Crimping Tool
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finally got my Duet Board in today. Just quickly opened it up before leaving for some vacation time and could someone post which tool you use to crimp the pins? The crimp tools i have for the Allen Bradley control stuff i work with is too large. Could crimp them very carefully with needle nose pliers but usually just makes a mess. Could order the tool and have it here when i get back next week. Hopefully the testing i plan on doing next week with the Duet works out and will be needing the tool to do a lot more crimping with.
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@irondesk40 This is the one I use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DHCRVSC -
HT-225D is another popular choice.
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Don’t forget a crimp tool for the bootlace ferrules! I use the trapezoidal kind, as that is what dc42 mentioned he uses.
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I find the ratchet type not a great idea for the smaller connectors. Personally i have been using PA09 Engineer brand crimper with great success
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I've tried a lot of Crimping Tools in the recent past for different kind of crimp connectors.
I have the HT-225D mentioned by David as well as the Engineer A-09/20/21.
A tool which creates good crimps is this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073WR9JTY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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My best results were with Engineer PA-09 so far.
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@calvinx said in Crimping Tool:
I find the ratchet type not a great idea for the smaller connectors. Personally i have been using PA09 Engineer brand crimper with great success
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This is odd, IMO. Ratcheting crimp tools are always preferred by maintenance people in industry. I remember having this discussion some months ago, and subsequently looked up in my old aerospace textbooks, and found that they indeed specify that ratcheting crimp tools are preferred.
I see no reason whatsoever that a non-ratcheting tool would be preferred, unless your ratcheting tool was broken or not functioning correctly. A manual tool does not prevent the pin from being over or under-crimped. A ratcheting tool is better in every way.
(from the Jeppesn A+P Technician Airframe textbook, ~2008 edition)*not actually a robot
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I have this and it is amazing. Re-did all my previously connectors made with pliers.
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Thanks for info
Just ordered the Ht-225d since we have a account with Newark and they sell it. -
@bot said in Crimping Tool:
This is odd, IMO. Ratcheting crimp tools are always preferred by maintenance people in industry. I remember having this discussion some months ago, and subsequently looked up in my old aerospace textbooks, and found that they indeed specify that ratcheting crimp tools are preferred.
The reason why industry prefers them is that they are much faster.
I see no reason whatsoever that a non-ratcheting tool would be preferred, unless your ratcheting tool was broken or not functioning correctly. A manual tool does not prevent the pin from being over or under-crimped. A ratcheting tool is better in every way.
This is probably right if you have the original crimping tool of the crimp manufacturer - and in case of Molex they are heavily expensive. Around 500 € for a used one the last time I checked.
It is hard to find a good ratcheting crimping tool at a reasonable price that will produce a perfect crimp. I know that a lot of ratcheting tools that handle Dupont crimps will leave you with a mechanically good crimp but the pin itself is slightly deformed and won't fit into the housing anymore without a tiny squeeze with a pair of pliers. If you have a good ratcheting tool than I guess it definitely is superior to manual ones.I also use Engineer PA-20 manual tool and I am very happy with it despite the fact that crimping is quite slow. I also have a ratcheting tool for insulated crimp terminals that is very good and it has interchangeable dies. So maybe one day I get the dies to crimp Molex crimps.
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I have worked in the oil industry in one form or another for the last 30 years, starting in "wire-line" with Baker Hughes undertaking down hole seismic surveys and other down hole activities. We had to do a awful lot electrical wiring to do from cable heads to electrically operate radio active source material, that meant a very very long training period as an Oil companies motto is "do it once do it right no matter the cost" and we were specifically banned from using ratchet type crimping tools due to their inaccuracy.
What was found was that on smaller crimps 2.54 mm sizes was that even with expensive ratchet type tooling with the crimp being very small it was difficult to hold the crimp and the wire in exactly the right location during the action of operating the ratchet crimper. this was leading to too many failed joints which had to be re-done
We got to a point were we tried mounting the ratchet type crimper on a bench with another jig to hold the wire in place while doing the crimp, that worked perfect but the caveat was that the crimp time to actually crimp one wire was quadrupled.
Where as with a manually operated crimper we had full control of the crimp connector and the wire while carrying out the crimping action and able to crimp a wire in a fraction of the time and our error rate was very good.
So personally I will stick with what i have experienced to be both fast and reliable.
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The first printer I built was a Mendel from RepRapPro which went well. But then I upgraded it to the Tri-Colour version and had all sorts of problems. After many hours of frustration, it turned out to be numerous bad crimps on the supplied leads. It transpired that RepRapPro bought a new crimping tool and the "operators" didn't know how to use it properly. They did offer to replace the leads but I was impatient. I didn't have a crimping tool at the time but I fixed all the issues with the aid of a small pair or needle nosed pliers. Since then I've bought a few "proper" crimping tools but I can't get on with any of them, and end up resorting back to my trusty needle nosed pliers.
