I have been messing with different crimper to attach spades with. I own a few different ones that I have used over the years for cars but they are not correct. I finally broke down and bought the proper pair. I found them on eBay and made an offer of $4.00, it was accepted. With $2.99 shipping it comes to $6.99 total, good price in my opinion. I will see what kind of quality it is when I get it but it states from radio Shack and they usually have decent stuff. You can see it here: http://tinyurl.com/2ah67qr
Also the spades are available on eBay cheaper than our suppliers.
Harry, I have a pair of crimpers just like those, from Radio Shack, and they're fine for crimping spades for handset and mounting cords for WE phones. It's been a while since I used them, but they seem to do the job fine each time.
I got spades from an eBay seller that are a perfect match for the WE ones, so they look fine. I do leave a little of the tinsel draped over the wire insulation before I crimp, just to make sure I get a good connection. With the wire being the age it is, the penetrating part sometimes looks a little questionable.
Harry, That looks like a nice crimper that is about $3 cheaper than you can get at the Radio Shack store.
Here are the piercing terminals that I bought there,
> http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103504&numProdsPerPage=60 <
It doesn't say what tool should be used to crimp these but the tool that you got looks right.
Are you supposed to strip any insulation off of the tinsel wire when you use these terminals?
I assumed that you didn't. I have only used these on four wires and three made contact & one didn't.
What's the deal? Am I doing something wrong? If I am doing something wrong, I did it last year so it doesn't count towards 2011. ;D
I have one exactly like that which I got from Odis Levrier before he sold House of Telephones to Old Phone works. It's the only crimper I use, and it makes flawless crimps every time. It took a little practice for me to understand just how to do it to get the perfect crimp, but eventually I got it.
OPW sells two sizes of spades, and I buy them in a bag of 100 each because I wind up doing so many. The large spades are for the fabric and neoprene covered cords such as the thicker line cords and handset cords. The smaller ones work well when making a half modular cord out of a full modular cord where the wires inside are much smaller than the older line cords. The smaller ones also work well on the later line cords and handset cords of the later 500's where the wires are much smaller.
Radio Shack may still carry the crimper too.
I am amazed at how many e-bay sellers try to show off the insides of a phone that have connections done with an automotive crimper and automotive spades. Yes, they work, but they look awful.
Harry, the price you paid was "priceless" :)
Doug, as far as stipping the insulation off the wire, no you don't do that. The proper spades have a little self-piercing tip inside to pierce the insulation and make contact with the wire when the crimper clamps it to the wire.
Occasionally, I will get one that does not work, and I have to snip it off and re-crimp. My experience is about one in one hundred, so not very often. You have to develop the method, and I can post some pictures and a narrative this week-end some time if it would help everyone
Happy crimping.
Thanks Bill, looking forward to the tutorial. Do you have the OPW part # of the two sizes that you use?
I wasn't quite sure what Jonathan meant by draping the tinsel.
Radio Shack still has the tool - > http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103683 <
If I got 1 out of 4 bad, then that means the next 96 should be good. Right?
This is a good thread, thanks for starting it Harry. I have been using the ones from Radio Shack that Doug mentioned. Part #64-3070. I use needle nosed pliers to bend the tabs over but have bared a bit of the wire at the tip to ensure a good contact. I've not tried piercing the insulation. I mostly use these for mounting cords.
I would like to get "real" spade tips that more closely match originals and a tool to crimp them on with. I was thinking about this just the other day as I attached one of these tips. These are a bit too large and I often snip off each of the tips of the spade tip so they're not so long.
Bill, I too look forward to your step-by-step tutorial on attaching the correct tip. It's time for an OPW order anyway.
Thank you!
Probably the one most important thing to keep in mind when using the crimper and the spades is to point the open tips of the U-shaped shank of the spaes towards the closed end of the crimper recess. This will close the shank and wrap it around the unsulation of the wire. for the smaller spades, you will probably need to press the spade shank in the proper crimper recess with your thumb, where it will stay due to it being just the right size to stay in by itself. then thread the unbared wire through, and hold it in place while you crimp.
Photos are the best way to illustrate all this, but I am at work all day and will probably be working late tonight, but I can take pictures tonight, later on.
I live in the state of Washington, so I am on Pacific time.
This is great! Most people assume putting a connector on a wire is a no brainer but obviously to do it right is not! I used auto connectors and you are right they look terrible. I also used the terminals Dennis mentioned that are a bit too long, they will actually reach and short out the next terminal. I believe I have the correct piercing lugs now. I also like to fold a tiny bit of the wire under, just to be sure. With these crimpers I should have flawless connections in the future! A step by step pictorial tutorial would be a good addition here.
Until I finally was able to obtain the proper crimper, I would say 1 out of 3 of my crimps did not make proper contact.
