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I used to think wire crimping was just for lazy people until I did the pull test myself
For years I soldered every single pin on every connector I touched, even on cannon plugs where crimping is the standard call. I figured solder was always better because that's what the old guys in Wichita taught me back in 2016. Then a lead handed me a Daniels crimper and said just try it on the next harness. First thing I noticed was speed, I did a 25 pin connector in about 20 minutes instead of an hour and a half. But the real thing that flipped me was the pull test. My soldered joints started failing around 25 pounds of pull while the crimped ones held past 40. The heat from soldering wicks up the wire and makes it brittle right where the strands meet the pin, and I never thought about that before. Now I want to know if anyone still solders connector pins on purpose, and if so what's your reason?
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wright.leo16d ago
Did you ever watch those old NASA docs where they redo wiring on the shuttle? I remember one guy saying they had to pull test every crimp and log the numbers, and it drove him nuts but they never had a wire fail. Meanwhile the soldered stuff on my dad's boat trailer lasted like two seasons before the salt ate it. Makes you wonder how many "rules" we just inherited without ever checking them.
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