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These have worked well for me. I totally re-wired my Ender 3 printer when I received my Duet wifi so I did quite a lot of crimping with these.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078WNZ9FW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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I am sure the ratchet type tools are best if you use it regularly and know how to use it. I crimp only occasionally and without having routine, so after a while some of the connections slipped through (even high current ones). So I prefer crimping in two steps now and controlling both steps carefully. But it's time consuming of course.
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The reason that ratcheting crimp tools are specified for aerospace use is because they are the only handheld method of getting a reliable crimp. A manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool does not provide a consistent, reliable pressure.
Use a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool at your own peril.
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@bot said in Crimping Tool:
The reason that ratcheting crimp tools are specified for aerospace use is because they are the only handheld method of getting a reliable crimp. A manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool does not provide a consistent, reliable pressure.
Use a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool at your own peril.
So that means that those with no skill can use the ratcheting type then......
And conversely if you are handy with non ratcheting type crimper's and have skills no peril is involved...
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@calvinx said in Crimping Tool:
@bot said in Crimping Tool:
The reason that ratcheting crimp tools are specified for aerospace use is because they are the only handheld method of getting a reliable crimp. A manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool does not provide a consistent, reliable pressure.
Use a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool at your own peril.
So that means that those with no skill can use the ratcheting type then......
And conversely if you are handy with non ratcheting type crimper's and have skills no peril is involved...
I disagree. The fact that every time you crimp with the manual tool, you have a different result (because the amount you squeeze will not be the same each time) leads me to understand why the manual tools are completely written-off in aerospace work.
Sure, if you don't mind every once in a while having a bad crimp, or questioning whether or not you have a good crimp, go ahead and use a bench vise for all I care!
I'm simply suggesting that there is no time or money to be saved by using a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool.
Also, in regards to the notion that a ratcheting-type tool is more difficult to use -- I do not understand this either. IMO, it's EASIER to use the ratcheting tool, although, not faster.
Of course, you need to test the tool to see if it makes good crimps with specific crimp pins. Once you determine that the crimps are sufficient, it will produce that same good crimp every time, no matter how lightly or hard you squeeze the handles.
With a manual tool, you're guessing each time if you applied enough, or too much pressure to the crimp. This, especially, comes into play with the insulation side of the crimp pin -- the manual type have no index to prevent over-pressure, and over-crimping this part is a pretty bad mistake.
So yes, it's at the user's own peril that they use a manual tool -- whereas with a ratcheting tool that has been verified to produce good crimps, there is not much peril at all.
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@bot said in Crimping Tool:
@calvinx said in Crimping Tool:
@bot said in Crimping Tool:
The reason that ratcheting crimp tools are specified for aerospace use is because they are the only handheld method of getting a reliable crimp. A manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool does not provide a consistent, reliable pressure.
Use a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool at your own peril.
So that means that those with no skill can use the ratcheting type then......
And conversely if you are handy with non ratcheting type crimper's and have skills no peril is involved...
I disagree. The fact that every time you crimp with the manual tool, you have a different result (because the amount you squeeze will not be the same each time) leads me to understand why the manual tools are completely written-off in aerospace work.
Sure, if you don't mind every once in a while having a bad crimp, or questioning whether or not you have a good crimp, go ahead and use a bench vise for all I care!
I'm simply suggesting that there is no time or money to be saved by using a manual, non-ratcheting crimp tool.
Also, in regards to the notion that a ratcheting-type tool is more difficult to use -- I do not understand this either. IMO, it's EASIER to use the ratcheting tool, although, not faster.
Of course, you need to test the tool to see if it makes good crimps with specific crimp pins. Once you determine that the crimps are sufficient, it will produce that same good crimp every time, no matter how lightly or hard you squeeze the handles.
With a manual tool, you're guessing each time if you applied enough, or too much pressure to the crimp. This, especially, comes into play with the insulation side of the crimp pin -- the manual type have no index to prevent over-pressure, and over-crimping this part is a pretty bad mistake.
So yes, it's at the user's own peril that they use a manual tool -- whereas with a ratcheting tool that has been verified to produce good crimps, there is not much peril at all.
I revert back to my earlier assertion, with time and experience my findings are what i am going to go with, if you think i am wrong that's fine, i really don't give two hoots what you think and I am not looking for your permission to do things the way I feel is best for me.
