smo Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I need to crimp some battery cable terminals but dont have a BIG crimper and dont want to spend a fortune - so, any suggestions on how to make one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
python Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 hi, try soldering the terminals. or if you cant can you get the cable out and use a vice??? or even vice pliers. just for getting the job done, might not be perfect but will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 35mm cable terminals are a bit beyond my soldering iron! Not sure i can crush them in a pair of pliers, was thinking of fabbing a former of some sort to use in the vice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Tech Archive for you then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 Tech Archive for you then! Thanks Tony. I'm not having much luck with the search at the moment, returns billions of threads, and i can never find the relevent one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciderman Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 35mm cable terminals are a bit beyond my soldering iron! Not sure i can crush them in a pair of pliers, was thinking of fabbing a former of some sort to use in the vice? I use a blow torch when I solder my terminals , I prefer to solder and heat shrink the terminals as it seals them from corosion . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reedx Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 I remember seeing a recommendation in one of the forums from someone who used some cheap bolt croppers (about £5 from Aldi iirc) and put a v-shaped cut in each side to form the crimp. Colin www.REEDX.net/landrover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Spot Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 If you buy the cable lugs from City Electrical Factors (pence), they will hire you the crimpers for a couple of quid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 i built a crimper to fit in a vice. i hung off a test crimp and i'm 18st so that's good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 If you ever come my way your welcome to borow mine - have one up to 50mm and a bigger one up to 120mm PM me if you wnat to consider / get nowhere else Or Post them to me ? Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warthog Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 How about modding a G-clamp? Maybe using a ground down bolt as the press pin? Gaffer tape to locate the crimp and onto G-clamp foot? Hav'nt tried it but sounds feasable? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West4x4 Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Make freinds with a sparky? My dads an electrician has a sweet set of crimpers that cost his firm £1300!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiall Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 What we do for work is , with a gas we heat the terminal with the light flight on the oxy-propane then fill it with solder then just dip the wire in and allow to cool makes a very strong joint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_d Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I need to crimp some battery cable terminals but dont have a BIG crimper and dont want to spend a fortune - so, any suggestions on how to make one? Buy some cheap pliers or find an old pair. Grind a vee in each jaw where the rounded grip part is. Grip the crimp with the pliers then squeeze the whole lot in a vice. You will have to experiment with the size of the vee to gets its size right for the grimp size. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy mad Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 we used a small size vice off a piller drill to crimp my leads not the best but worked ok lasted a few years now so might get you out of a stick with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 This is the crimper i made to go in a vice. Both sides are rounded to suit the terminal, rather than just being flat. I usually crimp the terminal, then rotate it 180, and crimp it again, this results in three bands down the terminal. testing has proven it to be a very strong crimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Being a retired sparky I seem to remember that the crimp tools I used were designed to compress the crimp all the way around its circumference rather then just squashing it as you would with a vice or pliers. It did this by having semicircular (or sometimes hexagonal) jaws that were smaller then the natural diameter of the crimp. In others the jaws also had a bump to put a depression into the side of the crimp while preventing the crimp from spreading under pressure. For best electrical contact the crimp should be properly sized to the conductor area or additional strands of cable added to make up the size. The electro-mechanical strength of the crimp is in fully consolidating the strands of the conductor together along with the bore of the crimp so the fit needs to be good to start with. Soldering would work almost as well so long as the strands of the conductor are fully tinned when soldered to the crimp. I would say that if the crimp was heated and the conductor plunged in then the solder may cool before it is able to fully coat all the strands especially in the centre of the conductor. If you want to make vice mounted crimp jaws then you could get two bits of steel about 6-10 mm thick in the vice jaws clamped edge to edge and then drill a hole, slightly smaller then the outside diameter of the crimp by maybe 1mm, through the steel where they meet so that you get two matching semicircles. If you needed these to be tighter then space the two bits of steel before drilling so the hole would be flattened in one axis when the spacer is removed. With these fitted to removable vice jaws you would be able to crimp accurately each time. If required a small stud could be made on one of the semicircles to indent the crimp. This could be a spot of weld or a ball bearing in a small drilling or similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest diesel_jim Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I need to crimp some battery cable terminals but dont have a BIG crimper and dont want to spend a fortune - so, any suggestions on how to make one? I'm in Swindon, Wilts, and being a sparky of sorts, have a pukka set of crimpers. if you want to fling the cable in the post i'll gladly crimp them up for ya. or if you're up this way, pop in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boothy Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I used to be a senior installer on British Rail and when we did battery rooms, (yes, rooms full of big batteries) if no proper crimps were available we would solder crimps on. Using a blow lamp (not a flame thrower) we would tin the wire and then fill the hot crimp with molten solder, just a quick reheat on the wire the fuse the two together making sure the solder remains a nice bright silver, then a bit of insulation tape or a heatshrink and hey presto, you have phsyically and electrically sound union. Remember when wiring winches and big supplies 9 times out of 10 theres no fuse involved and a large battery, usually mounted under a seat (which can sometimes take a couple of minutes to remove) and if a crapply crimped end falls off, the perfect potential to start a cracking fire with a bare end and a potential of 600+ amps, and I bet your insurance company would be all to happy to sort you out. Take up deisel jims offer, and buy him a beer, you know it makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 I'm in Swindon, Wilts, and being a sparky of sorts, have a pukka set of crimpers.if you want to fling the cable in the post i'll gladly crimp them up for ya. or if you're up this way, pop in. Cheers Jim, very kind of you to offer, I think im sorted with a local set but if i get stuck i'll shout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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