scroungers -- a new chalenge

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Sat Feb 19 18:16:20 2000

>Tony Duell wrote:

> > Or a "duckbill" vice grip, available at welding supply shops and some auto
> > parts shops. Works nicely, and not too strong... A vice is OK but you
> > have to be really careful to listen for the clicks, the first one is the
> > connector seating, the second one is the connector shattering!
> Actually, the first 2 clicks are the connector locks seating, the third
> one is the connector breaking in half :-)

Jerome Fine replies:

Either you vice is very strong or you are - I have never been able to
apply that much pressure.

> I've crimped dozens of IDC connectors, and I nearly always use a 3"
> (across the jaws) bench vice. Slip the cable into the connector, put the
> connector between the jaws of the vice, and tighten just enough to hold
> it. Check the alignment of the cable, then clamp it up and it's done.

I often use a high powered magnifying glass just to be sure that all the pins
are aligned with the cable before I tighten the vice. A bright light helps
as well. Also, my vice is a bare bones model which has just plain metal
jaws. But I rarely do more than 34 pin cables for disk drives. Sometimes
I do a 50 pin cable in which case I often need to do as much as possible
in the centre - then shift the connector first to one side then the other to
achieve a tight enough fit and apply enough pressure and finally finish up
back in the centre.

> I've never used the 'press' type tools that are shown in some catalogues
> for small-production use, and which cost a few hundred pounds and up.
> Doubtless they work well, and they'd be a lot faster (I guess) than using
> the bench vice. But time is not that important to me as a hobbyist, and
> I've got more important things to buy first.

I usually don't use that excuse - I just say that I am plain frugal or cheap -
which ever seems right at the time.-) Or I say that all expenses must be
offset by something else that I sell to justify the new purchase.

The hard part is taking old connectors off old cables - the 34/20 pin edge
connectors are usually easy. Getting the header off the other end is almost
always difficult - inexpensive and time consuming, but difficult.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Sat Feb 19 2000 - 18:16:20 GMT

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