Once upon a BNC ...

Because you'll rarely if ever see a connector which has soldered terminals. In mass production either would be easy, given PCBs are mass production soldered.

Well no, other than those that were designed (only) to be soldered you mean? I'm thinking say XLRs, 3.5mm, 1/4" Jacks, to name but three etc? I'm not saying they don't exist, just that I've never seen one personally?

And how would you make up a bespoke DB25 to DB25 without soldering?

'Of course' those connectors that have been designed to be crimped from the outset, since crimped terminals became common ... are crimped, especially flying plugs with multipole connectors generally used inside equipment (like loom to PCB connectors).

Only the components, I think you will find most of the cables (to PCB's / other components like IEC sockets) are still inserted / soldered by hand as a follow up process.

Cheers, T i m

They are only reliable if not subjected to movement, same for soldered connectors. Some IDC connectors have a means of steadying the cable. The 'knife' making contact with the wire is a gas tight joint. There will be an element of spring to the knife.

This article:

A cable that can withstand vibration or movement will generally be multi-stranded. Applying solder to a multi-stranded wire will effectively turn it into a single strand for a short distance through wicking of the solder along the wire and so fragile to any movement.

You can get crimp ones.

Yes - it needs a decent cord grip some way from the soldered joint. Making the connecter larger than needed.

Ah, you crimp the pins 'outside' the plug then push the pins in?

I assume there is a pin removal tool, for those times when you push the pin in the wrong hole when assembling?

Still sounds like another point of failure to me <g>, the pins pushing back out and again, can't be re-used (so a further cost to the environment).

Cheers, T i m

MegaSquirt, an aftermarket car ECU, uses D type connectors. If you buy a loom 'pigtail' with it, they have crimped pins. Which also look a great deal neater than most could manage by soldering. But D connectors ain't really designed for constant plugging and unplugging. And neither IMHO is a BNC. An XLR is - being designed some 50 years ago for stage etc use.

In TV etc, it was common years ago to feed a monitor with a BNC. And on location use where it was plugged and unplugged a deal, not a robust device. Even more so the chassis mount ones on the monitor. We did keep screw fitting ones for a field repair, but those were less reliable than a crimped one.

I've heard that before - but no matter how much I keep checking my video monitor, it still has its original BNC connection.

Oh, I'm sure ... and I understand crimping can be an advantage where high levels of vibration might be present (like a car and depending if the wire is supported or not)) but not such when there aren't.

Agreed, although, by the (general) quality of the connectors may last better than some other connectors that might be.

The sockets on our RS232 breakout boxes and BERT testers were in pretty constant use over many years and I can't remember ever replacing one?

Agreed, a connector more often used for flexibility than being connected / disconnected regularly.

What it was 'designed for' doesn't always reflect how well it works when put to the test. I don't think uUSB connectors are 'a good idea' but they seem to last longer than the should?

And some of my Amateur Radio gear etc (hand held radios) and my old Garmin GPS and it's external antenna (that was often connected / disconnected daily). ;-)

It's true that a well used BNC (or many connectors designs for that matter) do become 'easier' with some usage, it's just if they also become unreliable at the same time.

Cheers, T i m