A method of manufacturing a wiring harness assembly includes the steps of forming a plurality of electrically conductive wires encased within a substrate formed of a dielectric material, forming an opening in the substrate located and sized such that a section of the plurality of electrically conductive wires is exposed within the opening, disposing a support segment within the opening, securing a connector segment including a plurality of terminals to the support segment, and placing the plurality of terminals in mechanical and electrical contact with the plurality of electrically conductive wires.

A method of twisting a pair of wires includes the steps of arranging a first wire parallel to a second wire along a longitudinal axis, securing ends of the first and second wires, and gripping outer surfaces of central portions of the first and second wires. Inner surfaces of the central portions of the first and second wires are in contact with one another. The method further includes the step of rotating the central portions of the central portions of the first and second wires, thereby twisting the first and second wires about one another.

A wiring harness assembly includes a plurality of electrically conductive wires encased within a substrate formed of a dielectric material, a location feature integrally formed with the substrate, and an opening defined in the substrate located within a predetermined tolerance relative to the location feature. A section of the plurality of electrically conductive wires is exposed within the opening.

An apparatus configured to twist a first wire about a second wire is presented herein. The apparatus includes a securing mechanism configured to secure ends of the first wire and the second wire. The first wire is arranged parallel to the second wire along a longitudinal axis. The apparatus also includes a gripping mechanism configured to grip central portions of the first and second wires such that inner surfaces of the central portions of the first and second wires are in contact with one another and a rotating mechanism configured to rotate the gripping mechanism, thereby twisting the first and second wires about one another. A method of twisting a first wire about a second wire is also presented herein.

An apparatus is provided relating to the insertion of one or more wires into a cavity of a fixture of a structure or component. The wire insertion apparatus includes a grommet, a gripper adapted to interface with the grommet, and at least a first vibrating element. The first vibrating element is connected to and vibrates one or more of the apparatus, the grommet, the gripper, the wire, and/or a component of the apparatus. Vibration, induced in any direction, enables the cavities to shift position during insertion relative to the contact, thus increasing the tolerance of the cavity, reducing the failure rate of wire insertion, and reducing total production time. The vibration breaks the static friction of the contact in the grommet or dielectric opening, creates the positive locating required to insert the contact in the grommet and/or dielectric, and/or pivots the contact.

There is provided a method of making a wiring device housing a wire harness for use as a connector, splitter and/or jointer. The method comprises preparing a wiring diagram of a wiring harness is prepared based on predetermined requirements. The wiring diagram comprises a visual representation of a wiring layout including a plurality of wire interconnections and a plurality of terminal common wire ends. The method comprises preparing wiring harness in accordance with the wiring diagram visual representation. The method comprises preparing a visual representation of a housing with the wiring harness housed therein. The method comprises providing a mold of a housing for the wire harness in accordance with the visual representation of the housing and mounting the wire harness to the mold for molding the housing therein to provide the device housing a wire harness providing for electrical communication of the terminal common wire end. There is provided a device obtained by this method.

An apparatus includes an extruding device configured to dispense a dielectric material though an orifice, a wire feed device configured to feed a conductive wire through the orifice, and a cutting device configured to sever the wire. It also includes an electronic controller configured to control the extruding device, the wire feed device, and the cutting device. The electronic controller commands the extruding device to dispense the dielectric material though the orifice, the wire feed device to feed the wire through the orifice, and the cutting device to sever the wire, thereby forming a dielectric substrate encasing a plurality of wires. The electronic controller further commands the extruding device to form an opening defined in the substrate in which plurality of electrically conductive wires is exposed and a location feature on the substrate located with a positional tolerance less than or equal to 1 mm relative to the opening.

A wire harness assembly work cell includes a wire harness assembly work table with a pneumatically powered or spring-fed universal applicator tool for mass terminating sets of wires into insulator wafers. The insulator wafers may be assembled in stacks to form cable-end connector headshells. Insulation displacement terminals (IDT) are designed to receive wide ranges of wire diameters so that larger varieties of wire sizes may be received into these connector assemblies while using fewer different sizes of terminals, thus reducing the number of items in a bill of material (BOM) and substantially reducing the volumes and overhead costs of testing and quality control documentation dedicated to each individual BOM item.

A device for inserting wires into a wiring harness connector includes a light source and an assembly to cause rear illumination of a particular pin cavity of a plurality of pin cavities of the wiring harness connector by light from the light source. Rear illumination of the particular pin cavity indicates the particular pin cavity where a selected wire is to be inserted into the wiring harness connector based on an identification of the selected wire.

An apparatus includes an electronic controller having a memory device and an extruding device connected to the electronic controller. The extruding device has a dispensing head configured to dispense a dielectric material though an orifice in the dispensing head as commanded by the electronic controller. A wire feed device is connected to the electronic controller and the extruding device and is configured to feed a conductive wire through the orifice as commanded by the electronic controller. A cutting device is connected to the electronic controller and the extruding device. The cutting device severs the wire after it is fed through the orifice as commanded by the electronic controller. An electromechanical device is connected to the electronic controller and to the extruding device. The electromechanical device is configured to move the extruding device, the wire feed device, and the cutting device within a 3D space as commanded by the electronic controller.