D/P
I'd just like to note I have a set of crimpers identical to those that I use at work. They're made for crimping pins on for small Molex connectors. Those pins require about 1/16" of the insulation to be stripped off(very, very little, I know). The WE type spades have a couple small spikes that pierce the insulation when they're crimped, so stripping isn't necessary. Anyway, these crimpers have a small step in the tooling. The "smallest" part is for the wire itself and the "bigger" part is made to crimp around the outside of the insulation. Point being, you might need to crimp each spade twice to get it crimped evenly, otherwise half will be crimped tighter than the other half. Hopefully that makes sense. From the photo, it looks like these are the same crimpers, if they aren't and don't have that small step, disregard everything I said :)
---Eric
ok, I am not very good at this, so hopefully it will work. Try this link and see if it is working:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamgeurts/sets/72157625773452766/
-Bill
That worked fine, thanks.
Is there more coming? Step by step of stripping, positioning and final crimping with results?
Thanks Bill, It looks like you are using the OPW crimp tool which looks different from the Radio Shack tool that Harry bought. What surprises me is that both tools have mostly square pockets. I was thinking that they would be rounded to help roll the tabs down. Looking at the OPW site
(> http://www.oldphoneworks.com/ <) the tool is item #22591, small terminals #21213, and large terminals #21158. Did you get a price break by buying 100 at a time? I like the way they manufacture the terminals. Who'd da thunk it, at first I thought you had "Jack Chain" there.
Thanks Bill for taking the time to do that. Those spade tips look just like the ones from Radio Shack, other than they're all held together in the chain. Radio Shack's are $1.99 for 24 tips. I didn't look to compare the price but I would imagine buying 100 of them would less expensive.
Quote from: Wallphone on January 08, 2011, 08:22:24 AM
Thanks Bill, It looks like you are using the OPW crimp tool which looks different from the Radio Shack tool that Harry bought. What surprises me is that both tools have mostly square pockets. I was thinking that they would be rounded to help roll the tabs down. Looking at the OPW site
(> http://www.oldphoneworks.com/ <) the tool is item #22591, small terminals #21213, and large terminals #21158. Did you get a price break by buying 100 at a time? I like the way they manufacture the terminals. Who'd da thunk it, at first I thought you had "Jack Chain" there.
You're right. This style crimper is made to crimp uninsulated wire, so it's made to actually curl the edges downward, like a stapler would. Insulation piercing crimps are made to just be crimped round around the insulation.
---Eric
Great discussion about these crimpers. I jumped on Ebay and purchased one of those Radio Shack crimpers for $3.50 plus shipping. I've purchased some of the piercing lugs from Phoneco for 20 cents each, but a quantity 100 for $15 seems a little pricey. The radio shack lugs are a little small for the cloth cords - I like the larger ones that PhoneCo sells - Item # lug8 I think. If anyone knows of a cheaper source for these lugs please let me know.
Maybe we should start a contest to see who can get those crimpers for the lowest price?
By the way, I don't do a whole lot of fabric cords, and I do a lot of the smaller ones for projects and for cord repair. The larger ones do not look as good as the smaller ones when they are finished because of the way the spades are made and I believe because of the shape of the recess in the crimper itself.
From the pictures I posted, you can see that the red plastic-insulated small wire came out picture perfect. The crimper nicely surrounds the wire with the tips side edges which are designed to wrap around the wire and interlace like you would from interlacing your fingers together from both hands.
Not that good for the larger ones, but they are functional, and still look far better than using a hardware store crimper and the spades with the plastic colored bases.
Remember the secret is to put the spade in the die with the open end of the tip base pointing into the die's recess. This allows the U shaped die to fold the metal base around the wire. This needs to be done for both sizes of wire. The recess in the die for the larger wire looks more like a very small w rather than a U.
Practice and see if you cannot get the smaller wires to look like the one below.
I've had that Radio Shack crimper for more years than the internet's been around (so I did get it cheap) but it wasn't until I saw the pictures yesterday of how to put the spade lug into the crimper opening downward toward the crimper, and then putting the wire in before doing the crimp did I finally get a great crimp.
For years I've been putting the lug with the opening up and getting lousy crimps. Thanks for the pictures showing how to use the crimper, instructions that didn't come with the crimper.
Crimped four lugs last night onto solid wire and each crimp was perfect and all connections were fine.
Thanks for the lesson.
xzzx-crimper-xzzx
Wow, I am very happy to have been of service!
$3.50 for the crimpers at Radioshack!? Sounds like we're getting a bum deal here in Canada (again ::))
Radioshack closed their doors a couple of years ago here and became The Source by Circuit City. Their crimpers, which make excellent crimps on spade lugs by the way, retail for CDN$15.99!
