Got crimps will Molex

[astyy]

Am tooled up with crimps, header housing & terminals, and connector blocks & female/male terminals for wire to wire. I have a lot of this to do and the wires are typically two size like the red and red/white below - which I think are 18 and 22 AWG. This being correct do you guys only use the 'big' opening in the crimper tool teeth? The other thing is I'm finding it hard to judge when the cut back insulation is lined up with the die, particularly the wire-to-wire terminals obscure the wire - is it best to crimp the terminal on lightly with pliers or such like first?



Finally I'd like to get some suitable strippers - what do you guys use I like the look of this type?

 

[lukewells]

removed as not sure if i posted the right model

 

[lukewells]

OK, so I posted a link to my favourite wire strippers.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/1585524/




Then when I had a second look at the price (£11.39) I thought "DOH, I must have posted a link to a set of replacement blades or a spare part or something"

So I went and checked the Knipex catalog, and double and tripled checked the part numbers to make sure they were actually the complete wire strippers.

So being reasonably sure that they were the right ones, I thought "Wow that's a bargain seen as I paid £60 for mine"

Sadly this pricing error is too good to be true






I would have happily shared them out at cost price, if it had let me buy them at the erroneous price (and kept a spare pair in every room of the house )

 

[astyy]

I would have happily shared them out at cost price

Good effort Luke we'd have all been on that group buyshame about the pricing error. The earlier one you posted at £32 was for the larger wire size.

The ones above are a bit rich for me and handle AWG 32 - 7, however the next model down
Knipex 12 62 180 Cable Stripper
supports AWG 24 - 10 which I'd have thought suitable for what us hobbyists will encounter in a pinball machine. These are available on the 'bay' for approx £22.

http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0a13/0900766b80a137f3.pdf
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Knipex-12...n-Wire-Stripper-43686-12-62-180-/271803862868

 

[astyy]

I opted for these RS branded ones - excellent service as always, ordered 1800 last night free delivery at 0745 this morning. So far very impressed having not had a tool like this before, in-particular I like setting the length of the strip required to get good consistency. This is the Lamp Aux board loom that I'm modding that requires all female terminals x29 and new Molex housings just to get started.

 

[JT.]

Am tooled up with crimps, header housing & terminals, and connector blocks & female/male terminals for wire to wire. I have a lot of this to do and the wires are typically two size like the red and red/white below - which I think are 18 and 22 AWG. This being correct do you guys only use the 'big' opening in the crimper tool teeth? The other thing is I'm finding it hard to judge when the cut back insulation is lined up with the die, particularly the wire-to-wire terminals obscure the wire - is it best to crimp the terminal on lightly with pliers or such like first?

View attachment 25599

Finally I'd like to get some suitable strippers - what do you guys use I like the look of this type?

View attachment 25600

Any chance of a short tutorial video on the use of crimpers @lukewells, amongst other electrical tools? I guess this is basic stuff, but I've never used crimpers before so not really sure how they work - clearly 5 mins on youtube would resolve this, but I suspect it would be a useful post here.

 

[stoptap]

I opted for these RS branded ones - excellent service as always, ordered 1800 last night free delivery at 0745 this morning. So far very impressed having not had a tool like this before, in-particular I like setting the length of the strip required to get good consistency. This is the Lamp Aux board loom that I'm modding that requires all female terminals x29 and new Molex housings just to get started.

View attachment 25645

I've been using a pair of those for years. Great strippers.

 

[astyy]

Thanks @jt your post has prompted me to re-watch the video linked in the eBay posting for the crimps and its answered my question. As you slide the stripped wire against the die (in the crimp tool teeth) you can feel where the insulation meets the step in the die hence its aligned. I also like the way the guy strips 3 wires at the same time using the different sized grooves in his stripper pliers - I prefer the sort I bought above which accurately measures the strip length (I'm using 3mm). The pinrepair Connector guide kind of worried me as to how many methods to bad crimp exist vs a good one! http://www.pinrepair.com/connect/#good

I agree though a pin specific video from Luke would be ideal.