EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: artag on May 16, 2015, 05:30:25 pm
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All my miniature crocodile clips - even on expensive things like HP scope probe earth clips - seem to be dying. Perhaps I'm too heavy handed - as I press on the back, the clips twist sideways as well as opening. When they close, the jaws don't meet neatly and thin wires aren't held tight.
I think what happens is that the sides of the clips bend inward, so that the 'inner' half no longer fills the 'outer' half. Then there's nothing to help them stay parallel, and they wander all over the place.
Has anyone else found this ? Is there a cure ?
Maybe I can replace them with better quality clips. Ransack my older HP probes, perhaps (no, not really!). Have you got any suggestion for clips made of thick copper rather than thin nickel-plated steel ? I've wondered whether filling the inside with solder - or even hot glue - would stop them bending, but it's a fiddly job.
On a related note, I have many older clip leads with a soft PVC cover. The red ones (and only the red ones) have gone so stiff that it now takes a huge force to open them. Is this a failure mode of aged PVC, specific to red colouring (I know that sounds odd, but many pigments have ageing problems).
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To prevent them getting bent you should take care not to press too hard when opening them and especially avoid lateral forces.
You could also put a little block of plastic or piece of metal tubing inside the clip around the axle to brace the clips.
You may have to remove and replace the riveted axle for that but perhaps you could use some sort of putty or make something in two parts that can be place around the axle.
Another thing I can think of is to apply some sort of heat treatment to alter the clip's metallurgical properties and make them stiffer.