What crimping tool do you use for quick connect terminals?

[nanofrog]

FWIW, I've recently been doing some Mini-Fit JR plugs, and they crimped very well with the 4300-3151 die. I've also done some Micro-Fit ones using the 4300-3150 die, with quite usable results. The Mini-Fit connectors don't wrap the insulation the way (I believe) they're designed to do, but rather crimp into it, but it looks just fine to me - and I am unable to pull the cable out of the crimp.

Pics please. 

[Lomax]

Pics please. 

Your wish is my command.

[Lomax]

And btw, I remembered wrong; it's the Micro-Fit that comes out nearly perfect, while the Mini-Fit JR is "acceptable". There is some deformation of the body due to the crimp being too "flat". And obviously, in both cases, the dimpled top part of the die causes the strain relief part to cut into the insulation. Neither would be acceptable in a critical application, but they're good enough for me - especially considering that the dies were ~$30 rather than the $800 a genuine tool would cost.

[nanofrog]

Definitely wouldn't pass aerospace standards, but would be fine for most anything else (vehicle wire harnesses, ground wire lug/screw, ...).

As per tools, you can get some really high quality used ones on eBay if you're patient. 

[eKretz]

Yeah you've gotta watch that when the connector gets bit in to the insulation rather than wrapped - it can cause a severe stress riser on the wire if they bite in too far, resulting in a very weak point that will easily break right at the point where the connector bites in with any pulling out flexure at all on the wire. It's mostly a factor on the very small gage wire though. The larger ones are tough enough so that it doesn't weaken them appreciably. 

I once tried crimping some 32 AWG connections with a cheap crimper and the wires were breaking at the ends of connectors left and right. Looked at the crimp under the scope and it was obvious what the problem was right away.

[Lomax]

Definitely wouldn't pass aerospace standards

Damn, so you mean that satellite I've been working on can't be launched now?

As per tools, you can get some really high quality used ones on eBay if you're patient. 

Yeah, I'm a bit of an eBay-holic - and definitely a tool fetishist. If there was a particular crimp that I used a lot I might be tempted, but unfortunately space is somewhat limited. That's one of the reasons I like the MCT so much; it fits in a single Raaco service case with all the dies and a bunch of other stuff. Another Raaco case holds all my crimp terminals.

Yeah you've gotta watch that when the connector gets bit in to the insulation rather than wrapped - it can cause a severe stress riser on the wire if they bite in too far, resulting in a very weak point that will easily break right at the point where the connector bites in with any pulling out flexure at all on the wire. It's mostly a factor on the very small gage wire though. The larger ones are tough enough so that it doesn't weaken them appreciably.

Not saying it can't happen, but I've personally never seen it. One issue that does occur is if you don't insert the terminal all the way in the die, then the die will crush the connector end, because the dies are made for longer crimps, if that makes any sense. This can be avoided by selecting a die with a shorter conductor crimp section, and making sure that the insulator portion rests against the start of the conductor section before crimping. This wouldn't be a problem with the official tool of course.

Side note: Whenever the terminal housing allows for it, I slip a heat-shrink sleeve over the strain relief part of the terminal after crimping, but before assembly. This works well for both Mini-Fit JR and Micro-Fit terminals, unless you use the thickest wire gauge allowed.

[eKretz]

Lucky you, I've seen it happen many times on small gage wire. It's especially common when people use those crimpers with no positive stop limit or with the stop adjusted wrong.

[dqgf]

Hello,

I'm sorry that I am resurrecting an old thread, but it seems to be the most comprehensive one on the topic of crimpers.

Thing is, I'm looking for a set of crimpers with dies that could be used for automotive repairs. Something that could do DIN uninsulated splice, open barrel connectors and later Metri Pack connectors and is available in Europe. I'm far from a professional user and getting a Pressmaster or Knipex would get too expensive.

So far I was looking on YouTube, but it is filled with videos from people claiming years of experience in the industry, proceeding to crimp an insulated terminal backwards and pronouncing the end result to be excellent. (That doesn't surprise me much, I already had to do repairs on my car after a similar "professional work".)

I found an inexpensive crimper with a nice range of available dies, sold under different more or less reputable brand names. The dies look like these: https://rhinotools.com.au/product/h3-superseal-die/

...crimpers with them are sold as a Snap-on QC25, Würth 0714107920, Narva 56523, Toolcraft 430461, Blue-point whatever, Pro-point SKU 8355331, Rhino Tools, Kimball Midwest . . . the list goes on and on. Sometimes the frame is different (Toolcraft 1423549), but my question is:

Has anyone have any expirience with these dies? Would they provide me solid crimps that I shouldn't be ashamed of?

