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molex male pin crimping?

AJBENKER

Member
I found a video on U-tube showing how to crimp female molex pin. Does anyone know if there is a male pin video. They are different. Thanks.
 
pin crimping

Al,

I agree that male/female crimps are the same. I use a powerful shop magnifier for this work, with a strong light. Radio Shack sells a pretty nice double crimper, or you can borrow mine. I believe there's a decent "how to" paragraph near the beginning of your RV-12 construction manual. Any way, the crimp around the insulation is a "bear hug" squeeze: the 2 halves of the wrap-around simply pass each other on give a very tight hug on the insulation. The conductor squeeze pushes the ends of the wrap-around halves deep into the conductor together, juxtaposed. The proper crimper will do both squeezes together at the same time. I found, after several ugly attempts, that starting the wrap around ends in the proper direction with a pair of tiny needle nose pliers was key. Also, the wrap-arounds are often too long for the application, and should be nipped before attempting. After the squeeze, close inspection with a lighted magnifier is important. And, of course, the "pull" test before installing. Nothing is more frustrating than trouble shooting a loose pin after the fact; bu sure of your crimps from the get-go!

Jim
N448JR
almost ready for acceptance procedure(s)
 
I used a crimper from Stein. It is lower cost not a $300 proper one. I crimp the wire then close and lap the insulation loop and crimp with the loop die. They end up looking quite nice.

I use a head visor magnifier for the entire process.

I think there is a Aero electric Bob Nuckels video.
 
Caution - Moles pins come in two sizes

Be careful with the Molex crimping tools ?. there are two sizes of open barrel Molex connector pins - .062 and .093. Make sure you use a crimping tool which has the appropriate size crimping die to assure a tight connection.

Because of the various electrical connectors used on the RV-12, the DOG Aviation procurement department opted for a crimping tool with changeable dies capable of crimping most of the electrical connectors used on the airplane ? except the round connector pins used on the avionics DB style connectors.

I purchased a Tool Aid crimping kit and am very pleased with the results. I bought the kit which has various quick-change interchangeable dies for the typical spade, ring and butt connectors, .092 Molex pins, coax crimps and non aviation spark plugs. HOWEVER, the kit did not have the die for the small .062 Molex pins, so I ordered the #18937 dies for that size connector directly from Tool Aid.

The #18937 die set has two crimping die sizes, I used the smaller of the two on the .062 molex pins used on the landing and nav/strobe connector and had great results. The kit was around $79, but the crimping tool can be purchased separately for much less. I think the #18937 die set was under $25.

Here is a photo that show the crimping tool set.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AglSvZb3Exc/UOOxtG5bTcI/AAAAAAAADFw/IbupT63pe_I/s1600/DSC03457.JPG


Happy Building,
 
Just a quick FYI, but we try to avoid the pivoting jaw type molex crimpers for open barrel type pins as it is often times difficult to get a repeatedly reliable and accurate crimp. For any of those open barrel type pins, we use a cheaper version of the "certified crimpers" which move the jaws in parallel instead of in an arc, thereby crimping both ears at the same rate. The "certified" tools for these pins can run many hundreds of dollars, but we've been using one for years that costs $31 (and is even made in the US)! You can make those other crimpers work, but like I said it's sometimes difficult to get a repeatable result.

Just my biased 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein
 
What a tease Stein, could you at least let us know who made the tool or at least get a photo of it?
Just a quick FYI, but we try to avoid the pivoting jaw type molex crimpers for open barrel type pins as it is often times difficult to get a repeatedly reliable and accurate crimp. For any of those open barrel type pins, we use a cheaper version of the "certified crimpers" which move the jaws in parallel instead of in an arc, thereby crimping both ears at the same rate. The "certified" tools for these pins can run many hundreds of dollars, but we've been using one for years that costs $31 (and is even made in the US)! You can make those other crimpers work, but like I said it's sometimes difficult to get a repeatable result.

Just my biased 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein
 
After four years of Stein holding Don in suspense, I'll take a stab at the fact that this $31 tool Stein refers to is the SAT-018 (ok, so inflation has modified that price a little). I used it today for the first time and it works a treat. Given that Don has finished his -12, this is probably completely irrelevant information to him now (and his SAT-018 is a few thousand crimps old), but for anyone else wondering what this marvelously cost effective crimping tool is, it may be found below:

http://www.steinair.com/product/molex-open-barreled-pin-crimper/
 
Just a quick FYI, but we try to avoid the pivoting jaw type molex crimpers for open barrel type pins as it is often times difficult to get a repeatedly reliable and accurate crimp. For any of those open barrel type pins, we use a cheaper version of the "certified crimpers" which move the jaws in parallel instead of in an arc, thereby crimping both ears at the same rate. The "certified" tools for these pins can run many hundreds of dollars, but we've been using one for years that costs $31 (and is even made in the US)! You can make those other crimpers work, but like I said it's sometimes difficult to get a repeatable result.

Just my biased 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein

The Stein crimper is cheap and works great. Watch the videos on YouTube.

Jerre
 
The Stein crimper is cheap and works great. Watch the videos on YouTube.

Jerre

Agree. I tried using someone's double crimper (crimps the wire and tefzel coating at the same time) but it didn't go well. Sometimes you have to trim off a bit of the tabs that go around the wire coating to avoid breaking them off due to being too long.
 
Micro Molex solution - slice them off, use gold D Sub pins and sockets and a bit of heat shrink.... Move on :D
 
Agree. I tried using someone's double crimper (crimps the wire and tefzel coating at the same time) but it didn't go well. Sometimes you have to trim off a bit of the tabs that go around the wire coating to avoid breaking them off due to being too long.

I think that is because the tooling assumes a thicker commercial PVC type insulation.

Our Tefzel stuff is pretty thin compared to most insulation.
 
Micro Molex solution - slice them off, use gold D Sub pins and sockets and a bit of heat shrink.... Move on :D

Or just use the Dsub housings. In any case, Dsubs are much better quality and fewer headaches down the road. The Dsub pins are rated up to 7 amps each (5A if you want to be ultra conservative), and you can use 6" pigtails to parallel multiple pins if you need higher current.

If you insist on using Molex style terminals, know that the industrial quality crimpers (at least the ones I have access to, that spent their previous life in a GM/Packard/Delphi wire harness plant) do a 'B' crimp on both the wire and the strain relief (insulation). The insulation crimp is just a slightly bigger version of the wire crimp.
 
Iwiss Crimper

With the right tool, the micro molex?s go together fairly easily and are a reliable connector that?s easy to assemble and disconnect. The right tool for this job is available for about $23 on Amazon. It can also do the hitachi or dupont crimps as well. I do agree that D-Sub connectors are a very solid choice, but the micro-molex (and generic others) are much smaller and easier to route if needed.

IWISS Crimping Tools for Dupont Professional Pin Compression Ratcheting Modular Insulated Terminal Crimper Pin 2.54mm 3.96mm 28-18AWG 0.5-1.0mm2 with Wire-electrode Cutting Die https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OMM4YUY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_4MbjAbAX9C4W1
 
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