ATX Pin Crimper That Doesn't Suck

[muzicman82]

Hi all,

I've been modding PSU connectors and such for years so I'm not new to it. That said, I've never found a one-step crimper that actually crimps the strand and the strain relief correctly in one go. The crimper I got from FrozenCPU years ago is close but it doesn't really put enough pressure on the strain, and barely enough pressure on the wire contacts. The trouble here is that the wire will then easily pull out of the pin.

This is from the FrozenCPU tool:

I have a Molex brand crimper (0638111000) that's not one-step. It has conductor sizes in mm and insulation sizes in mm. It also isn't a ratcheting crimper. It does the best job but obviously takes more time. This is what the Molex tool gets me.

I also have some other crimper dies from other kits... and none of them actually curl the strain relief into the insulation like the Molex tool does.

So, if you have a tool that works well, I'm curious what brand/model it is and if you can show some shots of the results, I'm interested.

BTW, these pins came from moddiy, and the wire is 18AWG.

I'm considering this one... Anyone use it?

 

[Mr Evil]

I have a cheap Chinese crimping tool which looks identical to the one you linked to on Amazon, except it has a blue handle. It's marked SN-28B. I've used it to crimp all sorts of things with a selection of dies (it's not easy to work out which dies are compatible). It works well, for vastly less money than "proper" crimping tools. Here's a photo of one I crimped just for you. It's an 18AWG Mini-Fit socket, which I think is what the connectors on ATX PSUs use:

As you can see, it curls the ends over on both parts, good enough to hold securely.