Thanks

[helius]

If it helps those dies appear to be the same as the Astro Pneumatic 9477/9478 system (referred to this post). They look acceptable.

Note that Astro Pneumatic (www.astrotools.com) is not the same as Astro Tool Corp (www.astrotool.com), who makes MIL DTL spec tooling.

[Nivr]

Excavating an ancient thread, I know, but just stumbled upon it and thought you might be interested in my list of Pressmaster MCT dies. I've made a start on cross-referencing with other brands' model numbers, but this is far from complete. I would love to hear if you know of other dies (particularly for "Dupont" type connectors, which only crimp half-well with the 4300-3150 die), or if you can help improve the cross-references. I'm quite a fan of this tool, and have managed to amass no less than 13 dies - but as you can see below I still have some way to go until I've caught them all:

Code: [Select]

P-MASTER     WIHA     LAPP        CEMBRE       ABIKO        DESCRIPTION
####################################################################################################################################

Modular
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3144    43144    62000125    4300-3144    OMP45      RJ45 connectors 8/8, 8/6, 8/4
4300-3132    43132    62000126    4300-3132    OMP11      RJ11 connectors 6/6, 6/4, 6/2

Turned Pin
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3147    43147    62000127    4300-3147    OPB0140    Turned pin connectors 0.14-4mm²
4300-3148    43148    62000128    4300-3148    OPB6099    Turned pin connectors 6-10 mm²

Endsleeves
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3127    43127    62000115    4300-3127    OEB0210    Endsleeves connectors 0.25-10mm²
4300-3153    43153    62000116    4300-3153    OEB1625    Endsleeves connectors 16-25 mm²
4300-3154    43154    62000117    4300-3154    OEB3550    Endsleeves connectors 35-50 mm²

Insulated Terminals
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3129    43129    62000110    4300-3129    OAA0525    Red/blue insulated connectors, 0.5-2.5 mm²
4300-3128    43128    62000111    4300-3128    OAA0160    Green/yellow insulated connectors 0.1-6mm²
4300-3258    43258        -       4300-3258    OSW0525    Red/blue heat shrink connectors
4300-3262    43262        -       4300-3262    OSW0360    Green/yellow heat shrink connectors

Open Barrel
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3150    43150    62000118        -        ORB0110    Open barrel connectors, 0.1-0.25/0.25-0.5/0.5-1.0 mm²
4300-3151    43151        -           -            -      Open barrel connectors, 0.5-1.5/1.5-2.5 mm²
4300-3146    43146    62000120    4300-3146    ORB0560    Open barrel connectors, 0.5-1.5/1.5-2.5/4-6 mm²
4300-3202    43202        -           -            -      Like 4300-3146, but crimps are lower and wider
4300-3709    43709        -           -            -      6.3 mm Flag Terminals 0.75-2.5 mm²
4300-3427    43427        -           -            -      6.3 mm Flag Terminals 1.0-2.5 mm²
4300-3348    43348        -           -            -      8mm Flag Terminals 1.0-2.5 mm²

Closed Barrel
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3241    43241        -       4300-3241        -      Non-insulated connectors 4-6/10 mm²
4300-3142    43142    62000112        -        OKB0560    Non Insulated connectors 0.5-6 mm²
4300-3137    43137    62000113    4300-3137    OKB0725    Non-Insulated connectors 0.75-2.5mm²
4300-3139    43139    62000114        -        OWB4099    Non-Insulated connectors 4-10 mm²

Coaxial
====================================================================================================================================
4300-3136    43136    62000123    4300-3136    OCC1113    RG58, RG59, RG62AU, BNC/TNC Coax connectors
4300-3141    43141    62000121        -        OFO5432    SMA, SMB, SFR, ST, SC Fiber Optic connectors
4300-3140    43140    62000122    4300-3140    OCC0908    RG174, RG179, BNC/TNC Coax connectors
4300-3138    43138    62000124    4300-3138        -      RG6, Belden 1694A, Twinax BNC, CATV F type connectors
4300-3386    43386        -           -            -      CATV connectors RG6, 59 Sqr 1.72/Hex 8.23 mm
4300-3181    43181        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors RG6, Belden 8281, 1694A Hex 1.73/8.23/6.48 mm
4300-3247    43247        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Sqr 0.7 Hex 3.85/3.25 mm
4300-3182    43182        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Sqr 1.07 Hex 8.23/6.48 mm
4300-3249    43249        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Sqr 1.72 Hex 5.41 mm
4300-3459    43459        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Sqr 0.73/1.72 Hex 3.25/4.30/5.41 mm
4300-3460    43460        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Sqr 1.20 Hex 3.25/4.52/5.41 mm
4300-3404    43404        -           -            -      BNC, TNC connectors Hex 1.73/2.03/2.54/10.90 mm
4300-3403    43403        -           -            -      BNC connectors on BT 2002, 2003 cable Hex 1.46/5.18/6.81 mm