Nexxtech Phone Installation Tool Item # 6400410
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=6400410 (http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=6400410) ( dead link 8-15-17 )
I have found though that when crimping British GPO cords, the conductors are very fine and it can be pretty hit and miss to get contact even when the insulating jacket appears to be pierced. Normally strip about 1/8 of an inch and fold back on it self before crimping to ensure a successful contact.
Harry & WDS2185, How is your new crimper tool working? I got mine for $3.50 so I'm tied with WDS for low offer. I think that ESalter was right about these. They don't seem to be made for what we want to do. They are made for this app > http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102600&clickid=prod_cs < just like ESalter said. My crimps came out terrible. It's kinda like putting a round peg in a square hole. So I modified mine with a rotary burr. I did one "socket" with a .070" and the other with a .100" burr. The ideal size burr to use would be around .075" but I get nice crimps now so that is all that matters. I put the radius on both halves of the tool so now it rolls the terminal shut the way it should. I attached a pic of my modifications.
Doug:
A few weeks ago when this topic was active, I thought of doing that modification, at least to the larger size terminals, but I don't have the tool to do it, and I soon forgot about it. Your modification looks like you succeeded.
Do you have a crimp example of the larger spade? I was looking at some cords I got from OPW with the same spade that they sell individually, and there is definitely a difference between how they come out of my crimper and how OPW's cords look. I know OPW crimps their cords in a pneumatic tool, and they don't use the hand crimper.
I have said in an earlier post that I am most happy with the smaller crimps my hand crimper produces. I am somewhat satisfied, and I get great electrical results with the larger ones most all the time, but the finished product does not look as good as I would like.
Can you post a photo of examples of crimps with your modifications?
-Bill
Bill, I don't have any of the larger spades yet. I might have to modify it again when I get some. When you posted your tutorial/pictorial you didn't say which part of your tool that you used. It looks like your 22/26 is already rounded. Was that the one you used? I will post some before & after modification pics later. I have to go shovel some of that white stuff we got last night. Not as bad as they predicted, maybe about 6".
When I'm at work tomorrow(snow day today), I'll take a picture of that type of crimp these tools are "trying" to make just for comparison's sake. Hope everyone out there is enjoying the snow! ---Eric
I guess all crimpers that look similar are not alike.
This is the crimper I've had for years that I got from Radio Shack so probably paid a pretty penny for it 15 to 20 years ago. It was made for RS in Tiawan. It has a wire cutter between the handles and the joint and can crimp 5 different sized items.
I found the 22-26 space works well on spade lugs I get from Radio Shack, as long as I put the open side of the lug down as I learned from tutorial pics uploaded earlier in this topic thread.
It might be as real phones went away, they discontinued this style of crimper and now we are just lucky they still sell the spade lugs. And I don't even know what a D-pin is so it must be computer related.
I searched the internet and found a very similar crimper from what seems to be a Tiawan supplier at this link. It's the 602B.
http://tw101158419.trustpass.alibaba.com/productshowimg/104932788-100779784/CRIMPING_TOOL.html
There are several crimpers on that link but can't read the sizes.
Doug, I checked Radio Shack's website and they no longer sell the spade lug crimpers, so John is correct. The crimper you have is for D-sub pins, which are in 25 or 9-pin connectors in a parallel or serial computer cable.
The crimper that John (TelePlay) posted in the picture is exactly what I got from Radio Shack once upon a time, probably six years ago. It should work great on spade lugs. Hope you can find one.
Thanks for the info John and Jonathan. John's crimper is the same model that Bill has. Here is a pic of what I'm getting after the modification. The one in the middle is before the change. The other two aren't as good as the one Bill did but it could be the wire size and the Radio Shack terminals, but they make contact with the wire and they look better than what I was getting using pliers.
I used the crimper for the first time yesterday, it worked well. The spade was kinda stuck in it afterward but it came out with a pair of plers and looked well.
On the small ones, mine always stick in there too, but I can always pop them out with my fingers.
Doug:
Great job. I do need to see about making more of a rounded seat on mine for the larger spades.
-Bill
I found a source for the telephone piercing spade lug crimper. I was quoted a price of $5.59 each plus shipping. They have added a few crimp dies to the prior model. This is what was quoted to me on the new version:
For computer pins & sockets, D-Sub 26-28 AWG wire.
For butt-Insulated connectors, 22-26 AWG wire.
For telephone piercing spade lugs, 22-26 AWG wire.
For open barrel connectors, 20-22 AWG wire.
For open barrel connectors, 14-18 AWG wire.
For non-insulated terminals, 10-14,16-18 and 20-22 AWG wire.
The only catch is they want a minimum order of 100 pieces. Delivery was quoted as 8 to 12 weeks. Anyone interested into going into the business of selling these, let me know and I'll pass along the contact information.
