Crimping tools clarification

Soldato
Joined
26 Sep 2010
Posts
7,146
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
Hi all

Can somebody offer me a clarification on crimping tools please? Might save be a bit of cash. It'll be tricky to post direct links given Overclockers now sell the MDPC-X crimper, and therefore links to other products would be seen as competitors, so bear with me.

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. 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.

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!
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Jun 2008
Posts
11,616
Location
Finland
There are quite a few names or basically similarly crimping non-insulated connectors to Molex Mini Fit.
So it isn't wonder if there are lots of tools with different names for doing same job.

This kind small connectors can be crimped also with simpler crimpers.
But force increasing ratchet crimpers are mandatory for easy doing of reliable crimps on blade connectors etc used in cars etc.
Myself have ones with interchangeable "jaw" parts/dies for different type/size connectors.
 
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