> But Randall's comment below is wrong. If done properly - admittedly a big
"if" - crimps have
> full (100%) contact between the wire strands and the connector with
minimal or no air gaps at all.
> The crimp should deform the wire strands as it deforms the connector
leading to a solid mass
> of metal in the area of the crimp.
Exactly correct.
> Whether you can achieve this level of quality consistently with DIY tools
is another question. For
> me, investing in the proper tooling for each of the connectors that I use
has been worth every
> penny. In many cases that's meant tooling in the low hundreds of dollars
rather than $3 or $30 though.
Ignore the cheap tools - the crimp, cut wires, and cut bolts to the proper
length (the cheap tool).
But you can go to Lowes and buy a large pair of wire working pliers for less
than $20 - they cut the wire and have a couple of crimp positions (make sure
you get one that crimps the size crimps you need to use). The secret is to
not just get the cheap crimpers that squeeze the crimp flat, but get the
type that indents one side into the other - actually make a dent into the
wire (makes the finished crimp slightly "U" shaped. That works as well as
the several hundred dollar types I've have from various jobs.
For crimp connections on typical computer type connections, make sure you
get the type that takes the open "U" shaped crimp and curls the "U" over and
into the wire as it squeezes them. Again, I never had one fail, and as far
as I know the wiring harnesses (all crimped) I used to make for on-board
weapons control for Navy Destroyers are still working fine.
> But I've never had a crimp fail yet.
Me either. But I have had soldered and crimped connections fail - actually
the wire near to the crimp. That was before I learned how to do the MilSpec
stuff - basically crimp only unless there was absolutely no other way.
Tim
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