Since it apprears RS doesn't carry them anymore, has anyone out here in the western states checked Fry's electronics for crimpers? I'm going to try to remember to swing by a Fry's to see what they might carry. I need to re-spade a couple of ends on a 60's coiled handset cord.
I went onto Fry's web site and found what they call a D-Sub crimper for about $8.49 plus shipping that looks like the old RS crimper. However, they provide no specs or no enlarged photo to see if the above die specs match the 602B above.
A smoothed blow up of the picture they have on their web site is attached. Seems to have 5 dies.
I sent them a customer request asking for the specs and/or a larger picture of the crimper dies.
It's their part #: 1922790 and can be seen at this link: http://tinyurl.com/6cleqod
Will post any reply I get from them and when I get.
Or, you can check out the link and call them yourself.
Thanks for the Fry's info. I have a Fry's a couple exits away so will buzz over to see if specs are the same.
Ralph, let me know what you learn about this crimper. The first e-mail reply I got from them was this:
--------------------------------
"Dear valued Frys.com customer,
We apologize, the only specific details found on the "D-Sub Crimp Tool" were that it contacts from 20-30 AWG and is usable with L-com CPF, CPM or any industry standard D-Sub crimp contact.
This grade tool crimps commercial D-Subminiature pins and sockets for 20-30 AWG wires. Spring loaded holding mechanism centers and holds pin in place until crimping cycle is complete. The ratchet mechanism provides thousands of consistent, quality crimps. It is ideal for L-com's CPF & CPM product families. Note - not for use with high density D-sub crimp contacts.
Crimps standard commercial D-Sub contacts from 20-30 AWG
Ratchet mechanism provides consistent, quality crimps
Spring loaded holding mechanism keeps contact in place until crimp cycle is complete
Durable construction insures years of use
Use with L-com CPF, CPM or any industry standard D-Sub crimp contact
Thank you for contacting Frys.com.
--------------------------------------------------
Nothing close to my request and the specs I sent to verify. Seems they just pulled the info off of their supplier's spec sheet and didn't look at one to answer my question. I sent them a second e-mail with a picture of my RS crimper dies and asked them to verify if their picture is wrong or the dies are a match to my crimper. Haven't hear from them yet. Maybe Monday. I didn't need to be sold on their specs, just wanted to know what the die end looked like up close.
Ralph,
Here's the second e-mail reply I got from Frys. They caved, threw up there hands and said go look at a store.
---------------------------------
Dear valued Frys.com customer,
Thank you for taking the time to let us know how you feel. We value your business and it's great to receive positive feedback.
In regard to your original question, we apologize as I was unable to locate any more specific information on the product. As in-store associate would be able to look at the item to provide a better description, and please view the link below for store information:
http://www.frys.com/ac/storelocator/index.jsp
----------------------------------
Again, let us know if this is the same as the old RS crimper. We don't have a Fry's in my state.
Looks like the closest one to me is in Georgia! I too would like to know if it is a match, the crimper I got from eBay which started this thread is not quite right. Works better than the others I have tried but still not correctly. I will keep looking ;D
Sounds like typical Fry's customer service.
I went today and found only a crimper for things like coax cable.
I didn't bother to ask for help. I am all too familiar with Fry's sales staff. I also only had the specs with me, not the item number, and without that there was no sense in pursuing things further.
I'll try again at a different store and will go armed with all the necessary information.
Also, I couldn't find any spade connectors. Those are probably going to require a trip to RS.
The D-Sub Crimper is the same one that I got on eBay made by Radio Shack that I had to modify. See earlier postings. Here is the Radio Shack crimper. > http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103683 < And this is what the tool was made to crimp. > http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102600&clickid=prod_cs <
Doug Pav
Then the picture Fry is using on their web site for the D-Sub crimper is wrong. Attached are 4 pictures of crimpers. The one on the left is mine, an old RS crimper that is what works best. The next picture, to the right, is the 602B model from a company in Tiawan that sells them for about $6 but with a 100 quantity minimum. The next is the RS D-Sub crimper and the one on the far right is a from the Fry web site of their D-Sub crimper.
To me, three of the pictures show a 5 die crimper that look just like the old RS spade lug crimper including the Fry crimper. Only the RS D-Sub crimper shows 4 dies. Either Fry doesn't know what they are selling or they have the wrong photo up on their site for the D-Sub Crimper.
On the good side, maybe Fry does have a crimper that is a 5 die that will work with spade lugs.
Found the 602B crimper at a US web site for $10.60 plus shipping. An online store called Phoenix Enterprises.
This seems to be the old RS crimper with a few other crimp dies in the handle next to the wire cutter. They even provided a spec diagram which is attached and shows the dies that work best for telephone spade lugs.
