¼" spade terminal crimping?

[knobtwiddler]

These 1/4in spades are used on numerous inlet sockets for mains, such as IEC. If you apply solder to one used for safety earth, it breaches CE / DIN legislation (I doubt UL laws encourage it, either). They have to be crimped. Make of that what you will!

You can get a decent tool out of Rapid Electronics. It is black with a blue handle (ratchet type). I've used them for many years. About 20 quid.

[MotorBikeLes]

I have a few crimp tools, and use the type of crimp referred to in this thread. For those, I use one like the one linked to by Kevin. Some of them are rubbish, but you can tell the feel of a good one.
For use on m/cycles, I crimp the conductor first, then with a clean hot iron and some multicore, I solder JUST the tip of the wire. I do NOT allow excess time and solder "capilliaring" back up the wire. I allow a few seconds to cool, then crimp the insulation using the next size up aperture in the tool.
There are some Japanese spec bullet males and receptacles, and together with the male and female spade types, I have crimped/soldered hundreds of thes. With success.
Most of my motorcycles are from the '80s, Italian, notorious for poor wiring. Mostly due to the use of multiple "molex" plugs and sockets. I eliminate ALL of those, use the minimum number, and have had NO PROBLEMS, all my 'bikes, so no "hidden" failures.
Les.

[Julesomega]

I have long marvelled at the clever professional cable connections made with Insulation Displacement terminations, which you find more in domestic white goods than smart electronics, and I recently went looking for the crimping tools to do it.

You need a different size of jaw to suit the cable wire size, insulation thickness, and terminal size. I ended up with three of the ratchet tools to suit the intended work, and suddenly there are plenty to choose from having replaceable jaws.

I had been buying from tmart.com but they are no more, having become dinointhebox.com while cesdeals seems to have their previous product range. Banggood are also in the market.
cesdeals.com/product/4-in-1-wire-crimper-pliers-
banggood-4-in-1-Ratchet-Crimper-Cable-Wire-Crimping-Plier-Tool-Kit
Multifunctional Ratchet Crimping Tool Wire Strippers Terminals Pliers Kit

My experience with these companies has been good, but make sure you sign up for an account before you buy so you get the guarantees and free return options.

For terminals, best to buy one of the selection packs from the same company or Bay.

Expect to spend half a hour or more practising for the one combination of sizes for the job in hand. That third hand will come in very handy. Finally I started making terminations I could be happy with.

[ex seismic]

I'm with Georgieoldie on this, especially cars. S1 Landrover for 30+ years, 1940s MG and assorted others over the years. Always soldered connections, never had a failure. Have had plenty of failed crimp joints though. Not made by me I hasten to add, usually by BMC, Landrover or whoever.

[mole42uk]

I found this one from Car Builder Solutions which looks right:

[mole42uk]

Originally Posted by Julesomega

plenty to choose from having replaceable jaws.


banggood-4-in-1-Ratchet-Crimper-Cable-Wire-Crimping-Plier-Tool-Kit

I have one of those but the M shaped crimping jaws don't go tight enough to produce a reliable crimp. It might be that the crimps I'm using are made of cheese....!

[Granitehill]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

On cars, I *never* solder; a proper high-pressure crimp [as used by every current vehicle manufacturer] is infinitely more-reliable and consistent.

Same goes for flight-rated installations - we never solder multistrand cableforms on any airframe wiring-looms!

OK, but I'd emphasise "Proper" !

I once had a Vauxhall Calibra, and the engine management system gave strange, intermittent problems from day 1. It turned out to be a duff wiring loom - the molex-like connectors were all crimped, but badly, it turned out. Vauxhall eventually fitted a complete new engine wiring loom under guarantee.

Since that day I've never truly trusted crimps on consumer-grade equipment. Aerospace is to a different standard, I suspect.

[Julesomega]

That's a pity. That there are tools to make reliable crimps is not in doubt. Here is the example which first had me thinking "Wow, Professional - I want to do those!"

[duncanlowe]

I was taught never to solder on car looms. As someone mentioned we use crimped terminals, although in centre splices we have moved away from crimped splices to ultrasonic welding.

Many years ago I had to hunt down a failed crimped splice that only loosened when the harness became warm (it was in the engine bay). These days there are very strict standards and tests for crimped joints, and for production are all done by machine.

[dglcomp]

Oh, and I understand that Faston connectors are the ones with a clip that fits into the hole in the spade lug, requiring a lever to be depressed to remove the spade.
These, I believe, are uninsulated, the Neutrik ones are.
http://www.neutrik.co.uk/product/nlfaston

[TonyDuell]

A good crimp connection is undoubtedly reliable. So is a good wire-wrap connection. And a good solder connection. Which one is the most relable may well depend on other circumstances (for example soldering can make the copper wire go brittle and fracture under vibration).

But we also need to consider the consequences of a failed connection. It's rather different if a connection fails in an aircraft (which could cause major loss of life and property damage) to the case of a connection failing in one of my PDP11s (which will most likely just cause the machine to crash, I am running it as a hobby so no real loss at all).

As a result, since I can't afford all the crimp tools for all the connectors I have to use (and as a bad crimp is very unreliable), I will continue to solder the 'crimp pins' to the wires.

Incidentally, what is the restriction on soldered connections in safety earth wiring? The reason I ask is that I have plenty of new-ish (couple of years old) 'IEC' chassis plugs and sockets which are clearly designed (only) for soldered connections.

[McMurdo]

sometimes new equipment has a crimped faston connector pushed onto the rear earth terminal of an IEC inlet, and then solder ran into into it for good measure.