Flex/crimps

I usually just solder the ends of the flex. It gives the screw something to bite into without unduly damaging the flex. A gas powered soldering gun could be tried. Obviously bending the flex next to the soldered part should be avoided but this would apply equally to a crimped joint. The only small crimps I can see online are for jewellery making.

 

Hmmmm 4073 valves etc have tinned flex ends and they go in the terms beautifully

 

I don't know whether to take you seriously here Col or whether you're trying to compete with the "living in a tent how do I unearth myself " post! Anyway, if serious, bootlace ferrules are your answer and you can just squeeze them with pliers so that they stay on the flex until you do the terminal screw up.

 

I altered some wiring for an alarm panel yesterday, one of the old Optima 4 zone ones about 30 years old. every wire end had one of these on it as it went into the terminal.



you wouldn't get that nowadays

 

Bootlaces crimps. I worked as an industrial control panel wirer for a few years, every wire had to have a crimp on the end! Still got the crimpers and a few crimps...come in handy sometimes.

 

Ferrules. A proper ferrule crimper is expensive, but you can slip a ferrule on and screw down directly into the terminal to crimp it.

 

Wrap a bit of tinfoil round it.

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

http://m.rapidonline.com/Catalogue/Product/85-0276

Not that expensive! Perfect for doing a few now and again.

 

No need for that, the crimps are so soft just a nip with the pliers is all that's needed, the terminal screw does the rest.

 

About the only time I use them is on the white earth lead on rcbo's.

 

Proper ferrule crimpers are nearer £100!

 

what options you looking at Col?

 

They are more than adequate for what is required...the odd crimp now and again. They are ratchet crimpers and will do the job for not silly money. If you're doing hundreds every day...like I used to, then yes, buy the best. You wouldn't buy a full set of snap on tools just to repair your push bike.

Also, why bother using bootlace crimps or any crimp for that matter, if you're not going to crimp them on properly with ratchet crimpers.

I used to wire big control panels that controlled plant, robots etc. I built them up from scratch, drilling and tapping the back plates for all the trunking, DIN rails etc. They often had 110, 240, 3 phase inside with miles of cable in 1, 1.5, 2.5, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 mm etc, rows upon rows of contactors, plc's, tx's, terminal blocks, every wire was labelled each end, crimped not just placed over a cable and tightened by the screw in the terminal. If Id have done that, i would have been kicked straight off the job even though it would have saved a lot of time. Also, from a periodic maintenance point of view, I would go into factories in shut down checking panels to make sure there were no loose terminal screws and crimps!

Btw, you can get bootlaces crimps for 2 cables side by side, although you can often get 2 cables into the next size up crimp.

 

Surely it's quicker to just shove the cable into the terminal and screw it up ?

Mr. HandyAndy - Really

 

You're right Handy, double it over and "bung it in"!

 

How did we get back to my sex life

 

Hi Paul,

I used to do this, but realised after reading on various forums online that the wire can work loose due to compression from the screw on the solder.

Here is a discussion on Stack Exchange about it:

http://electronics.stackexchange.co...crewed-in-to-a-chocolate-block-terminal-strip

This is a reply from one of the thread's contributors: