After wheel traction was improved by a coat of Plati-Dip, focus turns to the other problem exposed by initial climb tests: serial bus servo wiring harness. First we have the functional problem of wires dangling and risk getting caught on obstacles. There are three wires in the bundle and it only takes one snagged wire to stop the fun.

We also have an aesthetic problem with the bundle. It was obviously assembled by an amateur with ill-fitting joints and unsightly transitions. The original idea was that we could tuck our wiring harness inside these aluminum extrusion beam's channels, but the poor soldering job meant the wiring bundles are now too fat to fit.

The most obvious solution is to use more zip-ties to hold wires closer to suspension components, but there's a downside to be aware of: zip ties grabbing tightly on wiring insulation is not good. Too tight, and it will chafe on the insulation and possibly cause short circuits long term. What we desire is a way to hold the wires in place, but not too tightly, distribute the fastening stress across all three wires (instead of whichever one happens to be 'outside') and give them a tiny bit of room to move around to avoid chafing.

The answer to all of the above wishes is an expandable braided sleeve. Sawppy the Rover is certainly not the first to have a need for wire management, and there are a wide assortment of sleeve materials and designs to choose from. For a serious engineering project, we'll need to evaluate the material's mechanical properties, thermal tolerance, and chemical resistance. But since a little hobbyist rover isn't picky about such things, we're going with a cheap PET variant from Amazon (*). In this particular instance, something cheap is far better than nothing at all.

Here are the two wiring harnesses (one for each side of the rover) in the middle of this wire management project. On top is the 'before' picture showing all its chaotic awkwardness, and below is the 'after' where braided sleeves have almost completely masked all the flaws. And with the eyesore factor eliminated, we can put them back on Sawppy's chassis.

(*) Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.