A Wire crimping machine is a tool used to connect or fix two wires and a connector to a wire. They are one of the simplest and elemental tools also found in homes. The traditional crimpers may look like pliers but the modern fully-automatic crimping machines are big instruments and work on complex principles.
Wire crimpers are important electrical appliances and are used in automobiles and electrical industries. In soldering and wire wrapping, alloys or other mechanical supports are used, however crimping does not require and hence is a stronger technique.
Crimping is applicable with any type and size of the wire, this is neither possible with soldering nor wrapping. Crimping sounds the same as using a plier or wire cutter or stripper. But it is none of those. Pliers cut or bend the wires and crimpers connect two different wires. So, a plier cannot perform the job of a wire crimping machine.
How is crimping done?
Crimpers are named so because, to connect two metals, these machines deform one or both the substrates. This creates a crinkle and this crinkle is known as a crimp. It is a simple process starting with the insertion of the required terminal into place. The size must be appropriate where it is inserted to create a fine crimp. Then the wire is inserted into the terminal allowing maximum contact occupying the exact cross-sectional area.
At last, the crimping handles compress the terminal and wire into one another and reforms the terminal to completely fit the wire into it. This form of joining is called cold-weld, which is achieved by applying pressure instead of heat. Once the wires are connected through crimping, they cannot be undone or reused.Different crimp shapes resulting in the process are C, D, F, O,W, and many other shapes.
Why crimp instead of solder?
Crimping is a non-soldering technique and is preferred because fine crimping produces a gas-tight connection not allowing oxygen and moisture to cause corrosion. Crimpers are considered more appropriate because they are easier and cheaper. Crimping is quick and the new-age crimps can reform many wires at a time. Also, the process of crimping is less dangerous as it does not require high heat, or toxic solder surfaces to affix the connections.
Manual wire crimpers
Back in the golden days, when everything had to be done manually, these were the crimpers used everywhere. The person using these has to be vigilant and keen, and their design is not as strongly built as the automatic ones. These can also be used to cut and strip wires, along with crimping.
Automatic crimpers
Before these, a lot of crimper tools existed, and they all could perform one task at a time. For instance, the crimper pliers were used to cut and join wires. Luckily, the automatic wire-crimpers are all-in-one tools and can cut, strip, crimp, terminate, coil, and stack wires. They are of high quality and perform multiple crimps together. Also, the options for both manual and automatic wire replacement make them the choice wire crimping machines in electrical fields.
