Affordable crimp tools for small connectors (Dupont, etc.)

[eliocor]

nope, but the price of the crimper is so low, you can check it by yourself without going broke

[Ian.M]

The Lidl product 'blurb' was posted to Hotdeals, which has preserved it.  The relevant section said:

• For connectors in sizes XH 2.54/ DuPont 2.54mm/ 3.96mm/ JST/ KF2510
• For ATX, EPS, PCIE and SATA connectors
• Crimping range: 0.1–1mm² (AWG 26–18)

I'd take that with a grain of salt as I think its been through a non-technical 'marketing' team edit.

If anyone knows what contacts the middle position is good for, please let us know, and also what you have actually hands-on crimped and tested!

[tooki]

The Lidl product 'blurb' was posted to Hotdeals, which has preserved it.  The relevant section said:

• For connectors in sizes XH 2.54/ DuPont 2.54mm/ 3.96mm/ JST/ KF2510
• For ATX, EPS, PCIE and SATA connectors
• Crimping range: 0.1–1mm² (AWG 26–18)

I'd take that with a grain of salt as I think its been through a non-technical 'marketing' team edit.

If anyone knows what contacts the middle position is good for, please let us know, and also what you have actually hands-on crimped and tested!

I just used it to crimp some old-school Vogt 1361.61 contacts for 1.3mm PCB pins onto 0.5mm² wire, and it worked absolutely perfectly.

[tooki]

@pope: to my knowledge the two crimpers you are referring to, are the same model except for the handle color

Thanks, do you know if they can do the Molex KK254 crimp type?

Well, the KF2510 listed in the blurb are very close in design to KK254 (the contacts are usually interchangeable with genuine KK254, but amusingly, they don't mate well, due to different positions of the retention ramp on the headers).

I'll try to remember and do some testing with both the originals and the clones.

[pope]

@pope: to my knowledge the two crimpers you are referring to, are the same model except for the handle color

Thanks, do you know if they can do the Molex KK254 crimp type?

Well, the KF2510 listed in the blurb are very close in design to KK254 (the contacts are usually interchangeable with genuine KK254, but amusingly, they don't mate well, due to different positions of the retention ramp on the headers).

I'll try to remember and do some testing with both the originals and the clones.

Thanks! That'll be great. Although it's a low priced tool, I don't want to end up with a something that I'd never use.

[tooki]

Thanks! That'll be great. Although it's a low priced tool, I don't want to end up with a something that I'd never use.

Honestly, I would buy it either way, as eventually you’ll come across some other compatible contact you need to crimp. (Including DuPont, which are suboptimal for most things, but are ubiquitous.)

What size wire were you planning to use with the KK254, so I can test with that, if possible?

[pope]

Thanks! That'll be great. Although it's a low priced tool, I don't want to end up with a something that I'd never use.

Honestly, I would buy it either way, as eventually you’ll come across some other compatible contact you need to crimp. (Including DuPont, which are suboptimal for most things, but are ubiquitous.)

What size wire were you planning to use with the KK254, so I can test with that, if possible?

thanks tooki. I've been using mostly 0.5mm2(awg20) and 0.35mm2(awg22) wire.

[tooki]

Thanks! That'll be great. Although it's a low priced tool, I don't want to end up with a something that I'd never use.

Honestly, I would buy it either way, as eventually you’ll come across some other compatible contact you need to crimp. (Including DuPont, which are suboptimal for most things, but are ubiquitous.)

What size wire were you planning to use with the KK254, so I can test with that, if possible?

thanks tooki. I've been using mostly 0.5mm2(awg20) and 0.35mm2(awg22) wire.

KK254 is for AWG 22 to 30, so I won’t test 0.5mm2 in it. I think I have some 22AWG to test with.

[themadhippy]

 local store still had 3 or 4 on the shelf,so grabbed one, almost doubled me weekly shopping bill.First impression,ya gets a good selection of connectors.A random bit of wire seems to have crimped  successfully,will give it a proper work out later.

[tooki]

Thanks! That'll be great. Although it's a low priced tool, I don't want to end up with a something that I'd never use.

Honestly, I would buy it either way, as eventually you’ll come across some other compatible contact you need to crimp. (Including DuPont, which are suboptimal for most things, but are ubiquitous.)

