looking for quality crimper

G

godofdeath

Gawd
Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Messages
513
anyone have any ideas on where to get a quality crimper for the atx and molex heads/pins.

if you have/used one can you show me examples of the results

thx
 
I haven't been able to find one for myself, so I just use a really good set of needlenose pliers. I have to crimp the little molex pins they use in 3/4 pin fan connectors all the time because most of the fans that I buy come as bare wire leads. It's a little bit tedious but it works fine with those; I'd expect it to work just fine with atx/4 pin connectors.
 
thing is i think it would still be loose if i try to pull it, or if i want to change the wires or anything
 
It shouldn't be if you do it right. You just fold the two pairs of tabs over, one tab at a time, and squeeze them down as tightly as you can. give the sides a bit of a squeeze to square up the crimp a little bit, perhaps one more squeeze over the joint itself to re-tighten it and it holds just fine. Some of the molex pins come tinned so you could always solder them for a bit of added security if you wanted to, too.
 
Siorus said:
It shouldn't be if you do it right. You just fold the two pairs of tabs over, one tab at a time, and squeeze them down as tightly as you can. give the sides a bit of a squeeze to square up the crimp a little bit, perhaps one more squeeze over the joint itself to re-tighten it and it holds just fine. Some of the molex pins come tinned so you could always solder them for a bit of added security if you wanted to, too.
Click to expand...

do you have pictures of the process and stuff?
i watched a video, but i clearly can't see from it how it looks
 
Not handy; I can grab some on Monday when I'm at work or perhaps (though it's unlikely) tomorrow if I get a chance to run to the office. I've got a bunch of 260CFM/6000rpm Sanyo Denki 120mm PWM fans to play with for a new server, so... :D
 
yea sure i can wait, i might get the one from mcmaster-carr so i might as well just wait
or maybe i'll get it from mdpc-x
 
Ok. This is possibly the worst macro photography I've ever done, but hopefully it clarifies things. I did this with a pair of needlenose pliers; after the final step in these pictures, you could solder it if you wanted to, but the connection is secure as it is.




This same process could be applied to both the drive and motherboard power connector terminals. It takes longer than a crimper, and it's potentially a little bit hard on your fingers, but since I can't seem to find a decent crimper there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative.
 
The official tool is a steal at only $200! Tyco makes similar tooling, but it's more expensive.

Sorry, not aware of any 'mere mortals can afford it' tooling for these connectors. Best to just use pliers as described. Be careful using solder as sometimes it can make the pin too fat to fit in the housing.
 
I have this one from Performance PCs and my terminals are from them also. No pics but it crimps evenly and perfectly. Used it hundreds of times. Molex, ATX, fan connectors, etc...

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...roduct_info&cPath=60_143_272&products_id=1277

Deluxe_Crimper_01.jpg
 
Siorus said:
Ok. This is possibly the worst macro photography I've ever done, but hopefully it clarifies things. I did this with a pair of needlenose pliers; after the final step in these pictures, you could solder it if you wanted to, but the connection is secure as it is.




This same process could be applied to both the drive and motherboard power connector terminals. It takes longer than a crimper, and it's potentially a little bit hard on your fingers, but since I can't seem to find a decent crimper there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative.
Click to expand...

uh that was really tiny lol

does anyone have pics of what it looks like for the performance pc tools?
 
Siorus said:
Er... it's a thumbnail. Click it to go to the full size version. The full version is 600x2398; it shows up just fine on my 1920x1200 17" LCD. :confused:
Click to expand...

sorry it didnt work when i was logged in i dont know why

shawnoen said:
That crimp job with the pliers is TERRIBLE!

Proper crimp on the left.....done with Performance PCs tool.

4460377472_d15ac8b1b1_b.jpg
Click to expand...

that isn't performance pc thats the mdpc-x crimper the middle is performance pc
 
shawnoen said:
That crimp job with the pliers is TERRIBLE!
Click to expand...

Eh, it's functional. It's electrically and mechanically sound for its intended purpose. It's not pretty, but then crimps made with pliers rarely if ever are. That's what crimpers are for. :p
 
Siorus said:
Eh, it's functional. It's electrically and mechanically sound for its intended purpose. It's not pretty, but then crimps made with pliers rarely if ever are. That's what crimpers are for. :p
Click to expand...

does it pull apart loosely?
 
Siorus said:
Ok. This is possibly the worst macro photography I've ever done, but hopefully it clarifies things. I did this with a pair of needlenose pliers; after the final step in these pictures, you could solder it if you wanted to, but the connection is secure as it is.




This same process could be applied to both the drive and motherboard power connector terminals. It takes longer than a crimper, and it's potentially a little bit hard on your fingers, but since I can't seem to find a decent crimper there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative.
Click to expand...

The crimp closest to the wire jacket should have been used on the wire jacket and not directly on the wire. Post 14 shows a good example of this.
 
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godofdeath said:
does it pull apart loosely?
Click to expand...

Nope. I'm sure it'll come off more easily than a properly crimped connection (which isn't really a concern of mine, since they're just fans, they can easily be re-tailed and I have a ton of extra terminals and housings; on a power supply it's more of an issue), but I've done probably 50 or 60 of these things and haven't had a problem with it-at least not yet.

That said, since performance-pcs.com apparently has a crimper that works acceptably well for less than $30,
 
godofdeath said:
does it pull apart loosely?
Click to expand...

Nope. I'm sure it'll come off more easily than a properly crimped connection (which isn't really a concern of mine, since they're just fans, they can easily be re-tailed and I have a ton of extra terminals and housings; on a power supply it's more of an issue), but I've done probably 50 or 60 of these things and haven't had a problem with it-at least not yet.

That said, since performance pcs apparently has a crimper that works acceptably well for less than $30, I'd just order one of those. Hell, I'll probably end up ordering one for myself; crimping things with pliers-whether it works or not-is time consuming and annoying.
 
shawnoen said:
I have this one from Performance PCs and my terminals are from them also. No pics but it crimps evenly and perfectly. Used it hundreds of times. Molex, ATX, fan connectors, etc...

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...roduct_info&cPath=60_143_272&products_id=1277

Deluxe_Crimper_01.jpg
Click to expand...

That is a very nice tool for the money.

The "touch up" with solder is highly recommended as it covers a multitude of sins. A cold flow crimp is pretty decent when done correctly and any crimp at all provides mechanical strain relief that just soldering cannot - but for lowest contact resistance and to some extent protections against oxidation (especially with bare copper conductions that are not pre-tinned ) the addition of solder to a good mechanical crimp is very hard to beat.
 
shawnoen said:
That crimp job with the pliers is TERRIBLE!

Proper crimp on the left.....done with Performance PCs tool.

4460377472_d15ac8b1b1_b.jpg
Click to expand...

False. The crimp on the left was done with the MDPC-X tool sold by Nils here. That picture is from a user on xtremesystems, the post is here.

Left wire - MDPC-X tool with MDPC-X pins
Middle wire - MDPC-X tool with ConnectX pins
Right wire - P-PCs tool with MDPC-X pins
 
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