Crimp without crimp tool ?

[Rick Hughes]

I need to crimp 2 16mm x 8 uninsulated lugs onto some 16mm stranded cable. These -

I don't possess a crimp tool for uninsulated lugs, very rare need (for me) - simply not worth £21 cost for 2 crimps. Typical I have insulated lug crimps, RJ45,RJ11,BT631A, RG58/59, CT100, etc. ... but not this type. I don't want to solder on as it will reduce flexibility at joint, and could result in failure in future.

Any body any suggestion of neat way of doing this without the tool ?

Pliers ? Molegrips ? Vice jaws ? make up something to use in vice jaws ?

[Andrew Gabriel]

You can buy earth straps already made up with crimped lugs...

[fred]

In article , Rick Hughes writes

Make a die by drilling a hole in a piece of steel then cut in half to form a split pair.

Set up in a big vice and use a ball bearing in the build to put a dimple in the crimp when it is all torqued up. I've seen dimples used in other large sized crimps so it appears to be a recognised technique.

Perform a pull test to destruction on a spare or spares to ensure the security and safety of the final crimp.

[tony sayer]

In article , Rick Hughes scribeth thus

I'd just Solder it, the other methods won't work all that well...

[Frank Erskine]

Can you hire these crimp tools?

I wouldn't dream of buying one then taking it back ("the wrong type/size") for a refund after you've done your crimping...

[Frank Erskine]

Do you really need flexibility at the joint? Solder worked satisfactorily for decades!

[harry]

Solder them on. Use a blowlamp.

[The Other Mike]

If you are concerned about solder affecting the flexibility of the joint and crimping being ok then you need to supply better support to the cable because the lug will fail regardless of how you terminate it.

Soldering, if done correctly, hardly affects the cable

Clamp the lug between a couple of bits of wood

Tin the cable, heat the lug with a small blowtorch, fill with proper tin lead flux cored solder keeping it molten Ensure flux is still present and not boiled off. insert the cable into the lug and post heat for a few seconds so the solder properly flows. Observe the solder change to solid then cool with a damp rag to reduce any insulation damage.

Allow to fully cool, heatshrink sleeve the lug and the first inch or so of the cable preferably with adhesive lined heatshrink.

Had some like that on a competition vehicle for nearly two decades and they are still ok.

[Tim+]

Take it to an auto-electrical man. I did this for a heavy duty cable for an inverter. Crimped two connections and supplied a 100amp fuse (+holder) for a tenner. Money well spent IMO.

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It certainly does. Flex a soldered cable end enough and it will always fail first by the soldered joint. But this may not matter anyway.

[Rick Hughes]

In this case it's to terminate existing high current leads to a DC winch, cables in place ... need to crimp on ends

[Rick Hughes]

This was my thoughts ... anybody know now much smaller than crimp lug diam I should drill the hole ? The diam of the lug is aprox 7.6mm

[Rick Hughes]

I can't solder .. it would make too much of a mess of the end of the insulated cables.

[Rick Hughes]

I did think of a 'wrong purchase' at TLC .... I did buy the lugs there.

[Rick Hughes]

I could do without the flexibility .... But to solder these lugs onto 16mm2 copper cable will take a lot of heat ... and that means the PVC insulation will be damaged a significant length away form fitting.

[Rick Hughes]

On 03/05/2013 09:30, The Other Mike wrote: AS mentioned above - I can do without the flexability .. no really needed at this end of the cct.

My concern is the amount of heat will cause damage to the PVC insulation ... PVC and a blowtorch is not a good mix.

I do have plenty of solder and flux ... maybe I will have to go this way.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No more so than soldering any PVC covered cable. You just need to take some care.

[Rick Hughes]

My worry was while I can happily solder a piece of 0.25mm2 PVC flex with ease using soldering iron .... this 16mm2 plus copper lug is going to act as a big heatsink and take a lot of heat from blow torch .... I know this is not much different to soldering 28mm Cu pipes .... but they don;t have PVC sheath :-)

Maybe I'll just have to try it.

[Andrew Mawson]

I wrap a wet cloth round the pvc sheath, then use a very large iron so the job is able to be done quickly. If you do not have a very large iron, a fine blowlamp directed on the lug as you feed solder down the back of it will do the job.

AWEM

[Gazz]

If you are near nottingham, i have one, just a cheapie hydraulic crimper from china, but it does the job perfectly, the dies are hex shaped, and i made up a load of cables for connecting 6 batteries in paralell and series a while ago, along with current shunt leads, bus bar connections, inverter leads and so on, was for an 800 AH battery bank and monitoring system in my motorhome, cable was the stuff used for big arc welder earth leads,

Or as others have said, an auto electrician should have the tool, usually the manual one with 6 foot long handles, but when i last wanted that service, i had to wait for the bloke to have a free few minutes, and that took 3 weeks to come around.

Tho tbh my hydraulic crimper is just like a vise in use, one fixed jaw, other connected to the ram, pump the handle to move them together with a few tons of force, and the dies are made of alli, so easy enough to make if you have a lump of alli laying about, Not sure of the size of the die needed tho, i'd say mine crimps them a good

3 or 4 mm tighter than they start out, and no way i could pull one free after crimping.