Their web site is at this link: http://www.phoenixent.com/tools.html?gclid=CPiRpaSAvqcCFR9x5QodbQo2_A
and the red handled crimper is the twelvth (12th) from the top. It's their model number HWS15874 described as a MULTI-PURPOSE CRIMPER.
They list the specs as:
Coil spring return & built-in cutter Crimper for:
28-14 AWG Open-barrel crimp terminals-contacts including solderless lugs & dsub pin contacts
26-22 AWG Butt-insulated connectors
22-10 AWG Non-insulated terminals
Check out the attached schematic, it looks just like the old RS spade lug crimper. I checked the gauge stampongs on my old RS crimper and it's the same as the schematic provided by this site. This may have solved the problem.
Quote from: HarrySmith on March 06, 2011, 02:54:57 PM
Looks like the closest one to me is in Georgia! I too would like to know if it is a match, the crimper I got from eBay which started this thread is not quite right. Works better than the others I have tried but still not correctly. I will keep looking ;D
Did you see the crimper and the link to it I posted a few days ago? It looks just like the old RS crimper plus two extra ferrule crimpers in the handle.
Yes, I saw it. It kinda looks like an old crimper I have in my toolbox that I have not used in years. I am waiting until I can get to it and see if it is the correct one. I forgot I had it until I saw that post. The one you posted looks like it would work, if anyone gets one I would be interested in hearing about it.
I'm not even going to pursue this any further with the lame staff at Fry's. That Phoenix tool seems to be the right one, and it's priced reasonably enough. Definitely worth it to get an otherwise good handset cord that I own re-spaded on a couple of its connectors.
That #3 die on the "602B" crimper schematic is identical to the #3 die on my old RS crimper.
If I didn't already have that old RS crimper, I'd order one from Phoenix.
If you get one, let us know if it works. It's got to be the same crimper. My old RS crimper is stamped "Taiwan" and that's where these "602B" crimpers are made. They have to be the same, I hope.
If it is the same and works well, many others who don't have the old RS crimper may want to ad this to their tool box. And, no, I don't make any money off of finding and sharing this link. ;-D
I use one exactly like this.....Doug
http://tinyurl.com/43njgct
Interesting subject... I've had one of these crimpers for several years. founf it at of all places..... Radio Shack! and the spades too! they come in real handy when making jumpers and other applications... so for all you out there looking for a local souce for this crimper, check out your local radio shack! John
Quote from: jsowers on February 02, 2011, 04:32:19 PM
Doug, I checked Radio Shack's website and they no longer sell the spade lug crimpers, so John is correct. The crimper you have is for D-sub pins, which are in 25 or 9-pin connectors in a parallel or serial computer cable.
The crimper that John (TelePlay) posted in the picture is exactly what I got from Radio Shack once upon a time, probably six years ago. It should work great on spade lugs. Hope you can find one.
Radio Shack quit selling the 5 die crimper with the 22-26 AWG telephone spade lug die some time ago. They now only sell a similar looking 3 die crimper that is for D-sub connectors and won't work well with telephone spade lugs according posts on this thread.
It seems a company called Phoenix Enterprises sells the 5 die crimper once sold by Radio Shack but the price is $10 plus $6 handling for a small order plus another $7 or so for shipping as reported on a post on this thread.
Radio Shack does indeed still sell the larger of the two types of telephone spade lugs, just not the telephone spade lug crimper.
See page 2 of the thread above for a good discussion of all this including pictures of crimpers and a tutorial on how to use them.
and of all things to go wrong..... my crimper died! I went to crimp a terminal lug and it bent the crimper.... almost broke it... I don't know if I can fix it, but now I'm in the market for another one... anyone know where to get this now.... no local sources that I know of.....
I think the best source for one was in the above post (http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4071.msg57425#msg57425). Click the link at that post and scroll down down about 1/3 of the page to their part number HWS15874 - MULTI-PURPOSE CRIMPER.
Looks like it is still available from their online store (http://www.king-cart.com/phoenixent/product=TOOLS+FOR+INTERCONNECTS+%2526+WIRE/exact_match=exact) (scroll down to the part) for $10.60 plus shipping
(http://www.king-cart.com/store/phoenixent/tlcrmp-15874.jpg)
and a $6 handling charge because the order is under $50 - all that from their web site check out.
Shipping cost is not available until you check out. Looks like a $30 or less item in total.
Thank you....
I just ordered 2 of these, they are the same ones I already have, the one I bought from R/S 10 years ago.... I tried to crimp the wrong type terminal with this and cracked the frame by the rivet.... hope these last a good long time!
So John, you ordered 2 from Phoenix supply and are happy with them? HWS15874..Do they work well with the Radio Shack larger spade lugs? Thanks..Tim
Some 5 years later from the last search for a good crimper good source, I stumbled upon the "original" Radio Shack spade lug crimper for CHEAP today. But, it will take 2 to 4 weeks to get it as it ships from China. I know alibaba had these available but lot size was 1,00o or so IIRC. Someone in China got smart, bought a lot and is selling them by the each.
