With a digital camera and some software tools, you can create a large paper image of a harness board. This image becomes a paper template that will simplify documenting, storing, and setting up of any harness board. With the template on your harness board, the image clearly shows the placement of the harness and all the fixturing pieces. Templates work well with both the easy-wire grid board approach or with a more traditional (plywood) harness board. Store the template in your computer and reprint anytime you need it. Or store a printed copy of the image.
Virtual Demo Video - Making Harness Board Templates
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Step 1: Create a blank drawing the size of your harness board
- Use CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator software to draw a boundary box representing the area you intend to use for your harness.
- Save this drawing as a "reference" image and then print it. We recommend using a large-format color printer. If you don't have a large printer, many drafting supply centers or copy centers can make a large print for you.
- Mount this reference drawing directly on your easy-wire grid board using the drawing fasteners (Cirris part number: EWDF-20).
Step 2: Build up your harness board using easy-wire components
- Mount the easy-wire components directly on top of the reference drawing. Poke the pins of the bracket bases through the drawing and into the grid tiles.
- Attach your sample wiring harness to the mounted fixturing which is attached to the board.
- Using a digital camera (3.2 megapixals minimum), take a "straight on" shot which fills the whole frame. Be sure the lens is centered over the harness and the surface of the harness board. Make sure the lens plane are as parallel to each other as possible. It is best to move back from the harness board and use a telephoto lens setting to get a flatter field.
- To find the center point with your camera, put a 3/16" dowel 16" long into the center tile hole of the harness board. Square up the dowel and then move your camera position until only the very top dot of the dowel appears in the photo.
- Limit the image area to 36" x 36" to avoid distortion at the edges of the field. For larger harnesses, you can "tile" the image using several 36" x 36" images.
Step 3: Import Image into Software for Clean Up
- Import the digital image(s) into your drawing software package. Clean up the image and remove anything on the image that would distract when building a harness. When the images is clean, save the new image.
Step 4: Create a 1:1 image
- Import your new image on a new layer over your original blank drawing which only has the red boundary box. Using the software, adjust the image by lining up the boundary boxes on both images. You may have to use "stretch" or "rotate" commands to do this. This will create an accurate 1:1 scale image of your harness board setup.
Be careful not to change the size of the reference boundary box. Place them on their own layer.
Step 5: Add Reference Information to Final Harness Board Template
- Add reference designators (J1, J2, J3, etc.), connector specifications, part numbers, version information, specialized instructions, or any other build information to the drawing. Save the file. Print out the finished template and your ready to to test your harness.
- To rebuild this test setup in the future, either reprint the saved drawing or re-use the plotted drawing you have stored. Mount the drawing on your grid board, assemble your easy-wire components as depicted in the drawing, and you are ready for testing.
If you have questions or need help creating a harness board template, call us at 1-800-441-9910 and ask about our Send-a-Harness service.
