Hi all Can somebody offer me a clarification on crimping tools please? Might save be a bit of cash. I'm putting 2pin Dupont connectors onto some LED strips so been looking at Dupont ratchet crimpers. Easy enough, and they're all listed as model SN-28B that can crimp 2.54mm pitch pins onto 28 to 16AWG wire. For example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271969275056 Now, I know that pitch is spacing between holes, rather than thickness of a pin, but Molex Mini Fit Jr pins are also 2.54mm pitch, and those are the pins we use for PSU cables. And Molex crimp tools also list 28 to 16AWG gauge wire as its crimping range Now, if you Google SN-28B crimp tool you'll get a link to moddiy's "Professional Molex Crimping Tool" which is pushed as Molex crimper, yet has model SN-28B and shows a picture of crimping Mini Fit Jr, fans and Dupont crimps. https://www.moddiy.com/products/Pro...Lga4yNIStkR4fQFKWdAe_z2OywHG2z9nFFBoCOw_w_wcB Are these the same thing? So, the question is this: can I crimp Dupont and Molex Mini Fit Jr with the same tool? It would save about £10 to dispense with a Dupont crimper and just get a decent Molex one. Conversely, it would save about £40 to dispense with the Molex crimper and just use a highly-rated Dupont crimper. Although I'm not making PSU cables yet, I will be pulling the trigger on the Dupont stuff soon, so I'd rather get my tools correct right now. Cheers!
Oh, I forgot. On a related topic, is this 18AWG wire suitable for PSU cables? http://uk.farnell.com/alpha-wire/3055-bk005/wire-blk-18awg-16-30awg-30-5m/dp/2290834 I'm getting a few bits from Farnell so I thought I'd save the hassle and get wire too whilst I'm there.
Yep. Same product. ModDIY has sn-28b on the handle in the pictures even. The professional crimpers are ridiculously expensive. Probably because NASA-types just buy what they need without shopping for the cheapest. So THE Dupont crimper (SN-28b) is $150, and crimper sn-28b is $20. Wire: If i'm reading this right, that wire is soldered strands. It has a high enough voltage rating, but it will be pretty stiff. I did Bloo with stiff heavy-gauge speaker wire. It was impossible to get the 'lumpy' look out of the cables.
The SN28B isn't brilliant for crimping the Dupont pins but it's reasonable for the Molex mini fit Jr pins with a tendency to crush the pins but not too badly, I modded mine to stop that. I use the Molex 63811-1000 hand (rather than ratchet) crimp tool for Dupont pins and fan pins but it's expensive for limited use and a pain to use for Molex mini fit Jr pins due to the lack of a ratchet mechanism. You may find long-nose pliers easier to use for the Dupont pins 18AWG cable is generally OK for PSUs but you need to watch out for avoiding overloading the 4 pin Molex type connectors for peripherals as only 1 wire carries the 12V supply. That wire is tinned and shouldn't be too stiff for your use.
Thanks to you both. I have 20 Dupont pins to crimp compared to a full PSU of Mini Fit Jr. so I'll just make do with something like long-nose pliers and put my money into a proper ATX crimper. As for the wire, there didn't seem to be anything suitable in standard copper wire that wasn't 3+mm overall diameter, single core or 1000ft rolls. Thought I'd ask anyway.
I'm usually the guy to say just roll with long nose pliers, but after doing one PSU set like that, I decided never again.
I "only" have 20 Dupont pins to do so if I can't get a crimper that will do both I'll invest in something decent for the Molex and just crimp the Dupont with long nose pliers. or take a gamble on the £8 Dupont crimper.
I sleeve cables myself and purchased a custom milled (the teeth) crimper for my cables. You can find them at UPC (ultimatepersonalcomputers.com) and they work great and are priced right.
Alas I'm in the UK, but there are some places here offering the same. Cheers. By the way, I went for the £10 crimper for the Dupont connectors. Works nicely actually for the Dupont crimps up to 22AWG wire. I'll probably give it a go on Mini-fit Jr crimps for 18AWG and see what happens, but I may well just invest in the MDPC-X or E22 crimper instead since the current and all future projects will be custom wires.
