I just splurged and bought the Deluxe Crimping tool from Hansen Hobbies. I've been buying all of my servo connectors and wire from Chris since I started my build last year. I had the lower cost crimpers but was never really happy with the outcome. So took the plunge and WOW these make perfect crimps. Tried it on 22mm, 26mm and 28mm wire and simply outstanding results. There were times with the cheaper crimpers that I actually took time to add a bit of solder to make sure I had a good connection. Those days are gone. Check out the video on his site at http://www.hansenhobbies.com/. Lesson learned...buy once, pay a little more for a quality tool.
Ain't that the truth, Gary. It took me a while to get there (slow learner?) but quality matters. Thanks also for the link. Looks like he's got some good stuff. Andy.
Can this guy's rig be used to make JST connectors, too? It mentions them, but I am still suffering some PTSD from my failed attempts at using a sub-par tool.
I don't know about the Hansen one, but it's anything like the QC crimping tool, then yes, you can. You just have to be a little careful how you position the pin in the tool, otherwise there's a risk you crimp the "barb" that sticks out. What I find works best is to strip the wire, offer up the pin to the wire and then, using long needle-nosed pliers start the crimping of the larger tab just to the point where it holds the pin on the wire sufficiently well to get it into the crimping tool -- then look "over the far side" of the crimping tool to make sure that there's enough "stick out" of the pin to avoid damaging the locking barb, then gently squeeze the living daylights out of it! It took me several trashed pins to get this technique down, but I figured I was paying my debt to society to learn how to do it.... Andy.
Thanks, Steve! It just pisses me to "waste" pins -- even though the cost is minimal. You should have seen how many EC5's I went through trying to learn how to make a Y-cable. Not a pretty sight. One thing I note that Hansen offers is some practice pins when you buy the deluxe crimping tool! Nice touch. Andy.
Yes it will work with JST's. Similar design to the one at QC (didn't know they had one). I used to do it the way that you described Andy with a bit of a pre-crimp. Tried it the way that Chris shows in his video and won't need to do that step anymore. More speed, fewer steps. With the ratchet type tool it holds the pin while you insert the wire. Pretty neat.
Yeah -- he does make it look easy. What I was finding, using Chris' technique, was that it was quite hard to judge where the end of the bare wire was. Go too far and interferes with the latching mechanism, go not far enough and you don't get a good crimp. Hence the pre-crimp (a trick I think I learned from Kyle at QC). How do you judge the correct amount of insertion for the bare wire, Gary? Andy.
When I insert I can feel the jacket hit the edge of the inner crimp area. Naturally stops. Might be tougher on 28ga but normal servo wire is 22ga and even on 26ga, which I usually use, you can feel it bottom out. Other method would be to look at how far back you need your grip of the wire. Looks like about a 16th of an inch from the exposed to the back of the connector. Only reason I don't like the pre-crimp with this tool is that I have gotten crimps that weren't clean. The part that goes around the insulation would fold over from the pre crimp rather than wrap around and look normal.