Accessories

  • Q: What is a crimp?

    A: Under crimping, also frequently referred to as connecting, one understands the gas-tight connection of a cable with a contact element – the "crimp" (also known as "contact" or "crimp contact"). Crimp contacts are available in an almost infinite variety, although they all have one thing in common: They are connected to a cable through mechanical deformation "crimping".

  • Q: What is a crimping tool and how "easy" are they to use?

    A) Crimping tool
    The crimping tool is at the heart of a crimping procedure – irrespective of whether it is a semi or fully automatic process. When deforming the crimp claw fastener of a crimp contact, the degree and type of deformation are defined by the crimping tool or the contact-specific wear parts of the crimping tool such as the stamp and the anvil. Only tools that are ideally suited to be used on the crimp contact to be processed can ensure an excellent crimping quality.

    B) Settings to crimping tool
    To achieve an optimum crimping action, a variety of contact-specific settings can be made to the crimping tool: this range from basic parameters such as the crimp height of the wire and insulation crimping, on to precision adjustments for bell mouth size or the transport end position. A decisive advantage is given here if settings can be made in the press itself, so that any required precision adjustments can be executed quickly and then be immediately verified.

    Note: Refer catalogue for the Crimping tools under the Heading "Accessories- Connection and Crimping”

  • Q: How can crimping quality assurance be conducted?

    A: Processes for fault detection and fault prevention are also part of the critical process steps when crimping is conducted. The central testing device used for monitoring the press and the tools involved in the process, is the crimp monitoring system. This enables faults to be detected during an ongoing process. Today, two out of every three crimp presses have such a function. The quality of the crimp connections must correspond to the respective specifications.

    The detection of production faults at an early stage has, in the meantime, become standardized and it is assisted by a variety of measuring methods. Although this means that consequential costs can be reduced, it only applies when the production of a cable is already faulty. It is always better to avoid having the fault in the first place. Next to in-house organizational measures, faults can also be avoided through the use of state-of-the-art technology in advance.

  • Q: What is the difference between wire and insulation crimping?

    A: For belt-linked contacts there are generally two crimping procedures occurring at the same time - the so-called wire crimp (lead crimp) and the insulation crimp. Continuous evolution of the connection technology has also resulted in a variety of new crimp connections as with the 3-zone crimp for coaxial cables.

    The wire crimp makes the mechanical-electrical connection between the stripped inner conductor (e.g. stranded wire conductor) and the contact, and it has to be connected gas-tight to it.

    - The insulation crimp should intercept acting forces such as vibration or pulling, so that they do not act on the wire crimp and they represent a purely mechanical connection of the contact element to the cable insulation. It is important, that the insulation is not damaged by the insulation crimp.

  • Q: Crimping technology for industrial connectors – Should connectors be crimped or soldered together?

    A:  Eg:-Application description: Connectors are installed on a welding robot. Our customer would like to know exactly which type of connection is better in the connector – soldered or crimped. This is our recommendation:

    a) Crimp connection
    The crimp connection is the best type of connection for all loaded applications. The advantage compared against all other connection contact cables is - 100% process-consistent fabrication (using recommended tool and crimp that complies with the standard) . All our crimp connections are qualified in accordance with the standard and they are approved, among other things, for:

    - Tensile strength
    - Current load
    - Forward resistance

    Cuts are made to check the quality of the crimp with regard to:

    - Gas tightness
    - Deformation quality

    Specified settings yield reproducible results!

    b) Solder connection

    The difference between "soldered by hand" or "automatically soldered" applies. If soldering is done by hand, the quality of the soldering point is then dependent on the following:

    - The experience of the person doing the soldering
    - Temperature changes and movement, as the soldering point can deteriorate as time passes (problems that occur with the electronics/electrical system are often down to "dry solder joints" - in other words, poor contact)

  • Q: Connection technology – How do you achieve the best-possible crimping and according to which standard criteria can this be assured in daily practice?

    A: The quality of an electrical connection depends to a great extent on the choice of suitable components in the respective nominal section widths and using recommended tools for processing.

    Size differences between the cable and the connector (pipe-type cable lug/multicore cable end) are the result when only one crimp contact lead in class 5 und 6 - even with different structure (bunched conductor, stranded or compressed strand) could be compressed. Despite what appear visually to the sleeves, the correct combination of conductor, contact and tool can provide "gas-tight" crimping. The dimensional stability on the above-mentioned connecting points is guaranteed by, among other things, the following standards:

    - DIN EN 60228 (VDE 0295), September 2005 "Conductors for cables and insulated lines" The content of the standard includes among other things the maximum wire diameter and the maximum conductor resistance for the respective nominal cross sections (mm²), but not however, the number of wires or the structure. Improved technologies in the area of copper production mean that the conductor resistance specified in the standard can now be achieved with reduced cross sections.

    - DIN 46228 – 4, September 1990 "Multicore cable ends – tube-type with plastic sleeve"

    - Quality of crimping as per DIN 46228 – 1 and DIN EN 50027The continuous incoming quality control of our Quality Assurance ensures that the above-mentioned standards are complied with.

  • Q: Does the product combination play a major role in defining the crimp quality or can any tools, connectors and cables be processed together?

    A: People new to the crimping business quickly realize that although the crimping procedure initially seems to be a simple process, there is in fact a great deal more involved. It starts with the confusing array of terms and crimp contacts and stops with the selection of the most suitable production equipment coupled with quality assurance. Despite being used all around the world, and the various international testing and measuring methods, crimping is still an area in which the experience of the employees, both at the users and at the production equipment manufacturers exerts a major influence on the processing quality.

    Because the final result (i.e. the quality of each individual crimping) is always dependent on the perfect interplay between several products and reciprocally influencing parameters, these have to be taken into consideration not only during development, but also during the basic setting in everyday usage.

    With the proper combination of tool and cable lug a reduction of time and waste between 5 and 15% can be achieved

    Free combinations between various make enable a result of -15 and 25% to be easily achieved!

    It is difficult to visually indicate whether a faulty crimp has been made or not.

    - The result here would be diminished safety margins