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Crimpers - How do you manage those annoying flyaway strands (not a haircare thread)

crossy

crossy

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Thailand, just north of Bangkok.
My "fairly fat" cable of choice is 35mm2 made up of 490 x 0.3mm diameter strands, this makes it a bit flexible.

I've got some silicone insulated 50mm2 with a massive 10,000 strands (not really sure I believe that, but I'm not counting them) for a new job that's a bit tight on space, it's wonderfully bendy.

OK, so how do you experienced crimpers manage to get all those fine strands into the crimps and how many "strays" are you willing to admit to just thinking "sod-it" and snipping off and hiding the crime under the heat shrink?
 
42OhmsPA said:
Zip tie...
Click to expand...

This, dear readers, is why we have forums!!

It's so simple I wonder why I didn't think of it. I'll just run off and try it on the 35mm2, the 50mm crimps are somewhere on a delivery truck.

Thanks for the "obnoxious music" warning.

EDIT Well knock me sideways with a wet kipper, it only ruddy works (OK actual attempt 1 had a single stray strand).
 
Last edited:
crossy said:
My "fairly fat" cable of choice is 35mm2 made up of 490 x 0.3mm diameter strands, this makes it a bit flexible.

I've got some silicone insulated 50mm2 with a massive 10,000 strands (not really sure I believe that, but I'm not counting them) for a new job that's a bit tight on space, it's wonderfully bendy.

OK, so how do you experienced crimpers manage to get all those fine strands into the crimps and how many "strays" are you willing to admit to just thinking "sod-it" and snipping off and hiding the crime under the heat shrink?
Click to expand...
I use a bread tie wrap and fasten in a wrap or two near the insulation “tight”…
then I slide it forward toward the end right before I push it in the lug hole and all the strands will pull together tight .it slips it and you slide it back slowly as needed Untill the lug keeps it together from there ..
then unwrap the twist tie and use it for the next one…

I have used other things that work but nothing as cheap easy available as a bread tie wrap.

J.
 
42OhmsPA said:
Zip tie...
Click to expand...
I like Zip ties a lot …But….after a few beers I forget to put the tip into the non locking side and then get it locked…then I have to cut it off and then use a new one.... Thus , my bread twist lock type stuff works better for me if I’m having beers…
If I’m having a good vodka day , I just sit and sorta stare at the system and think randomly…
and don’t work on anything..

J.
 
Just putting the lugs on the 50mm2 battery cable. I should have bought a hydraulic crimper!!!

My 10-year-old, Indian-made, lever-type beast goes to 50mm2, my British-made (and ancient) body doesn't.

Adding a 1m bar to the handle sorted it for the half-dozen I need today.
 
I use a use a tubing cutter that I modified the wheel in a lathe. I thinned and sharpened it but not to a razor edge. I mark the knob so it doesn’t get too deep and nick the strands. If I know the lug barrel is a bit tighter than normal(or AWG vs metric variation) I’ll cut it twice so there’s a narrow band. Pull off the long sleeve then I can slide narrow one up near the end, let the lug push it back to the jacket then cut it with a utility knife. I’ve used the tie strap too but I trip the ratchet with an xacto knife so I can use it over again.
IMG_1418.jpegIMG_1419.jpeg
 
I didn't have much success with the zip tie method ... fat thumbs ... so ended up getting some light galvanised twitching wire ... holding it parallel to the cable ... bending it at right angles at the start of the stripped section ... then winding 5 or 6 turns around the strands.

Then start the lug and unwind the wire to allow it on.

I never lose any strands now and don't have to feel guilty about cutting any off. And I can reuse the wire over and over, though eventually it would probably break.

When I first tried it I used a hose clamp ... but that is unnecessary and I just hold it with my thumb now.


Fitting Lug.jpg
 
JRH said:
Thus , my bread twist lock type stuff works better for me if I’m having beers…
Click to expand...
A long twist tie is best since you can wrap it twice around the strands and get a nice circular outcome. Twice around eliminates the pinch point at the twist location.

If you don't have the twist tie, a small gauge wire will work, just don't go to far.

The zip tie will never be quite circular due to the zip tie head having a bottom entry.

I've seen people use hose clamps.

1714886957923.png


Mike C.
 
mciholas said:
A long twist tie is best since you can wrap it twice around the strands and get a nice circular outcome. Twice around eliminates the pinch point at the twist location.

If you don't have the twist tie, a small gauge wire will work, just don't go to far.

The zip tie will never be quite circular due to the zip tie head having a bottom entry.

I've seen people use hose clamps.

View attachment 213414


Mike C.
Click to expand...
All of my bread ties are not actually bread ties…they are longer and heavier electric cord ties that come on new equipment..I just said bread ties as the are recognizable to describe.. yes , definitely wrap twice and make it tight..

