Grip Wrap: The Braided Wraparound Sleeving That Can Change Sizes Along the Way
Braided sleeving is a great product for customizing, organizing and protecting cables and hoses, but if there are large connectors involved or you need cable breakouts along the way, it can have its limitations. Sure, there are side-slit, wrap-style braided sleevings that you can use, but these either use their molded-in, heat-treated contours to stay “closed,” or otherwise rely on hook-and-loop edging, which tends to add bulk and can only be sealed edge-to-edge, regardless of whether or not a snug fit has been achieved.
All that said, side-entry braided sleeving has recently become a lot more, well, usable, thanks to the invention of Grip Wrap. Grip Wrap braided sleeving may look like other wraparound sleevings out there, but has one ingenious little difference: do you remember that hook-and-loop edging we just talked about? It’s built into the edge of Grip Wrap, too, but this time, it’s only the hook part. That all-hook edging is actually able to bond right to the outer surface of the sleeving, at absolutely any point. No more being a slave to hook and loop strips that have to match up with each other in order to work – now, you just wrap your sleeving until it’s as tight as you want, and then press the hook edge against the rest of the covered cable bundle. That’s it.
Not only do you get a bulk-free custom fit, you can also break cables out anywhere along the way, or just make things tighter or looser as needed. I don’t know about you, but if I can get a bunch of things done with a single product instead of multiple versions of it, I’m going to take the single product. And this would be it.
Braided Sleeving for Christmas?
It’s Day 3 of our pre-Chirstmas countdown, and when I was getting into blog mode this morning, I went into momentary panic, thinking that I had already run out of of Christmassy items to talk about (like I mentioned in a previous post, I already covered most of those products months ago). But I was saved – by braided sleeving, no less. Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “What kind of loon would think that braided sleeving has anything to do with the holidays?” Well, I’ll tell you – or rather, show you. Just take a gander at the photo to the right, and you’ll understand my reasoning.
Do you see that stuff? It’s like a beautiful candy cane wrap for your cables. I know that there are a lot of cables out there that need protection no matter what season it is, but there’s no question that this stuff was made for the most wonderful time of the year. I’m not about to suggest this as a great gift idea, but if you’re the kind of person who loves to spruce things up outdoors with lights and other electrical decorations, this could be right up your alley.
Outdoor lights and motorized Santas can’t get by without extension cords, which have to withstand the wear and tear of weather, rough outdoor surfaces, and ever-threatening pedestrian traffic. All of these stresses can cause the extension cords’ outer insulation to wear down and eventually crack – something that you really don’t want to happen. An overlay of festive red, green and gold braided sleeving is just the ticket to prevent abrasion and prolong the life of your extension cords, and will add a really nice visual touch to your outdoor Christmas display as well.
