Randall wrote:
>
> BTW, the referenced web site had a photo of a perfectly crimped connector,
with obvious air
> gaps between the wire strands. It doesn't always work.
Obviously the crimp was too large, but that still doesn't mean that you
don't have a solid mechanical and electrical connection.
Heck, one of my projects for today is to replace the wire and resolder a
connection inside my son's guitar. It is in a "sealed" environment with no
pulling or yanking on the wire, but the vibrations (he plays very hard)
cracks the solder connection. I'd use some other type of connection, but
the pots are designed to have solder joints. I have to make this repair at
least once a year.
> I also seriously doubt that it is possible to get that kind of
deformation, when crimping through the common plastic insulation.
You don't crimp through the common plastic insulation. Use crimps with out
the plastic, or remove the plastic from your crimp. Then slip on some
shrink tubing crimp the wire and shrink the tubing over the crimp.
> So, you can go spend $500+ on the fancy crimp machine, and wire, and
connectors. Don't forget that the tool has to be periodically
> calibrated and a different tool is required for every combination of wire
size and terminal size.
I have them, and since I'm not contracted for MilSpec work, they do not need
calibration (I doubt that they would even then).
But I seldom use them. I use a pair of $20-30 wire cutter/crimper from
Lowe's it works just fine, crimping and denting in the crimp. Remember you
DO NOT want the cheap crimpers that just squeeze the crimp flat on each
side. An example of a good one is item number Item #: 473138 | Model #:
TCC9D on Lowes web site. Notice the "prong" on one side that punches into
the crimp on one side and the curved place on the other side the crimp gets
crushed into. For an example of a bad crimper look at item number check
Item #: 214865 | Model #: 30-433F - it just flattens the crimp. (I'd
include the links but that's not working on my browser right now.
> Or use my method with the cheap terminals, cheap tools, and a $50 solder
gun. (All of which can be bought locally on a Saturday
> afternoon.) I've been doing it that way for 30 years, and haven't had a
failure yet.
Yet is the key word there... :)
> BTW, no one has mentioned what do you do when the wire you have to work
with (eg original British wiring harness) is
> not an AWG wire size? Where is your wire-specific crimper then?
The crimps we are talking about fit a small range of wires. I'm sure the
British wires fit in there somewhere. They have for me. Just use the
smallest crimp that fits over the wire.\
Tim Mullen
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