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Organize Office Wires

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If the wires under your desk have you tied up in knots, organize them.
Problem: The wires for your computer, modem, printer, scanner and fax in your home office are a mess. They look terrible and they take up room under your desk.

Solution: It's easy and inexpensive to organize the wires under your desk.

Materials:
drill, with drill bits and driver bits
level
screws
surge protector with phone input and mounting holes
small rectangular wire basket
safety glasses

Steps:

  1. The first step is to mount a surge protector under your desk (it's best to use one that protects phone lines as well). Mark the locations for the mounting holes in a convenient area under your desk. If you're a perfectionist, you can use a level when you mark the mounting holes; however, it's not essential because the surge protector will be hidden.
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Figure A
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Figure B
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Figure C
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Figure D
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Figure E
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Figure F
* To make a template of the mounting holes, hold a piece of notebook paper tightly over the back of the surge protector. Using light pressure, rub a pencil back and forth over the entire surface; this will cause an outline of the mounting holes to appear.

  • Drill pilot holes and insert screws, leaving the screw heads about 1/4" above the surface. Then hang the surge protector on the screws.

  • Several options are available for organizing cords. For example, you can use a spiral wrap (figure A), a cable wrap (figure B), a tie wrap (figure C) or a Velcro wrap (figure D).

  • After the cords are bundled and wrapped, you can hang them in a wire basket just below the surge protector (figure E). Be sure the openings in the wire basket are wide enough to pass a plug through; you may need to cut out some of the wires. Attach the basket using screws and plastic clips.

  • Be sure to label your plugs when you're finished (figure F). This will help when you need to perform maintenance on your equipment.
    • Resources
    cable organizer - Woods (Model #: Black no. 7047)
    Woods Industries Inc.
    510 Third Ave., SW
    Carmel, IN 46032-4960
    Toll-free: 800-428-6168
    Website: www.woods.com
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