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Commercial Electric vs Gardner Bender cable ties which is better?

GophersGarage

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tyyost

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I’ve never had cable ties fail that were not exposed to sun and uv light. That said, I’ve bought premium ones recently and started to look for ones made outside of china. In use I haven’t seen a difference.
 

bwringer

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Hey, has anyone mentioned Thomas & Betts Ty-Rap® yet? (y)

Seriously, I am not exaggerating when I say that everything else is a distant 10th place. Pure garbage by comparison. Ty-Raps **** all over EVERY other brand. Once you go Ty-Rap, you'll never go back. Yes, they cost a little more. Yes, they are 1,000% worth every penny.

There's a race shop here in Indy (Earl's) that sells bags of Ty-Raps at better prices than I've found online. Maybe there's a good place to buy these online that I haven't found.

All that said, the brands you mentioned will work if you don't expect too much. But there are even worse generic cable ties out there -- the brittle shite peddled at Harbor Freight, for example, is completely unusable, even for the most gentle use cases.

I can't think of any examples offhand, but there might be times where you need metal-free. (Maybe where the product has to go through metal detection?) The Ty-Rap® cable ties do contain that wee stainless steel tooth inside, which is part of what makes them so awesome.
 
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toplessHO

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I second this by scooby074
The black -MX series do not fail after years of uv exposure.
agree T&B for the win
2nd place is panduit
thanks to everyone in this for not calling them "zip ties",that grates me to hear professionals call a tyrap that.
T&B is what tie wraps were named after,give them some respect.
 

RTM

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Not a pro, but I find most GB stuff to be low quality compared to Klein, so I don’t expect their offering to be better in that one category.
 

scooby074

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thanks guys i am trying to see who carries them in canada

I think amazon might have 100 pack but says $45cnd for 7"
T&B arent cheap and that price ($0.45 ea) doesnt sound that out of line. Professionally, there is no issue, Ill only use T&B Tyraps for everything. Personally I keep both the T&B and Commercial Electric. CE gets used for a lot of things that arent critical, because theyre cheap. T&B get used for stuff that needs to stay fastened..

Check Graybar or Nedco/Rexel or any other electric wholesaler for local pricing. IIRC the last pack of 11" long 50lb I bought were $0.35 ea but that was before covid. FYI price can change ALOT depending on model of Tyrap selected and package quantity.
 
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Jlarson

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We stock T&B's and also cheaper black ties from our hardware supplier. Any good industrial supplier will have better ties then the home store. We use the T&B's outside and on equipment and other less then nice places and the cheaper ties inside control cabinets, inside dashes/consoles and the like.

Only commercial electric ties I'll buy are those jumbo bags of colored ones because we use them to mark hydraulic hoses.
 

corn chip

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t&b are good and can be found at home depot wich is convenient. im sure theres other great zip ties but likely not as easy to find and perhaps only sold in much higher qauntity packaging. hellermann tyton is a big name in the zip tie world but you arent likely to find them at any box store . they can be very difficult to find in small qauntities as well
 

bwringer

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t&b are good and can be found at home depot wich is convenient.
Yep, T&B are on the shelf at Home Despot, but they're in small bags for nutso prices.

The expense of T&B cable ties is an issue, even when purchased from a more reasonable supplier. I keep lesser cable ties on hand for those temporary low stress uses, where I'll be cutting it off a few minutes later, or it's not mission-critical.

And of course I usually keep a selection of a few other colors around for marking wires or hoses.
 
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toplessHO

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t&b are good and can be found at home depot wich is convenient. im sure theres other great zip ties but likely not as easy to find and perhaps only sold in much higher qauntity packaging. hellermann tyton is a big name in the zip tie world but you arent likely to find them at any box store . they can be very difficult to find in small qauntities as well
Well it took 16 posts before the words zip tie came up
 

bbrins

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In my experience, the GB ones ****, especially trying to use them in the cold, they just snap way before you get any real tension on them. The only Commercial Electric ones I have used are those really tiny black ones, they did what I wanted them to. If you are going to have them exposed to the elements, the best ones to use are Ty-Rap or Panduit with the stainless locking tabs. I did get a few packs of the Mintcraft branded ones at my local Ace once, they aren't too bad, at least they aren't brittle like the GBs in the cold.
 

corn chip

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Yep, T&B are on the shelf at Home Despot, but they're in small bags for nutso prices.

The expense of T&B cable ties is an issue, even when purchased from a more reasonable supplier. I keep lesser cable ties on hand for those temporary low stress uses, where I'll be cutting it off a few minutes later, or it's not mission-critical.

And of course I usually keep a selection of a few other colors around for marking wires or hoses.

i hear ya. t&b are expensive just to be cutting them off moments later. thats where the **** china ties are handy. they practically fall off on their own in 5min
 
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GophersGarage

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100 pack on eBay for $12.95
I am in Canada
t&b are good and can be found at home depot wich is convenient. im sure theres other great zip ties but likely not as easy to find and perhaps only sold in much higher qauntity packaging. hellermann tyton is a big name in the zip tie world but you arent likely to find them at any box store . they can be very difficult to find in small qauntities as well
not in Canada they are not
Yep, T&B are on the shelf at Home Despot, but they're in small bags for nutso prices.

The expense of T&B cable ties is an issue, even when purchased from a more reasonable supplier. I keep lesser cable ties on hand for those temporary low stress uses, where I'll be cutting it off a few minutes later, or it's not mission-critical.

And of course I usually keep a selection of a few other colors around for marking wires or hoses.

Stainless tabs
I have SS ones but find them to sharp to use for wiring . I usually use those when wrapping exhaust with exhaust wrap etc
 

ste6168

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I use hundreds of cable ties a week and haven't seen any issue with the el-cheapo harbor freights. Not sure why you'd spend more on a name brand unless, as mentioned above, they are subjected to 24/7 sunlight.
 

bbrins

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Stainless tabs

I have SS ones but find them to sharp to use for wiring . I usually use those when wrapping exhaust with exhaust wrap etc
The stainless tab is the part that locks it closed, the rest of the zip tie is plastic. I don't think he was referring to the all stainless ones. I know the Ty-Rap and Panduit ones I referred to in my post are black plastic(nylon, I think?) with a stainless locking tab, no metal coming into contact with whatever you are wrapping.
 
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scooby074

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I am in Canada

not in Canada they are not



I have SS ones but find them to sharp to use for wiring . I usually use those when wrapping exhaust with exhaust wrap etc
If the wiring is getting anywhere near the SS tab youre doing it wrong lol.

Im not talking about the bands that are entirely stainless, Im talking about the T&B Nylon Tywraps that are rated as "UV and Weather resistant". They have a stainless steel barb that engauges and locks the wrap. Model TY524MX is an example.

Datasheet: https://new.abb.com/products/7TAG009090R0007/ty524mx

 

LS6 Tommy

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Thomas and Betts Tywrap with the metal lock tabs
X2, but you have to get the UV stabilized ones for outdoors, even if they don't get direct sun, the "standard" ones have a narrower temperature range and they also dry out and snap.


Tommy
 

Bubba Fett

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Mayhew also sells zip ties, but I don't know how good they are. Looks like they are UL listed, have UV protection, and are made in the USA.
 
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