The upgraded crimper is only $6.55 plus $1.99 shipping. That is a real deal compared to US sellers, less than half price at the least.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-functional-HS-202B-Portable-Hand-Crimping-Tool-Plier-Terminals-Crimpper-/111959588367 ( dead link 8/1/22 )
(NOTE: there are 5 or 6 sellers out there selling these from China or Hong Kong, prices are in the $7 to $8.50 range)
The crimper was described in detail starting about and around this reply in this topic:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4071.msg60610#msg60610
which was identical, plus a few things added below the joint, to my old crimper purchased at Radio Shack some 20 years ago . . .
(http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4071.0;attach=72950;image)
There are many (more than 10 available) and sold 201 of them to date at $6.55 each plus $1.99 shipping.
Anyone needing a telephone line piercing spade lug crimper, this is the one.
Is that crimper from China mentioned in the previous post (HS-202B) suitable for the spades on UK 746 series telephones? I'm thinking of the terminals on the PCB and also the smaller ones on the dial. If so, is there a recommended source of those spades available in the UK? I'm not sure of the designated size so hard to search for. Thanks for any help,
Barry.
Having so many crimper and spade lug topics to post to, I am putting this here since it is a 4 page topic with a lot of information about spade lug crimpers.
As of this post, the 22-28 gauge self piercing spade lug connectors can be purchased in bulk for a good price from DigiKey. These spade lugs are about $0.08 each from DigiKey, cheapest I've found anywhere, at the 250 quantity price break. I bought 250 from them for $17.57 plus $1.06 tax and $3.21 shipping for a total $21.84 or $0.087 each. They are yellow in color.
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/61498-1/A29922CT-ND/294360
They sell 100 for $8.15 plus $3.36 shipping plus tax for about $12.50 or $0.125 each. Hard to find them cheaper anywhere, unless you just want a few and don't mind paying a bit more for less inventory you will never use.
They also have this in light gray for a little bit more ($20.77 for 250 light grey and $9.64 for 100 - both plus tax and $3.36 shipping).
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/61498-2/A29923CT-ND/294361
============================
I just checked eBay and there are some for sale anywhere from $0.50 to $1.00 each in small quantities (10 to 100)
Quote from: TelePlay on November 05, 2016, 03:40:12 PM
Some 5 years later from the last search for a good crimper good source, I stumbled upon the "original" Radio Shack spade lug crimper for CHEAP today. But, it will take 2 to 4 weeks to get it as it ships from China. I know alibaba had these available but lot size was 1,00o or so IIRC. Someone in China got smart, bought a lot and is selling them by the each.
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The crimper was described in detail starting about and around this reply in this topic:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4071.msg60610#msg60610
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Anyone needing a telephone line piercing spade lug crimper, this is the one.
Someone asked my about spade lugs and I said they needed the right crimper. To my surprise, the
HS-202B Crimper is now available from multiple
US Sellers on eBay for under $10 with free shipping.
This eBay search link will bring up 8 listings from US Sellers. (https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=HS-202B+Portable+Hand+Crimping+Tool&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=15&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.XHS-202B.TRS0&_nkw=HS-202B&_sacat=0)
A month wait from China will get one a couple of bucks cheaper but a US seller under $10 with free shipping is a deal that can't be beat.
Quote from: TelePlay on January 09, 2011, 03:50:14 PMI've had that Radio Shack crimper for more years than the internet's been around (so I did get it cheap)
Do you know what the part number is for your old RadioShack brand crimper?
Nevermind, I found one. It's a "Kronus Telephone Crimping Tool," part number 64-2983. It says on the package "Exclusively at RadioShack" and "Custom Manufactured in Taiwan for RadioShack Corporation, Fort Worth, TX 76102." It's NOS and the seller has "More than 10 available." The eBay item number is 134124860705.
They are currently $9.95 and the shipping price for me was $6.25. That came to a couple dollars more than the HS-202B on eBay (which are currently about $14 shipped from US sellers), but for one thing, I'd rather have a RadioShack branded one that's made in Taiwan than a no-name one that's probably made in mainland China (I've had good luck with RadioShack branded tools and other stuff in general), and for another thing, every one of the US sellers of the HS-202B seem to be the same guy or a group of connected guys, because they are all from either South or North Carolina, they all use the same "Economy Shipping (DGM SmartMail Ground)" (which is apparently DHL, and slow), and they all have not-so-good feedback.
The seller of the RadioShack crimpers on the other hand, uses USPS First Class shipping (which is my preference), is from AZ, and only has 1 negative feedback, which doesn't even appear to be justified. Also, I got a notification from eBay that it's been marked as shipped 5 minutes after I ordered it.