What size wire were you planning to use with the KK254, so I can test with that, if possible?

thanks tooki. I've been using mostly 0.5mm2(awg20) and 0.35mm2(awg22) wire.

OK, so I took some 22AWG sensor cable from work to test with (one from Molex with thinner conductor insulation, one from Kabeltronik with slightly thicker), using both genuine Molex and clone contacts. I also tested standard UL1007-style 24AWG wire.

Cavities 1 and 3 are good matches for the wire gauge, and both produce a good conductor crimp on all three wires.

In cavity 1 (the one intended for JST XH), the insulation crimp is too loose (with a noticeable gap), due to these contacts' short insulation wings. The 24AWG and the thin-insulation 22AWG both had wiggle room in the insulation crimp, so not good for long-term reliability. The 22AWG with thicker insulation was a bit better, but still not ideal. Because cavity 1 is thin, it's easy to center the contact in the cavity, since it matches well.

Cavity 3 (the one intended for Dupont) produces a beautiful crimp with all the wires tested. Because cavity 3 is much thicker (to accomodate the much longer crimp area of Dupont contacts), careful placement of the KK254 contacts is required, pulling the contact out so the insulation wings rest on the step between the conductor and insulation parts of the die. If the contact is not inserted all the way in, you risk crushing part of the contact.

With that said, it's not at all difficult to locate the contact that way. So my conclusion is yes, it works well for KK254 and clones using cavity 3 with 24-22AWG wire. As such, I would recommend buying it.

[phofman]

Thank you all for the Lidl Dupont crimper suggestion. I used SN-28B as suggested on some high-traffic/reputable sites and it was a no-way, waste of many hours. I did not know about the oval shape for the isolation section for the Dupont. The Lidl Dupont crimper did the job right away, IMO good quality connections by myself the inexperienced crimper, not a single rework after a few trials.

[tooki]

Thank you all for the Lidl Dupont crimper suggestion. I used SN-28B as suggested on some high-traffic/reputable sites and it was a no-way, waste of many hours.

I detest the fact that the SN-28B is constantly recommended by so many people, vendors, and websites for DuPont and other small contacts. It was never designed for those, and when used for them, it gives people an entirely incorrect impression of the crimping process and results. The fact that some people claim to get good results is, IMHO, due to two things: 1. variation from one SN-28B model to another, and 2. people who have no idea what a good crimp should look like, and think their failed crimps are OK!

I did not know about the oval shape for the isolation section for the Dupont.

FYI, the nominal shape of the insulation crimp on DuPont is circular, not oval. The Lidl one seems to get very, very close to circular. It’s not the smushed oval of, say, the Toozo.

(I don’t know why cheap crimpers tend to be designed to make crimps that are much flatter and wider than the originals. Perhaps they are easier to manufacture cheaply.)

The Lidl Dupont crimper did the job right away, IMO good quality connections by myself the inexperienced crimper, not a single rework after a few trials.

That agrees with my experience with it. I said it before but I’ll say it again: Lidl’s tool buyer deserves high praise for finding and selecting this tool. I actually kinda doubt it was a standard product, since nobody else sells it, so it might even have been custom designed. But even if it wasn’t, the tool buyer clearly selected something that isn’t the cheapest model available, and likely actually knew something about crimp tools.

The only thing that is missing to make it the perfect hobbyist DuPont crimper is a locator. (The cherry on top would be a modified die shape to allow genuine Mini-PV to be used without having to pre-squeeze the insulation wings.)

[ksjh]

That agrees with my experience with it. I said it before but I’ll say it again: Lidl’s tool buyer deserves high praise for finding and selecting this tool. I actually kinda doubt it was a standard product, since nobody else sells it, so it might even have been custom designed.

This tool should use the same crimp die as the Lidl one: https://www.amazon.de/Crimpzange-Dupont-Stecker-Steckverbinder-Crimpkontakten/dp/B0BX6ND5R4
I do not own the Lidl one, but this Preciva works quite well and produces more or less round insulation crimps.
The listing mentions the model number PR-3254. I did not find this tool or the die set individually on the usual Chinese shopping sites using variations of this number.

Edit, Update: SN-025 seems to be the correct search term on AliExpress to find similar tools. But these dies do not include the B shaped insulation crimp variant, only multiple O shaped ones.