Re: Best wire crimper

On 2009-03-29, dcaster@xxxxxxx <dcaster@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 29, 5:18 am, "DoN. Nichols" <dnich...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2009-03-29, Jim Wilkins <KB1...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mar 27, 12:52 am, "DoN. Nichols" <dnich...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
... I believe the calibration consisted of crimping some
terminals and then doing a pull test to verify the crimp was
sufficient , but not so much as to weaken the wire.
...


What's your standard pull test?

        *I* don't have one.  The quoted text above is from someone
up-thread from me whose attribution has been snipped out.

        What I mentioned was how AMP says to calibrate their crimpers,
with a pair of gauge pins as go/no-go tests.  

        If the go won't fit, it is crimping too tight and crushing the
wire, leading to early failure in pull conditions.

        If the no-go fits, it is too loose, and just as likely to have a
wire pull out.


[ ... ]

That was me that mentioned the pull test. And I think the pull test
is done to have a calibration sticker applied. The adjustment with
the go and no go pins is to adjust the crimpers if necessary. And
then the pull test done again to verify that the adjustment was done
correctly.

The AMP ratchet hand crimpers have no provisions for adjustment.
Everything is fixed, from the travel of the ratchet bar through compound
linkages (so you can apply sufficient force by hand) to the final
closing of the crimp jaws. The places where the "adjustment" would be
are only going to change by wear of the pivot pins and the holes in
which they operate. When it wears that much, the gauge pins show it,
and it is time to replace it -- not simply adjust something. The
crimper has a *long* life before it wears that much -- but on a
production line it will eventually wear that much.

Granted -- the newer ones which look more like vise-grip pliers
with replaceable jaws can be adjusted by shims, but the PIDG crimpers
which I use don't have replaceable jaws -- at least until you get to the
hydraulic ones, in which case the proper depth of crimp is determined by
shoulders on the dies which limit the travel. With this style, the only
place where wear could occur is the rather seriously hardened and
polished crimp surfaces themselves. (No, I'm not going to take one of
my dies and test it with a Rockwell hardness gauge -- that would render
it incorrect for the crimping job -- and apparently these dies sell
*new* for over $1400.00 per size. And the prices on eBay, while not
that high, are higher than anything which I paid for them in the past. :-)


I did not say what the standard is because it would vary
with the size and because I never knew the values. I think the pull
test was done until there was a failure with something like 5 samples
and all samples had to fail above some value. At least that is how I
would make the calibration test, until someone pointed out a better
way.

If the wire pulls out before the wire breaks between the crimp
terminal and the puller, it has failed. If the break occurs first, it
has passed. (And one *likely* cause of failure is using the wrong
gauge wire, wrong terminal size, or wrong crimper or die set.)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnichols@xxxxxxxxxxx> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Crimper
    ... Definately get a good set of crimpers. ... the way around the wire without pinching the wire too hard and ... then you are not getting a good crimp. ... wire and pull STRAIGHT OUT slowly using a fish-scale until it breaks. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: No Power Isomac Rituale
    ... -- try to pull the wire out of ... the crimp, and make certain ALL are very firmly gripping their male ... Use GOOD connectors ...
    (alt.coffee)
  • Re: I now prefer to crimp :)
    ... The really good ones crimp the insulation down as well. ... If you look around I've seen info on why soldering is bad from the ... were made by the manufacturer of the pins as I recall. ... crimp a wire, give it a little tug to make sure it won't fall out, ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: I now prefer to crimp :)
    ... The really good ones crimp the insulation down as well. ... were made by the manufacturer of the pins as I recall. ... the J4 connectors for the MPU, ... crimp a wire, give it a little tug to make sure it won't fall out, ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Pulling HDMI Cable
    ... tape to run the pull wire then wrap the HDMI cable to the pull wire. ... recently pulled all cables out of this conduit (S-Video,Composite, ...
    (alt.tv.tech.hdtv)
Loading