.100 crimps

demogo

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Ugh.

I can't seem to reliably crimp .100 pins to save my life and it didn't used to be a problem. I have about a 50% failure rate on these pins only -- I can crimp .156, .093, and .084 pins perfectly all day long but for some reason these .100 crimps just aren't working.

The insulation crimp is fine, the one for the wires is often bad -- the metal sides that should be folding down neatly over the wires instead look like they're being smashed down and don't cover the wire completely. One side is mostly okay but the other side looks like it was smashed flat.

I'm using Waldom HT1921 crimpers, the ones that Bob raves about.

Any thoughts? I tried starting with the A anvil and then switching to the B but the A is too large to do anything on these tiny .100 pins so I've been starting with B.

Bad pins? Crimper has gone bad? Any ideas?
 
I was just kidding. They are small. Joking aside. Do you have the right tool. I know they make a tool for each size. And if the insulation isn't the right diameter is seems to do what you are talking about. Even though you buy the right size wire the insulations comes in different sizes to. I've noticed the heavier insulation does better crimping then the thin insulation, but that's me.
 
I was just kidding. They are small. Joking aside. Do you have the right tool. I know they make a tool for each size. And if the insulation isn't the right diameter is seems to do what you are talking about. Even though you buy the right size wire the insulations comes in different sizes to. I've noticed the heavier insulation does better crimping then the thin insulation, but that's me.

Bob says this tool is great for .100 crimps and when I looked up details on the tool itself it says its designed for .100 crimping and ironically not several of the other crimping sizes I've used it for successfully.

I've tried both 20 and 22 gauge wire and even no wire at all and get the same results.

I'm baffled.
 
Are the anvils still in good order? I used the same tool a couple months back for a bunch of .100's when I was re-pinning some GORF connectors.
 
Are the anvils still in good order? I used the same tool a couple months back for a bunch of .100's when I was re-pinning some GORF connectors.

I don't have any idea -- they still seem to work ok for the bigger crimping sizes. Not sure how to even check.
 
He could be on to something with the insulation.

What are you crimping? A new harness, or wires on an old harness?

How many crimps have you made. Have you (ahem) used the tool to crimp anything else? (e.g., damage through adaptation?)
 
He could be on to something with the insulation.

What are you crimping? A new harness, or wires on an old harness?

How many crimps have you made. Have you (ahem) used the tool to crimp anything else? (e.g., damage through adaptation?)

I'm crimping some 22 gauge radio shack braided wire onto .100 plugs that will form an MCR interconnect cable. So new harness.

I've probably done 800-1000 crimps with this tool and until recently I've not had any issues at all. Now my .100 failure rate is climbing into the sky -- probably 75% fail.

Maybe I should just buy a new tool -- either the tool or the crimping pins are screwed up. I did just get in an order of new crimping pins and mixed all of my stock of pins together.

Don't get me wrong -- the wire is securely held by the pin when crimped on there but I'm expecting the crimp to wrap around the wire and be pressed down onto it and instead the metal is half folded down on it.
 
Molex HTR 2445A will give you a perfect crimp every time.

Yeah but it looks like they're $150 or so -- way out of my price range.

I'm ideally looking for something that does .100, .156, .093, 084, and Jamma split pins in the $15-$30 range.

Dokert seemed to like the platinum open barrel crimpers and he provided a link to a website that sells them. Fortunately the place also has some brick and mortar stores and there's one in town maybe 20-25 min away so unless someone has a brilliant idea for me tonight I'll go buy the platinum crimper tomorrow.
 
I use the Molex 63811-1000.
I got it Mouser for around $35.
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Radio Shack wire.

When did your crimping problems start? With the Radio Shack wire? Or before using it?

Try a crimp on a non-RS wire, and see if you have the same problem.

The right crimper could help, as Riptor indicated, but I have seen insulation issues cause problems.
 
Radio Shack wire.

When did your crimping problems start? With the Radio Shack wire? Or before using it?

Try a crimp on a non-RS wire, and see if you have the same problem.

The right crimper could help, as Riptor indicated, but I have seen insulation issues cause problems.

Not sure when it started because I rarely crimp .100 wire.

I used some Bob Robert's 20 gauge wire earlier and had issues with that too so I don't think it's the wire. Riptor's crimper sounded good but was about $175 where I found it.

I think I'm gonna go with the barrel crimper that Dokert recommended and see what happens with that.
 
The problem is the Waldom crimper that Bob sold me.

I bought this crimper from this store today: http://www.altex.com/Platinum-Tools-Open-Barrel-Contact-Crimping-Tool-16801-P143520.aspx

and it does perfect crimps of the metal part of the wire every time. It does a bad job on the insulation section of the crimp on .100 pins but I just finish it up with the Waldom tool that Bob sold me. The results are perfect crimps.

I just ripped through all 24 wires I needed for my MCR interconnect cable and they all look good.

Now the real question is if something went wrong with the Waldom tool or I just didn't notice how bad the .100 crimps were before. Don't get me wrong -- the wires were firmly fixed in the .100 pins but I wasn't getting the folding over of the metal completely on top of the wires like I was expecting. Wish I had some older work I did with the Waldom tool to compare it to what I'm getting now.

Oh well -- problem solved.
 
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Are the anvils still in good order? I used the same tool a couple months back for a bunch of .100's when I was re-pinning some GORF connectors.

If you are so inclined, you might consider doing a couple of test .100 crimps with the Waldom tool and look very closely at the metal part of the crimp --are you getting the metal folding neatly over the wire?

I can get it looking okay sometimes with the Waldom tool but not very often.

I use a magnifying glass for close inspection and it isn't pretty most of the time -- there's usually a big gap in the middle where the wire wants to poke out.
 
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The Waldom HT1921 are crap. The best bang for the buck is the Platinum open barrel crimpers.
Dok

Well, that's what I got today. Now I have the Waldom and those and together they are making some beautiful .100 crimps.

I goofed around with a .093 and the new Platinum crimper and it did a nice job with that as well.

The only learning curve for me was trying to get the Platinum crimper onto the tiny .100 pin without it or the wire moving out of position before I could crimp it. I finally got the hang of it :)

I'm guessing that would be less of a concern with the larger pins because you have more to hang on to.
 
I'm using Waldom HT1921 crimpers, the ones that Bob raves about.

I'll add my two cents.....I used to use this same crimper for everything. With the nature of my work, I do an unbelievable amount of harness building/crimping. I would be buying a new HT1921 approximately every 3 months. I could no longer get a good crimp on the .100 pins. Even though the crimper's "jaws" looked fine, they were obviously wearing.....and since the .100 pin is one of the smallest....they are the first to get a "bad" crimp.

I finally bought me one of these..HTR-2262A
http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/search.asp?pg=1&stext=sargent+3135-ct&sprice=&stype=&scat=

It's been well over 5 years, and they still crimp like new!

Edward
 
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