Planning My very first ATX crimp

I don't suppose one of you lovely people could spot check my very first ATX crimp?





It looks fine to me, but what do I know?

 

Close contact held in the heat shrink and copper cabling, looks good to me!

 

Which Crimp Tool are you using?

The insulation crimp looks to have bitten down too deep into the insulation and the conductor crimp doesn't look to have formed fully around the wire. However if the crimp doesn't pull off it'll work.

 

I've been doing this sort of thing for almost 30 years in my day job. That there is a first-rate looking crimp.

 

Looks better than most I make. Big Elfs comments are spot one but I have I found the more critical detail is to ensure that the pin wasn't bent during the crimping. I found it happens when something shifts during the crimp the a pin is not properly aligned with the crimper. When this happens I can usually remove the pin with a gentle tug.

 

Although it's a personal thing I always pre-crimp my ATX pins even though it takes longer overall. That way I find it easier to orient the pin on the wire. Some people can get the pin orientated correctly on the wire without pre-crimping, sadly I'm not one of those people.

 

For some reason I wasn't getting notifications, so apologies for not replying.

@Big Elf : I used the SN28B crimper I bought for Dupont connectors as a test. Seemed to be fine at first but hadn't noticed the insulation until you pointed it out, but it only "works" with the 18AWG ATX crimps. Gave it a good tug though and it's secure. However, it can't do anything with my SATA crimps and the wings on the 16AWG ATX crimps are too big. I'll be trying out my new crimper soon. The SN28B is still going to get lots of love though with all the custom front panel and LED rings I need to do.

@IanW : thanks very much dude, this first stab was most encouraging.

 

I modified my SN28B to stop it doing that by removing a small amount of metal from the back of one of the dies. Unfortunately it was so long ago that I've forgotten which die and how much to remove. It was probably around 0.5mm or less though.

I did find that particular Crimp tool to be the best for crimping the terminals for 4 pin type Molex connectors until MDPC released their CTX3 which is the best I've used for all types of popular terminals.

 

Yup, I treated myself to the MDPC-X CTX3.

 

I didn't pick up on this. Are you using the genuine SATA terminals? If so I had a lot of difficulty with those and some of the copy pins in that the wings would break on most of them, typically the insulation wings. I use the Molex 63811-1000 hand crimp tool for the SATA terminals. It's a bit pricey (and slow to use) but I prefer it for the SATA terminals and the smaller terminals, e.g. male and female fan pins and USB/motherboard male and female pins.

 

looks good for a first time

 

Does anyone have the part number for ATX crimps? My local electronics store has .062 and .082 crimps, but they are no good. The .062 are to small and the .082's are to big, Any suggestions for the Goldilock of crimps?

Thanks!

zog

BTW, @LePhuronn, those are some really nice clean crimps there!

 

Molex 39-00-0038 ATX Female Pin
Molex 39-00-0040 ATX Male Pin

Molex 08-50-0114 Fan pin
Molex 08-70-0103 Fan pin Male

Molex 67581-0000 SATA Pin (Molex 67581-0001 for gold plated)

Molex 11-03-0044 ATX Pin Remover
Molex 63811-1000 Hand Crimp Tool

 

Thanks Big Elf!

I'll show my gratitude by asking if you know the Molex number for CON-JST-PH connectors like in the picture below. The SuperMicro motherboard that I'm planning my build around uses that connector for some of it's fan headers.

Also, do you have a part number for female SATA data tips? I'm planning custom length SATA cables. I've done this in the past by cutting the cover tips of the SATA cable, desoldering the original connections, cutting the cable down and then hot gluing them back together, but I'm hoping to do something a little more clean for this build.

 

I don't recall coming across that connector before but judging by the code it'll use the 'Japanese Solderless Terminals' (JST) brand rather than Molex. I think this is the datasheet (pdf) for the connector.

These are the Molex SATA connector numbers:

Molex 67926-0001 SATA Connector, Punch-down type SATA power connector with latch
Molex 67926-0040 Cap, Feed-through cap for SATA power connector
Molex 67926-0041 End Cap, End cap for SATA power connector
Molex 67582-0000 SATA Connector , Crimp type SATA power connector

There's a Molex punch down tool available for the Punch down Tool (0638133503) for SATA connectors but a CR-V 4 screwdriver bit is a lot cheaper and just as effective.

 

Wow! Thanks again Big Elf! Yeah, that's the connector that I need.

Thank you, but SATA power connectors I have found, I'm look for the data cable connectors.

Thanks again on the JST connectors, I'm so used to Molex for computers that I didn't think about another company.

 

Ah, I misread. I haven't come across the Data Connectors but the connector Akasa Super Slim cables similar to this can be undone with a sharp knife and the cable trimmed again with a very sharp knife, steady hand and straight cut. I used to have success in getting the right length and the cable continuing to work with around half of the cables I did this on.

Harwin and AMP also make connectors in regular use on Motherboards.

 

@LePhuronn,

I just realized that I have hijacked your thread. I really do apologize, I'll start a separate thread for the connectors.

As for your wires, your crimps look really good, with good metal to metal contact. Are you planning to sleeve your wires?

 

Hijack away, zog, I'm likely to be facing a JST connector issue myself, so Big Elf's link is most useful.

The crimps will be improved soon now that I have a new crimper, and the cables will be sleeved in paracord. That's a different topic for a different day, probably to be discussed on the Asteria II build log