Anyone got any experience with crimp tools for insulated terminals?

[sjalloq]

Hey there,

I've got a Tyco Pro-Crimper II that I bought to crimp the standard red/blue/yellow insulated crimp terminals. I'm having real trouble getting a secure crimp - so far I've only used the red terminals.

Once crimped I can easily pull the terminal off the wire. Is this expected or should the joint be fairly secure?

Thanks.

[Bill_P]

The joint should be very secure if crimped properly. The tool should have several sized openings with color dots to indicate which is for the various colored terminals. Squeeze the tool all the way closed when crimping.

[Pano]

I have a crimper that has spots for insulated and non-insulated terminals. The non-insulated is the only one that works worth a darn. It puts a divot in the terminal. The insulated crimper just mashes the terminal flat. The wires always pull out.

So now I use the more aggressive divot crimp and haven't looked back. It does not hurt the plastic insulation.

[sjalloq]

Yeah, my die set has different sized openings but they're marked R, B and Y rather than having coloured dots.

I guess I just assumed that a tool designed for the job would actually work. :-(

Thanks for the input.

[zigzagflux]

That crimper works great, as does the T&B insulated crimper. At a prior company, we had performed extensive pull tests on insulated crimp lugs. The Amp (Tyco) lugs and tooling was far and above the best, with Panduit way at the bottom.

I suspect you are doing something wrong. Sounds like you are using the B die for a red lug. There is also a force adjustment on these, so you can set the amount of pressure desired. Might want to play with that, but I've found as they come set out of the box they are good to go.

[richie00boy]

Are you using the correct gauge wire? Thin wire may well pull out of a yellow terminal. The colours have a specified gauge range.

[barrymagrec]

Most decent crimp tools have a pressure adjustment. This is usually a toothed wheel which can be rotated a couple of positions and locked back in place with an allen screw. If you bought the tool secondhand it may have had alot of use and require adjustment.

Barry

[sjalloq]

zigzag, it's interesting that you've had a different experience so it's quite possible that I'm doing something wrong.

The only thing I can think of so far is that the terminals I'm using aren't of a very good quality. I'm using some generic ones that I got in a kit rather than the Tyco own brand ones. Could that be a problem? I have the Tyco brand ones on order.

So far I'm confident that I can put the red terminal in the slot marked 'R'. :-) I have also made sure I have a correct gauge wire and have even tried using a thicker gauge one.

I've also experimented with changing the cam settings.

So far my tests have been hit and miss. I've just tried about 10 crimps and half have failed though I have to say some are really strong and I'd be happy using them. It's the hit and miss I'm worried about.

But thanks for your comments. I'll continue to test and see if I can work out what I'm doing wrong with the failed crimps.

Cheers.

[sjalloq]

OK, a quick update. I've just done a load more testing and it seems that the failures are isolated to a single style of terminal which suggests the problem is with the way the terminal is manufactured.

If I try a ring or spade terminal it works fine but if I try the female receptacle type it always fails.

Looking at the construction of the two varieties, the female receptacle has a side wall where the others don't. I'm guessing this strengthens the terminal where it is crimped preventing a clean crimp.

When I crimp the spade/ring terminal it gets pressed into the die so that I have to lever it out following a completed crimp. With the female terminal it doesn't get squashed enough to stick in the die and just comes clean out when I release the spring grip.

Does that make sense to people? Do I just have a poorly designed terminal or are they all like that?

[Brian Oshman]

Use seamless connectors. Cheap connectors are rolled over and have a seam. Also, the better connectors have a nylon insulator which is much more durable and doesn't crack apart when crimped.