Proprietary
=====================================================================================================================================
4300-3727    43727        -           -            -      Metri-Pack 150 & 280 type connectors 0.75-1.5/2.5-4.0/4.0-6.0 mm²
4300-3242    43242        -           -            -      Weather Pack type connectors 0.5-0.8/1.0-2.0/3 mm²
4300-3706    43706        -           -            -      Automotive type connectors with Wire Seal 0.5-1.5/1.5-2.5/4.0-6.0 mm²
4300-3707    43707        -           -            -      Automotive type connectors wrap-around crimp 0.5-1.5/1.5-2.5/4.0-6.0 mm²
4300-3708    43708        -           -            -      Automotive type connectors over-lap crimp 0.5-1.5/1.5-2.5/4.0-6.0 mm²
4300-3541    43541        -           -            -      Solarlok, turned pin type, 2.5-4.0/6.0 mm²
4300-3540    43540        -        4300-3540       -      MC3 Ø3mm, turned pin type, 2.5-4.0/6.0 mm²
4300-3539    43539        -        4300-3539       -      MC4 Ø4mm, open barrel type, 2.5/4.0/6.0 mm²
4300-3426    43426        -           -            -      TE/AMP Timer type connectors without Wire Seal 0.5-1.0/1.0-2.5/2.5-4.0 mm²
4300-3425    43425        -           -            -      TE/AMP Timer type connectors with Wire Seal 0.5-1.0/1.0-2.5/2.5-4.0 mm²
4300-3428    43428        -           -            -      TE/AMP SuperSeal 1.5 System type connectors with Wire Seal 0.75-1.25/1.5 mm²


That's a whopping 46 dies in total Though to be fair there is some overlap. And here's a list of some of the different brand names these can be found under:

• Pressmaster MCT
• Wiha PortaCrimp
• Lapp Kabel Mobile Crimp Tool
• Cembre IDT
• Elpress Mobile
• Abiko Mobile

Again, I would love to hear if you know of others!

Wow, thanks!! I'm also a MCT addict, beautiful tool

Have you seen the Gedore branded ones? I have a set like this, with 9 dies total. Always on the lookout for more
http://up.picr.de/25253482nm.jpg
You can search for partnumbers 8140-xx; with xx going from 01 -> 25, I believe.
Here you can find an overview:
http://gedoreuk.com/default/products-1/gedore-2012/pliers-range/crimp-wrench-modular

When you look around a bit, some dies can be had for reasonable prices, like these weatherpack ones for €54.
https://www.voelkner.de/products/1313637/Gedore-8140-20-1963384-Crimpeinsatz-Lamellenkontakt-0.5-bis-3mm.html
However, I still need to find some flag terminals/metri-pack/superseal dies on the cheap, usually they are up in the €200 range.

I do quite a bit of automotive work, but funnily enough, I wouldn't know where to use the "Automotive type connectors". On spark plug wires?
All I see on cars is metri/weather/superseal or Deutsch connectors (how to crimp those btw?)

[Jwillis]

I've  been using these for years without any complications.And you don't need 2 separate tools to do a simple job.
Why spend hundreds of dollars on a tool when a 30 dollar one will do the job just a well.

[Monkeh]

Because they don't do the job as well. That's why they make tools for the purpose.

[mikeinkcmo]

I use THESE

[bluey]

Knipex 97 43 200 A
€77 from conrad at present

Truckloads (?several hundred according to web page) of dies from rennsteig, who sells the same crimp tool.

https://www.rennsteig.com/en/products/crimping/838-dies-and-locators

[jfiresto]

Knipex 97 43 200 A
€77 from conrad at present

That is a pretty good price for a very good tool. I asked an AMP mechanical engineer about it one time, and I could hear him practically swoon at the other end of the line.