Pin Connectors, Crimpers, decent connections, and the futility of it all...

[xavier60]

I've had what I consider good success by using the PA-09's 1.6mm die for the "barrel" part of the connector, and the 1.9mm die for the "wings", both used with a carefully-moderated level of force.

I thought it was possibly a better mechanical bond to have the wing tips actually fold into the insulation, as opposed to simply surround it, but perhaps its a question of taste.  I've included a shot of what that looks like.

What size wire are you using? I mainly use folded 28 AWG which is 25 AWG.
I find that the 1.6mm die doesn't quite crimp tight enough and I need to use the 1.4mm die.
Although the crimps always seem ok, I'm starting to dislike the high initial crimping force that I need to apply to start the wings curling.
This force is attempting to shear off the wings.
And the connector becomes stuck in the die.

[tooki]

I've been trying to make reliable connectors using the pins/connector/crimper system shown in the photo, but no matter how much I practice, I can never crimp on a pin, male or female, that will slide nicely into the connector while forming a solid mechanical and electrical connection with the wire.  The top of the crimp invariably ends up too wide to fit properly, despite trying to pre-form the pin's metal "wings", and not squeezing to the extreme end of the tool's travel.

So I thought I'd ask if anyone has been able to be consistently successful at doing this, or if it's a well-known hopeless cause and I'm just late to the party.

FYI, the issue is that 99.9% of the crimpers out there that are sold for “DuPont” terminals are actually the wrong tool. The crimper you have (I have the same one) are designed for 2.8mm spade connectors, which are designed to have an m-shaped (“type F”) insulation crimp. In such terminals, both the wire crimp and the insulation crimp parts of the contact have symmetrical, rectangular “wings”. DuPont terminals, on the other hand, have asymmetrical triangular insulation crimp wings. These are designed for a circular crimp that wraps the wings around the wire without piercing the insulation. In the wrong tool, the wings get mangled, causing the distortion that prevents their proper entry into the housing.

A quick fix is to re-crimp the insulation crimp in the wire crimp jaw. On my crimpers, if I squeeze carefully until the very first click that releases the ratchet, it’ll fit the housing fine.

As for finding the right tool: I’ve started documenting my saga to find a better tool. I recently found some promising candidates, one of which I ordered and am awaiting delivery on. Here’s the link: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/affordable-crimp-tools-for-small-connectors-(dupont-etc-)/