In many cases, TE Connectivity does not offer hand crimp tools for terminals that come in Tape & Reel packaging, however, there are some exceptions. In cases where there is a Loose Piece packaging option for the contacts, a hand crimp tool may be offered. In this post, we will be looking into how to identify contacts that have Loose Piece packaging, and how to locate the crimp tooling available for those contacts.
The search tool in question is available from the main TE Connectivity site (https://www.te.com/usa-en/home.html) in the Resources > View All Resources section.
From here, we will be selecting the Application Tooling Search link.
And, finally, the Portable Tools/Insertion and Extraction Tools Search.
The end URL for this search tool is https://www.te.com/usa-en/products/application-tooling/hand-tools-search.html. For this example, I am going to be using the Micro MATE-N-LOK series Tape & Reel packaged contact 794606-1.
After entering the part number, and clicking the Search button, two options are presented. The 794606 Strip series, and the 794610 Loose series.
Choosing the Loose PN link, 794610, returns the following results:
This tells us that there are two options for hand crimp tooling for this product. There is the Premium version, the 91501-1 (Digi-Key part number A30498-ND) hand crimp tool. There is also the Commercial version, which would be the 91391-2 (Digi-Key part number A129586-ND) die set. The 91391-2 die set would need to be used with the base hand crimp tool 9-1478240-0 (Digi-Key A97885-ND) to form a complete hand crimp tool.
This tool/process will not work with all TE Connectivity Tape & Reel packaged contacts. There are quite a few where there are no loose piece options, so no hand crimp tools are offered for them, but it just may help you find the crimp tools that would work for your application.