Information about wire terminal crimping tools

[MFolks]

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_termination (The Good, Bad, & Ugly of Crimpers))

 

[wornoutoldman]

I especially like the "Crimp vs Solder" comments on the last page. Thanks for the link.

 

[Teken]

I especially like the "Crimp vs Solder" comments on the last page. Thanks for the link.

His comments only address if the termination will be under stress and movement and where the wire is affected by environmental movement.

In that regard it may have some validity.

What many forget or fail to acknowledge is that when people try to compare a crimp that is done by a million dollar piece of equipment. That is clearly not the same as some Joe Blow doing it in his back yard.

Crimping, soldering, with many other skills come in time, practice, and experience.

The only reason things are crimped in any industry is because its faster for production work. It has no baring upon those industries that solder each and every connection. Keep in mind those who do solder, do so with years of experience and have the proper solder, flux, and heat setting, with correct amount of time applied to the work.

Regardless, all of the other elements this gentleman offered was spot on!

Teken . . .

 

[Randy in Maine]

I love my open barrel crimpers. I should have bought them 20 years ago. That is what VW used at the factory.

 

[wssix99]

The only reason things are crimped in any industry is because its faster for production work. It has no baring upon those industries that solder each and every connection. Keep in mind those who do solder, do so with years of experience and have the proper solder, flux, and heat setting, with correct amount of time applied to the work.

From an engineering perspective, solder has some serious drawbacks. Solder joints are brittle, can crack, and short out in high vibration/stress environments. For this reason, they are not legal to be used on most areas of boats and aircraft. (I understand the same goes for automobiles, but I am not fully familiar with those regulations.)


The article linked above is very good and I've had similar positive experiences with the higher dollar crimpers. They are worth every penny.

 

[Zeke]

+1 on thanks for the link. I have read many articles on the subject and this guy makes it very easy to understand and sort out the info. This is a perfect example of how HF, HD and countless other places do a disservice to anyone needing to repair or install some wiring. I think I'll go out and throw away my yellow handled "crimpers." I do have some better ones and I sometimes wonder why I hold onto junk. Maybe I'm thinking, "Well, it's good enough for the lawn mower." Well, it's not.

 

[ishiboo]

The only reason things are crimped in any industry is because its faster for production work. It has no baring upon those industries that solder each and every connection. Keep in mind those who do solder, do so with years of experience and have the proper solder, flux, and heat setting, with correct amount of time applied to the work.

As wssix99 said, this is completely unfounded. Mechanical crimp connections provide as good of a connection in the instances of a proper crimp.

Boats, as he mentioned, do not necessarily prohibit solder joints - but they require a mechanical joint to be present as well. IE, crimped and then soldered.

I bring my soldering set out for all my boat crimps, but that's because I use the hot air rework gun to do the heat shrink when I'm done

You do not need a million dollar piece of equipment, for a perfect crimp you usually do need the $400-1500 factory set. But his point was for not that much, you can get a solid crimper that will make a professional, long-lasting connection.

He didn't bring up the pliers-type crimpers like the Channellock 909 which provide a great crimp for not much more than what the crappy crimpers cost.