[Shop-talk] Tapping off a crimp connector?

[ml]

I won't enter the fray regarding solder or crimping or both - not enough
experience on my part to be expert. But Randall's comment below is wrong. If
done properly - admittedly a big "if" - crimps have full  (100%) contact
between the wire strands and the connector with minimal or no air gaps at all.
The crimp should deform the wire strands as it deforms the connector leading
to a solid mass of metal in the area of the crimp.

To see what I mean check out this link:
http://www.epp-europe.eu/archive/-/article/32536727/35088948/Different-specif
ications/art_co_INSTANCE_0000/maximized/

Whether you can achieve this level of quality consistently with DIY tools is
another question. For me, investing in the proper tooling for each of the
connectors that I use has been worth every penny. In many cases that's meant
tooling in the low hundreds of dollars rather than $3 or $30 though. But I've
never had a crimp fail yet.

Michael


On Dec 28, 2013, at 8:50 PM, Randall <tr3driver at ca.rr.com> wrote:

> With a crimp, you get basically a few lines of contact between the wire
strands and the terminal, a few thousandths wide at best.
> In between are air gaps.  With solder, you get 100% contact, no gaps.