Quote from: MaximRecoil on August 27, 2022, 04:23:31 PMDo you know what the part number is for your old RadioShack brand crimper?
I just looked at my crimper and there is not part number on it, anywhere, just Taiwan and the die sizes.
Quote from: TelePlay on August 28, 2022, 08:35:50 PMI just looked at my crimper and there is not part number on it, anywhere, just Taiwan and the die sizes.
Thanks for checking. Does it say "Kronus" on it like the one I just ordered from eBay?
No, nothing other than "Taiwan" and the numbers for the die sizes.
I see some on eBay have "Cutter" instead of Taiwan but I assume whoever ordered several gross imported of these asked to have that on them instead of Taiwan.
Seems the same basic tool with different branding.
Quote from: TelePlay on August 28, 2022, 09:36:55 PMI see some on eBay have "Cutter" instead of Taiwan but I assume whoever ordered several gross imported of these asked to have that on them instead of Taiwan.
The "cutter" ones probably weren't made in Taiwan. Taiwan-made stuff tends to be higher quality and more expensive to manufacture than stuff that's made in mainland China. My other RadioShack branded tools, such as my modular crimpers and coaxial cable strippers, were made in Taiwan too.
Do piercing spade terminals work well with solid-core wire? The wiring that goes to the modular jacks in my house is solid-core and doesn't have any spade terminals. Instead, the ends are stripped, bent into hook shape and screwed down in the screw terminals. Except for the wall phone jack in the kitchen; that has punch-down block terminals, which is perfect for solid-core wire.
If done properly you would probably get a good connection but the hook shapes work fine. There is no question of the connection when you do it that way.
On solid wire, I strip off a piece of insulation about the length of the part of the spade lug that captures the wire, bend it back over the insulation and crimp the lug over that.
In the past, I had a few solid wire lugs fail (shorted) because the piercing points missed the conductor.
Never a failure using the above technique and I use it on both solid and stranded wire.
Bending bare copper around a terminal screw is fine in a wall Jack or the like but I find it highly unprofessional to do that inside a telephone, be it a D1, 302, 500, AE 40, SC, stick base, subset or anything else.
Not only does it look cheap, and is not the way the manufacturer did it, but the use of a spade lug over the wire insulation gives the connection more strength, especially with solid conductors which can snap off with too much flexing.
And the spade lug is always a tighter connection.
Only takes a couple of cents and a minute or two to do it bench professionally. Techs in the field probably didn't have the time to play with a crimper and lugs but no excuse for not using lugs on a workbench restoration.
Quote from: HarrySmith on August 29, 2022, 03:08:09 PMIf done properly you would probably get a good connection but the hook shapes work fine. There is no question of the connection when you do it that way.
Yeah, these jacks were installed by the Bell System (originally as plain junction blocks, which were converted to modular jacks in the '80s), so they must not have used any spade terminals. I don't mind the hook shape method but it gets bulky doing it that way if you have a few connections going on. The Bell System used overkill wire (it's at least 20 AWG for each conductor), plus there are the spades from the modular jack wires on the same screw terminals, plus I have 22 AWG solid wire connected to the same screw terminals as well for my payphone's line cord. I could just barely get all those in there, and now I want to add another modular jack that's closer to my WE 500 that's on my end table, and I'll be using solid 22 AWG for that too. I don't think I'll be able to fit all that in there without spade terminals.
What I could do is: strip a small section of the solid wire and then crimp around the insulation and solder the bare section of wire to the bottom of the spade terminal, like this:
Or just back it out a bit so the solder would contact all sides if the crimp channel and the wire. I don't think I have ever seen a crimp that did not fully encapsulate the wire, even when doubling back the bare conductors (except for old cloth tinsel conductors).
Soldering is good but tricky and takes a lot more time (and won't work on tinsel).
And, wrapping one solid conductor around a screw terminal would work but putting 2 or 3 on one terminal would seem highly unstable, a dicey connection, with temperature changes and ringer vibration over time. Three spade lugs on one terminal is relatively easy to do.
I can't recall seeing more than 2 on a factory wired terminal (networks have 2 terminals strapped together when 3 or 4 conductors are used).
Quote from: TelePlay on August 29, 2022, 05:10:18 PMOr just back it out a bit so the solder would contact all sides if the crimp channel and the wire.
Yeah, that's what I'll probably do.
QuoteI don't think I have ever seen a crimp that did not fully encapsulate the wire,
The only reason it doesn't in the image I posted is because I used the stock photo from Digi-Key to make it, and it's a photo of an uncrimped spade.
QuoteSoldering is good but tricky and takes a lot more time (and won't work on tinsel).
