Lightobject.com Support Forum

Hello all you keen-beans kinda folks!!

I need your help! I need advice on Crimpers to crimp:

1. Insulated / Quick Connect terminals,

2. Open Barrel / Molex / Amp terminals.

They cannot look like this:



All suggestions, recommendations, commendations, impromptu or considered reviews, warnings, caveats, topical discussions, dissertations or monologues are welcome and appreciated.

I had a really keen crimper with interchangeable dies when I was doing installations in the Army - can't remember the brand - bought one before I retired and lost them. Been using the above type since, and I cannot stand them. They've been okay, handy, useful but they are not right... I dislike them. Every time I use them, I vow to order a real crimper - then I forget. I've got the laser to wire, a router to wire, some stuff to rewire - so it is time to keep order a new crimper. I'm in podunk-ville where the above crimpers are the ONLY type sold, so my opportunities to hands-on shop are limited.

You kind assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated & my thanks in advance,

Pars

I soldered mine then covered the joint with heat-shrink wire wrap.

Kind of a pain in the butt, but it works.

These for Insulated / Quick Connect terminals,



and these for open barrel, molex:



Why two, when both have interchangeable dies? Glad you asked! These were both 23.99, free 2 day shpg.
A set of dies costs about $25, some with, some without free shipping. So, it's either a free die or a free ratchet.
That's a very good deal for me, because my wife is off becoming an Instrument Tech (she always thought my
job was interesting...) She's gonna need a crimper, so next holiday she'll come back try them both, and pilfer one
to go with the rest of my electronic gear which is kinda our gear which means it's really her gear.
(And that's fab, really, because I can get new gear, she'll take that, and I'll get my old reliables back and she can
have new reliables - win-win!)

So, I'll have to buy either a set of dies for both of us, or two more crimpers - and it ends up being okay cost wise,
'cause I really dislike changing dies, blades, etc. and she gets new stuff and we're all happy, nie? ja!

both had 4+ star ratings, so they should be great (?) - funny how the 2x and 3x and 4x 'brand' stuff looks very similar.
The 10x stuff is definitely usually probably better, but I don't do thousands of terminations any more (I'm a Hydro Power
Control Center Operator now!) so if they last 1000 crimps each, I'm happy.

Now, my reply was supposed to start out referencing splices - which I do do for permanent connections or extensions - nice nasa
/ western union / lineman splices usually (if applicable):


. See sec 4.07 of http://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2% ... meset.html for more info (although, honestly,
the W.U. they show for NASA-STD-8739.3 [13.6] looks like cr^p - looks to be 2.5 wraps ...)

... and splices are fine, jge, unless you need to replace the components they connect - hence my need for connectors. One can,
in the direst of situations, bereft of logistical support, do tinned loops for ring conns or trimmed tinned loops for spades,
and be well thought of for doing so when it accomplishes the mission, BUT ... but, it should be considered a temporary sol-
ution. As soon as practical, one should re-terminate those connections! (It's good for the equipment and the connectors industry
which employs thousands worldwide.)

Tinned wire splices vs tinned and non-tinned crimped splices vs non-tinned wire splices - and all those with or without minimal or
additional heatshrink / insulation / strain relief? To address that question properly, we'll have define parameters. First, operating
enviro - oh, yeah, my bad...

so, that's what I ordered... them two up there.

Pars

did I mention lap splices?

The ratcheting frame and dies on this site are very good for the price. I have several pairs and I am very happy with them.

http://www.steinair.com/store.cfm?tlcatid=28