Proper Crimping: Identifying Correct Vs. Incorrect Crimps

Checking crimp integrity is crucial for quality control.

For large scale production, it is important to implement crimp quality checks at the start of production, throughout production, after any tooling change, and when switching to a new reel or bulk bag, as they may be mislabeled or are from a different lot code.

The proper crimp tool(ing) is based on the contact being crimped, which includes manufacturer, series, and wire gauge size. Different crimpers or tooling may crimp a contact within the same wire gauge range, but it cannot be guaranteed to meet any quality or crimp specification standard for contacts that the tool is not designed exclusively for.

Crimpers often make two crimps per contact, the conductor crimp and the insulation crimp. It is also a good idea to verify the wire insulation also fits within the crimp insulation parameters, not only does the insulation material and thickness vary between wires, but some contacts although identical otherwise, offer two or more size variations of insulation crimps.

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Resources:
https://www.digikey.com/en/pdf/j/jst-sales-america/jst-crimpchart
https://literature.molex.com/SQLImages/kelmscott/Molex/PDF_Images/987650-2484.PDF

See Also:
Inspecting crimp on connector terminals
Molex Quality Crimp Posters (Multiple Languages)

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Awesome… I just forwarded that to your Quality Manager to use as educational Material.

Thank you für sharing that.

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