Crimp for Electronic Circuits

Crimp connectors are really useful for electronics projects. At first my experience was not so good and I used to hate having to create crimp connections, but then I realised I was doing it all wrong. I was using the wrong connectors and the tools I were using were not up to the job.

In this video I show why I had such a bad experience and why crimp connectors are actually really easy to connect and how they can be extremely reliable.

The main things are to have the correct crimp connectors, and to use a crimp tool suited to the job. The crimp tool should crimp the whole connector with a single press (not needing a different press of the crimp tool for the narrower and wider part of the crimp). Where a crimp has different widths (one for the bare wire and the other for the insulated part of the wire) then the crimp die should match.

Below are some examples and appropriate tools. There are different tools you could use, but these are the ones that I have.

Crimp spade connectors with a SN-48B crimp tool

The first examples are crimp spade connectors. These are commonly used to connect to panel mounted switches and arcade style buttons. This is shown in the photo below.

The connectors are uninsulated although an insulating boot can be placed over the wire prior to crimping if desired.

For these crimps I use the SN-48B crimp tool as shown in the photo below.

To use the crimp tool the crimp connector is placed in the appropriate sized position on the die (it should be a tight fit). Squeeze the tool until it is holding onto the connector. The wire is inserted with some of insulation in the wider part of the connector and the stripped wire further in. Then fully squeeze the tool.

Crimp pin connectors for du-pont style connectors or JST connectors using an SN-2 crimp tool

These examples are of pin connectors often used for jumper wires for connecting to a breadboard or for multi-way connectors to be connected to appropriate headers. They can be made or female by selecting an appropriate connector from the spool.

These are crimped using an SN-2 crimp tool.

The crimp works in a similar way to the earlier example using the spade connectors. After the connector is crimped onto the wire it can be inserted into one of the plastic connectors. These are available in single-way or multi-way connectors.

Terminal ferrule connectors using a HSC8 6-4A crimp tool

The final example here is to crimp terminal ferrule connectors. These connectors are used to terminate wires that are inserted into screw terminal connectors. They are used to provide a better connection without the risk of a stray strand of wire causing a short with another wire.

These are crimped using a terminal crimp tool which squeezes the connector together on 4 sides. The crimp tool used here is a HSC8 6-4A terminal crimp tool.

The wire is inserted into the rear of the crimp terminal and then the crimp tool placed over the metal part of the terminal. The tool is then fully squeezed to crimp over the wire.

Summary

Using the appropriate crimp tool can provide a good secure connection for use with arcade switches, jumper wires and terminal connections. The important thing is to choose an appropriate connector for where you are connecting to, and use an appropriate tool for the connector.

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