pic: Floating Zip Tie Chain Tensioner

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

Here is my final design of it:

I can see why you would want two different sized grooves for the chain to accommodate both #25 and #35 chain, but do you need the different sized grooves for the zip ties, too?

I ask only because it would seem to save a few manufacturing steps to put only a single groove in for each zip tie.

In a similar vein, would it, perhaps, be easier to drill the holes ALL the way through the tensioner? That way you would only need to do two drilling operations rather than four.

You may have a different production path in mind than I envision (as I've mentioned, I see this being an ideal shape to cut on a table saw). For instance with a CNC router, putting in extra grooves would require little in the way of additional manufacturing time. But if you are going to be kicking these out by the hundred using some manual production method, you probably want to include optimizing the production path as part of your design process.

Just a few thoughts that occurred to me without having "seen inside your head" to know why you made these design choices... perhaps I have overlooked something perfectly obvious to you. If so, my apologies.

Jason