I had to do 100+ crimps just last spring from 6 ga to 4 /0 fine strand cable ,
mostly 4/0…the smaller wires a bread tie will do but the big wires need extra length for a tight wrap .
The theory remains the same…..and it works great..

I have done crimps for years and used nothing but fingers …
but never a hundred + at one time…that takes a while no matter how you do it..
but this speeds up the job a good bit..

I find the zip ties about the same with a little finger help to help the process along…

I have even had good luck with painters quick release tape , but that’s a little bit more exacting in technique and as you say a short length of flexible but stiff wire ..

I have no idea why a hose clamp would be be needed but I’m for whatever works for people.

But some how a long bread tie type “thingy” seems to be my first fallback choice

I’m not sure why …I just like them…
 
Skypower said:
I use a use a tubing cutter that I modified the wheel in a lathe. I thinned and sharpened it but not to a razor edge. I mark the knob so it doesn’t get too deep and nick the strands. If I know the lug barrel is a bit tighter than normal(or AWG vs metric variation) I’ll cut it twice so there’s a narrow band. Pull off the long sleeve then I can slide narrow one up near the end, let the lug push it back to the jacket then cut it with a utility knife. I’ve used the tie strap too but I trip the ratchet with an xacto knife so I can use it over again.
View attachment 213412View attachment 213413
Click to expand...

This idea (using a craft-knife not the wheel-cutter just yet) seems to work best for me today.
 
crossy said:
My "fairly fat" cable of choice is 35mm2 made up of 490 x 0.3mm diameter strands, this makes it a bit flexible.

I've got some silicone insulated 50mm2 with a massive 10,000 strands (not really sure I believe that, but I'm not counting them) for a new job that's a bit tight on space, it's wonderfully bendy.

OK, so how do you experienced crimpers manage to get all those fine strands into the crimps and how many "strays" are you willing to admit to just thinking "sod-it" and snipping off and hiding the crime under the heat shrink?
Click to expand...

Using a bought-in-Thailand hydraulic crimper (around 700 baht), we quickly learned that the cable sizes did not match the crimp dies. The nearest size die to the cable diameter left the lug loose on the cable--loose enough to be able to slide back and forth on it about a millimeter. Of course, that isn't good. We tightened a few by a follow-up pinch with standard pliers, then looked for a superior solution. Our answer was to add strands that had been trimmed from shortening the cable in amongst the original copper strands before sheathing the whole bundle in the lug for crimping. Twenty extra strands, on the 25mm cable, seemed to do the trick--though we did not test more than this, which might have been better. We did about a dozen strands on one and it was insufficient.

So, for my part, don't cut the strays! If anything, add some extras!
 
crossy said:
This idea (using a craft-knife not the wheel-cutter just yet) seems to work best for me today.
Click to expand...
If you tried to use it as bought, it won’t work for beans. The wheel needs to be modified, then it works like gangbusters.
 
Norwasian said:
Using a bought-in-Thailand hydraulic crimper (around 700 baht), we quickly learned that the cable sizes did not match the crimp dies. The nearest size die to the cable diameter left the lug loose on the cable--loose enough to be able to slide back and forth on it about a millimeter. Of course, that isn't good. We tightened a few by a follow-up pinch with standard pliers, then looked for a superior solution. Our answer was to add strands that had been trimmed from shortening the cable in amongst the original copper strands before sheathing the whole bundle in the lug for crimping. Twenty extra strands, on the 25mm cable, seemed to do the trick--though we did not test more than this, which might have been better. We did about a dozen strands on one and it was insufficient.

So, for my part, don't cut the strays! If anything, add some extras!
Click to expand...
Hydraulic crimpers are great but it’s always a flip of a coin if you get a good one( the right dies for the country you in or leaking ram/valve). I don’t recommend any brand because the quality changes constantly.
 
Skypower said:
Hydraulic crimpers are great but it’s always a flip of a coin if you get a good one( the right dies for the country you in or leaking ram/valve). I don’t recommend any brand because the quality changes constantly.
Click to expand...
They probably all come from the same factory anyway
 
Skypower said:
Hydraulic crimpers are great but it’s always a flip of a coin if you get a good one( the right dies for the country you in or leaking ram/valve). I don’t recommend any brand because the quality changes constantly.
Click to expand...
The crimper itself has worked great. I like it. I think the problem may be that the lugs here are thinner than they should be, which leaves the finished crimp looser than it was designed to be. It's hard to get good quality products here. It is also possible that the cable itself is not fully 25 mm2 as advertised. People take lots of shortcuts here. It's really difficult to know where the exact blame should go.

In any case, as counter-intuitive as it may seem to add extra strands to the crimp, if all works as I understand it should, they will become cold-welded to the other strands in the process anyhow, and not be as if they were independent of the rest of the cable. So, I theorize that it cannot be too inadvisable to set up the crimp this way.
 
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