Quick Disconnects - how hard to crimp

[lightspeed]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of connecting all my buttons, and am about to place an order for the .187" quick disconnects.  Can someone shed some light as to how hard it is to crimp the wires for these?  

I've seen seperate crimping tools built just for this purpose, but am wondering if I can get by using my standard wire stripping/crimper tool.   Anyone have any suggestions?  Is the special tool worth it? I figured is I was an arcade technician, this might be something that would be helpful, but I'm only building one control panel.

Thanks,

          light

[darkmanx]

if you have a crimping tool umm... thats what they are for   i got one combined with a wire stripper cuz i needed one of those anyway, but its not necessary. you could do it with some needle nose pliers or anything small enough.

[halfping]

Make sure you get a decent crimper.  I started using a cheap one that came with some kit I had, after two or three I gave up and went out and bought a real one.  It is worth the extra $

[1UP]

If you're using this type (fully insulated) the best way I've found is to use the rounded crimpers on the end of the Radio Shack wire-stripper I have.



You can just crimp the insulated neck of the thing without really damaging it, but the metal prongs get crimped right down.  This works great, as it's hard to pop off the insulation to crimp with a regular crimping tool.

[JustMichael]

My crimper has a simple name. It is P-L-I-E-R-S.

[darkmanx]

^^ heheh.  

the fact is of course it will be easier with the tool made for the job, but it can be done pretty well without it.

[1UP]

After crimping 20-50 ends, your hands will thank you for getting the right tool.

[kamakazi]

You obviously  care enough to ask, so here are some crimping pointers.

[*]Don't use pliers, they smash the crimp connector and make it more likely to pull off the wire[*]Use the right size connectors for your wire, the wire keeps the connector from crushing/breaking when you crimp it[*]use the right shape crimper.  Insulated connectors need a crimper that is kind of flat, uninsulated need one that actually crunches an indentation into the metal of the connector[*]If you are doing a lot of them (my control panel would be more than 50) consider buying a ratcheting crimper, that way you don't have to guess whether or not you have crimped hard enough[/list]

That said, I soldered mine because no one makes a crimp that works reliably on 24 gauge solid wire.  I don't recommend folding the wire back over the insulation to make it fit the connector, the insulation just crushes when you crimp, but you can strip twice as long as you need and fold the wire back on itself.

kamakazi

[Thenasty]

My crimper has a simple name. It is P-L-I-E-R-S.

Mine is a pre-historic tools called ROCKS  

[lightspeed]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.  I think I'll try to make a go with it with my normal crimping tool initially, and see how well that does.

[DeafBug]

Probably a stupid question but with the quick disconnects.  How many wires can you crimp in one connector?  The thought comes from daisy chaining the ground wire from the controllers.

Or is it that you must daisy chain in one stream?  If so then the max is two in each connector.  

[darkmanx]

you just need 2 in each connector. a seperate wire goes from each connecter to the next. just strip off a little insulation and twist the 2 wires together, put em in the hole on the connecter, and crimp it. start at your ground and work out to the last switch. dont try to pre-cut wires, measure as you go. dont want em to be tight.

g = ground terminal
--- = wire
O = crimp connector

g---------O---------O---------O---------O---------O

[JustMichael]

Probably a stupid question but with the quick disconnects.  How many wires can you crimp in one connector?  The thought comes from daisy chaining the ground wire from the controllers.

Or is it that you must daisy chain in one stream?  If so then the max is two in each connector.  

How many wires?  As many as will fit inside the quick disconnect and stay there once crimped.  I used pliers to smash the crimp flat because I was using the wires from inside a scrap piece of cat5 cable.  Awefully thin even when doubled up.

[bowmand1]

JustMichael, that's kinda ghetto    why don't you just go to the handy nearby electronics store and buy a 100-ft roll of 24-gauge stranded?  Active Electronics in Livonia, MI (a big canadian chain that's busting like Tim Hortons across the border) has it on sale right now for $2.49 a roll...  in any colors you want!  red, yellow, blue, green, black, white...  even PURPLE!!!  

as far as crimping tools go, I've got one made by Amp that's PERFECT for the work we're all doing.  It's called the "Service Tool I", and I think it costs like 60 bucks (but my company paid for mine...yay!) it's got the quick disconnect crimpers in the crook of the tool, where you get the most leverage, with different sizes PLUS one for uninsulated...  PLUS on the other side of the hinge it has the proper crimpers for DB-style connectors (serial and parallel connectors) and Molex connectors...  PLUS around the hinge it has that setup where you can cut screws to the proper length by threading them in and squeezing hard.

Can't go wrong with Amp.  --dave