HELP! Tool to crimp molex pins!

Hey all;

I've been searching, and only found one tool @ www.performance-pcs.com that is used to crimp the molex pins to the wires.

Could someone please SHOW me how this tool works? Some people use pliers, but I have no idea how you use a plier to crimp something so small as those pins. Pictures would be helpful.

What tools do you guys use to crimp on your pins? (Please don't say solder, lol, because I don't have a place to do it right now)

You don't need a special tool, just use wire strippers/crimpers, pliers, or a pair of hemostats.

And you HAVE to solder them. Crimping will not provide a secure connection on cables such as these that will be tugged on frequently. If you don't have the facilities or skills to solder the pins DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS MOD.

Thanks for the info. I've soldered stuff onto circuit boards before, but not into pins like this. How do you get the wire soldered onto the pin, then the pin folded/crimped enough to fit into the plastic connectors? I'm guessing you have to crimp them some how for them to fit?

I work with molex pins on a daily basis and I do have a crimping tool...but I never use the darn thing. I use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the fins in and then use my butt-end crimper to compress them...I have never had to solder a pin before...as long as they are crimped tight enough, you shouldn't have and issues.

Crazyknight said:

I work with molex pins on a daily basis and I do have a crimping tool...but I never use the darn thing. I use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the fins in and then use my butt-end crimper to compress them...I have never had to solder a pin before...as long as they are crimped tight enough, you shouldn't have and issues.

Click to expand...

I use the exact same method. Works great!!!

I understood the first part with the needle nose pliers, but the "use my butt-end crimper to compress them" has me totally clueless! :

Once I have the pins bent into the right position, I crimp them tighly closed and they hold very well...I use a crimper for butt end splices but just about any sort of crimper will do the trick. Just get the fins bent as well as possible and crimp 'em down

Mine will never stay together if they're only crimped, so I always solder them after crimping. Are you doing to some magical way that I don't know about?

Not that I know of...I just strip the wire back about a 1/4", get just the casing in the back fins and crimp the main fins tightly around the wire...I always give 'em a tug afterwards and 98% of them hold.

edit: The solder would probably prevent the 2% loss but my solder skills suck!

I thought it was always considered good practice to solder all connections prior to sealing them.
I heard it prevents signal loss or something.

You don't have to solder them if you crimp it right. You can find a crimper at Radio Shack. Or you can use needle nose pliers. Just make sure that the first set of fins FOLDS OVER the insulation..and the second set of fins FOLDS INTO the conductor.

I'm still not sure I see the point in not soldering them if you want the cables to last. Having them come loose would usually result in dead hardware.

Radio Shack has the right crimper for $8-9. They are the same as the 517119 crimpers on the site you listed.

Well, I just bought this:
http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/...+2195&dept=lch33&search=1to15-1&child=1to15-1

My Radio Shack SUX. They never have what I need and they never know what I'm talking about. The people that work there I think have never heard the word "computer" in their life. I asked both guys in the store last night, "Have you ever even heard the word MOLEX?" I got a blank stare as a response.

Anybody have any pictures, soldering or otherwise? lol

EDIT: Read the info directly above the picture in this link: http://marvin3m.com/connect/#tools
(this site has a ton of useful info too on molex connectors/pins)

I couldn't find that exact tool, and performance-pcs.com price was too high on it's 2 crimpers (one is $20, the other $30). So in addition to buying a USB 2.0 extension, I just added that to my order (top of post)

This is pretty fascinating to me. I've always used the crimper tool (I think I got mine a long time ago from performance-pcs and it was $10), but I don't really know if I'm using it right. Occasionally, I'll do one that doesn't crimp proper. After I crimp it, I give a strong tug on the pin. If it comes apart I just crimp it again, as it takes me only like 10 seconds with the tool.

Here's how I use it:

First of all, there are 2 spots to "crimp" on a pin. There's the narrower portion near the pin that squashes down and parts on the bare wire. Then there's the thicker leaves at the very end that crimp down onto the wire insulation for stability.

I crimp in 2 stages--the first for the smaller bare wire connection, the second for the larger insulation.

I lay the pin upside down in the divot. One side of the squash head has a divot--into this divot I line up the larger insulation leafs, so that they do NOT get crimped the first time. Then I squeeze 2 clicks so that the hammer is just pressing against the small leafs. The small leafs make a nice little tunnel--into which I push the bared wire up until the insulated wire is under its proper leafs.

Then I squash the crimp tool all the way. This squashes the leaves down into 2 micro tunnels into which the bare wire is clamped down.

The larger leafs should now be lined up right over the insulated portion of wire. I now move this area into anvil-hammer area. Then I squash down on this area maybe 3 clicks (don't go all the way or the leaves will cut right thru the wire). I pull the release catch on the crimpers and let go

I pull it out and give it a good tug.

After a little practice it takes about 10 seconds.

If you really want I can post pictures.

I have NO idea if this is the proper way to do it. I do get good results tho that look just like factory work. One of these days I'll contact performance-pcs and ask them for some real instructions.

navig

I have pretty much the same tool but I had the same problem but alot of my connections weren't holding together. Thats when I switched to the ol' needle nose plier routine...it takes a little longer but I have far less problems. From what you described though, it sounds like you are using the tool right though.

Navig said:

...If you really want I can post pictures....

Click to expand...

If you could, that would be wonderful, and I'd owe you one.

Okay here are some pics. I'm feeling suddenly self conscious, because I feel like someone is going to post, hey idiot you're using all wrong!

Starting tools:

Wire with stripped end.

Molex pin. The first set of tabs to the left clamp around the end of the insulated portion of wire. The second set of tabs clamp around the bare wire leads.

Molex crimper, the "divoted" side.




So I put the pin into the crimp tool (for this bigger pin, I use the larger slot--for 3 pin fan connectors, I use the littler slot). It goes upside-down, with the insulation-tabs in the divot so that they will NOT be crimped. Then push the wire into the hole so that the insulation lines up, and you know the bare wire leads will get squashed.




Squash down all the way until it releases:

This should be the result: the right tabs are squashed down into 2 halves with the bare wire packed in:




Then you refeed the uncrimped insulation tabs into the crimping portion. Then squash down only maybe 3 clicks. You can look into the tool as you do it, you only want to squash down until the tabs are compressed against the insulation--any more and you'll cut the insultion.

Here's the end result:




Hope that makes sense.

navig

Let me tell you the one thing that I do different especially when crimping smaller gauge wire that is not mentioned in this post that always gives me the best results and I have yet to recrimp a single pin yet. I strip the wire about 3/4" of an inch twist the wire end neatly fold it in half and then insert it into the pin and crimp it. The extra width gives me a better bite when I clamp it and exposes more wire surface area to the pin.