I worked in a PCB factory for about two years soldering thousands of joints per night, and I have the same Metcal STSS-002 soldering station at home that we were issued there (it's excellent for small joints when using the e.g., STTC-126 tip cartridge; relatively big ones too for that matter). I wouldn't want to solder a terminal that's crimped onto tinsel or stranded wire anyway, because it defeats the purpose of wire like that, which is to be flexible without breaking. You could get away with it I guess if only dabbing a tiny amount of solder onto the end so that it doesn't wet all the way down through the crimp barrel and into the free-hanging wire strands.
Just out of curiosity though, why can't you solder tinsel? What's it made of?
QuoteAnd, wrapping one solid conductor around a screw terminal would work but putting 2 or 3 on one terminal would seem highly unstable, a dicey connection, with temperature changes and ringer vibration over time. Three spade lugs on one terminal is relatively easy to do.
That's what I don't like about it on this modular jack here in the living room. There are a couple of washers on each screw so you can sandwich each wire between washers, which helps with stability (I've never had a connection problem so far, and it's been like that for many years), but I still don't like it. Spades are better for stacking, and they also have a lot more surface area in contact with the screw terminal than a bare solid wire does.
The way tinsel wire is made, the electrical conductors intermixed with fabric threads that make up the tinsel, the metal tinsel just doesn't hold solder.
About 4 years ago, I came up with a way to solder splice two tinsel conductors together.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=20752.0
Quote from: TelePlay on August 29, 2022, 07:20:38 PMAbout 4 years ago, I came up with a way to solder splice two tinsel conductors together.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=20752.0
Nice. I've done the same thing with stuff that I couldn't solder directly to. About 10 years ago I did it to fix all the gauges in my '69 Dodge. They work via a hair-thin nichrome wire wrapped, in coil fashion, around part of a bimetallic strip. Increased voltage from the gauge sending unit results in increased heat in the nichrome wire which bends the bimetallic strip which causes the needle to move. At some point long before I got the car all the gauges had "burned out," i.e., the original nichrome wires had all broken due to being over-heated, most likely due to a faulty gauge voltage regulator (it's an electromechanical 5 VDC regular, and if it gets stuck in the closed position it will let the full ~14 VDC from the car's charging system through and burn out those nichrome wires).
I got some new nichrome wire, but you can't solder to that stuff (maybe you could with highly aggressive flux, which isn't a good idea for electric soldering), so to attach the ends to the terminals I wrapped individual copper strands from some stranded wire around the nichrome wire and the terminal and soldered that. All the gauges still work fine (I also got a modernized replacement regulator that's electronic rather than electromechanical, and with over-voltage protection built into it, to prevent it from happening again).
About 22 years ago I did the same thing when replacing a light bulb in a crossover (for component car audio speakers). The light bulb was an automotive light bulb which was used for tweeter protection, similar to how a fuse would be used. Solder refused to wet to the legs in the replacement bulb, so I did the wrapping with thin copper strands thing. That crossover still works too.
Quote from: TelePlay on August 29, 2022, 03:48:31 PMBending bare copper around a terminal screw is fine in a wall Jack or the like but I find it highly unprofessional to do that inside a telephone, be it a D1, 302, 500, AE 40, SC, stick base, subset or anything else.
Not only does it look cheap, and is not the way the manufacturer did it, but the use of a spade lug over the wire insulation gives the connection more strength, especially with solid conductors which can snap off with too much flexing.
And the spade lug is always a tighter connection.
Only takes a couple of cents and a minute or two to do it bench professionally. Techs in the field probably didn't have the time to play with a crimper and lugs but no excuse for not using lugs on a workbench restoration.
I agree, I meant in the wall jacks for the hook on the solid wire. I always use spades inside any phone. I also strip back a little insulation, bend it back over the wire and then put the spade on. Just a precaution to be sure it makes a solid connection.
In case anyone doesn't know: if ordering spade terminals (or most anything else) from Digi-Key, you can get free shipping if you mail them your order with a check or money order, rather than ordering online. I don't know why it works that way but it does. You can get their mail order form here:
https://www.digikey.com/-/media/PDF/Help/Order%20Form/order-form_en-US.pdf
Near the bottom on the right it says:
QuoteSHIPPING INFORMATION
We pay all shipping (our choice of method) and insurance to addresses in the USA and Canada when check or money order accompanies order. See "Shipping Charges" in the Digi-Key Terms and Conditions for details on heavy/oversize items.
I ordered 50 spade terminals that way a few days ago and I've attached a screenshot of the confirmation email they sent me yesterday, which shows $0.00 for the shipping cost.
I've been ordering stuff from Digi-key for about 17 years and I only found out about this free shipping thing last winter. I immediately mailed them an order for a few microswitches just to test out the free shipping deal. I wish I'd known about it all along. I've placed at least 50 orders with them over the years, and with an average of say, $5 shipping every time, that's $250 down the drain.