How To: Put a proper Crimp on Larger Wire

[rockFord_Expedition]

This thread is not intended to compare soldering vs. crimping. To each their own. I prefer to crimp anything larger than 8 ga myself. Your preferences may vary, thats fine. Also, this is just how I do it. I assume no responsibility what so ever if you try this using my methods.

Things I use for the task:

· A flat surface to lay the crimper on if you dont have a helper

· Heat shrink. 3:1 adhesive lined is the only way to go IMO. This stuff usually isnt pretty so you can also pick up some heat shrink to put over this if you prefer. Up to you.

· Scissors to cut heat shrink

· Heat gun

· Hydraulic crimper. I use a 16 ton cheapie. Theyre currently like 40 bucks all over the internet.

· Box cutter, razor blade, or something that can cleanly and easily cut through the wires jacket.

· Closed end thick walled lugs. Not the thin split kind. They wont hold up. I prefer copper or tinned copper.

In my example I used a popular brand of wire that claims that is 2/0 but is actually 4/0.

I use three sets of dies to achieve the final product on each lug that I crimp. I do this because if you only use one die, you either dont achieve the cold weld that you are looking for or you end up with these really sharp fins sticking out of the side where the two halves of each die squeeze together. Some people just trim these off but then you are losing conductivity. It comes down to how much attention you are willing to pay to detail and what type of results you are satisfied with.

The first set of dies that I select is small enough to put a real good squeeze on the wire so that it wont fall out under its own weight, but not much beyond that.

Since I only have two hands I first place the crimper on a flat work surface then put the lug in the crimper and apply just enough pressure to hold the lug in place so that I can feed the wire all the way in to it. Once in place I apply the crimpers full pressure. After each pass I rotate the lug 60 or 120 degrees (the dies are hexagon shaped) and give it another pass so that I smash down the sharp edges that form. I also crimp each lug in sections since the lugs I use are longer than what the die covers at a time. I start at the closed end of the lug and work my way towards the open end where the wire was inserted. That makes a total of six squeezes with each die in my case. I then move down a size, repeat the process, then do the same with the next size down.

Now that your crimping is done, you want to cut enough heat shrink so that it covers the round part of the lug all the way down and comes up about an inch over the jacket of the wire. I then use the heat gun working it all the way around the heat shrink to get a nice even squeeze. I stop once I see the adhesive liquefy and start to just barely become visible outside of the heat shrink. If I am using something like tech flex I use a longer piece of heat shrink to cover the tech flex to hold it in place.

These pics aren't step by step, just a few that I have taken in the process.

[dbackfan12]

Pic of your crimper?

[mcfalcon]

Yeah when I type on 16 ton hydraulic crimper on eBay all that comes up is a 39.99 unbranded deal. I don't know anything about crimpers.

[rockFord_Expedition]

Pic of your crimper?

Best one I can find at the moment. It's nothing special, just a pos.

[rockFord_Expedition]

Yeah when I type on 16 ton hydraulic crimper on eBay all that comes up is a 39.99 unbranded deal. I don't know anything about crimpers.

This is exactly like what I have here http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/361322683793?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

I think I paid 60 though so this is a better deal. The case is cheap, the crimper is mediocre. If I owned a shop, or used my crimper to make money and needed to crimp often enough then I would invest in something less harbor freightish but I only work on my rides, and only have less than 10 lugs in my install so this is fine.

[mcfalcon]

Thanks man. Very helpful.

[rockFord_Expedition]

Thanks man. Very helpful.

No problem. Best of luck. let me know if I can help out at all.

[Mtnbikecrazy55]

Damn, bummer your old thread was deleted, had a lot of good input and info.

Thanks for re-uploading the pics, your last thread sure helped convince me to crimp my connections with a proper hydraulic crimper

[rockFord_Expedition]

Damn, bummer your old thread was deleted, had a lot of good input and info.

Thanks for re-uploading the pics, your last thread sure helped convince me to crimp my connections with a proper hydraulic crimper

Glad to hear it and thanks for the feedback man!

[rockFord_Expedition]

Damn, bummer your old thread was deleted, had a lot of good input and info.

Thanks for re-uploading the pics, your last thread sure helped convince me to crimp my connections with a proper hydraulic crimper

Dammit. You made me edit this to add some how to info. lol.