittent problems that are a pain to track down. A proper fix the first time saves you the headache of redoing it later, plus the cable will actually last.
1