TOOL OF THE MONTH
Ralph on crimpers!
For the third month in a row I am dealing with electrics. Now, for some reason all high street auto-shops and even motorcycle shops sell preinsulated bullets, spades and ring terminals by the bucket load, despite the fact that no motorcycle manufacturer or professional auto electrician would use them. Their use is evidence to a professional that a monkey has been playing with the wiring. Proper terminals aren’t even appreciably more expensive, though professional crimp tools do cost a bit more than those nasty tools punched out of sheet steel that claim to strip, cut and crimp, and yet do none of the jobs properly. If you’re not willing to buy the correct tools, pay someone who does have them to do the job!
Old British bikes with wiring by Lucas use machined male brass bullets that are forced into connectors. I use the term ‘forced’ as they tend to be as tight as a duck’s bum to fit together. To the best of my knowledge only one manufacturer still makes the crimps for them and they are far from cheap for a basic tool.
For those of us working on classic Japanese and European motorcycle wiring the most used crimp tool is the one for setting what are known as non-insulated terminals. A curious, misleading moniker, but I cannot change the English language. The jaws are made in two parts. The first part forms the crimp that makes the connection for the wire’s copper conductor, and the second part forms the rear part to clamp into the wire’s insulation to secure a degree of mechanical strength preventing the terminal being pulled off the cable.
This tool is used on bullet connectors, spades, rings and most multi block connectors you are likely to find on classic motorcycles, including 2.8mm mini connectors, 6.3mm multi block connectors, relay bases and headlight plugs. The most commonly used bullets are 3.9mm Japanese bullets which once crimped have a clear insulator boot slipped over that properly protect the connection, unlike the ‘pre-insulated’ terminals that are far from properly covered. There are various types of non-insulated crimp tools available, but for me the best choice is the ratchet style as shown in Photo 2, which delivers exactly the correct pressure to form the crimp and then release. Laser Tools offer what I describe as a basic non-ratchet, which will make a perfectly fine crimp, but is nothing like as nice to use and a bit fiddly. At the bottom end of the market for the truly parsimonious is a very budget tool stamped out of steel sheet that requires the two parts of the crimp to be made separately. It will do the job, but I wouldn’t give one workshop space.
The next tool I want to look at is the Superseal/amp/econoseal crimp. These connectors are water resistant. Superseal tends not to be used by OEMS (Original Equipment Manufacturers), whereas AMP type connectors are seen on more modern bikes. The crimp tools are only available as professional ratchet tools. They work in exactly the same manner as the noninsulated tools, except that the rear crimp secures the rubber seal to the terminal and wire joint, as can be seen in the inset in Photo 3.
Lastly we need to look at the tube type crimp tool. I mainly use this for butt splices. Butt splices are great when you need to extend a wire and sometimes when you want to join a number of wires neatly inside a loom. The right-hand inset in Photo 4 shows a wire with a butt splice crimped. Another wire would be fixed at the other end and the joint covered in polyolefin heat shrink sleeve. I also use my tube type crimp for fitting ring connectors to battery leads, as can be seen in the other inset in Photo 4.
There are other crimp tools out there, including flag terminal tools, but these are monstrously expensive and of limited use. Yes, I have one, but I have a serious tool buying habit for which I know of no cure.