Neutrik Connectors: Gold vs. Silver Contacts

[tINY]

Good crimp pins are airtight - though there are others available.

Personally, I often put a bit of solder over the crimped end before I insert it into the connector when reliability is critical.




-tINY

[BoseBoyz]

iron oxide is bigger than iron, so corrosion can spread on things like car sheet metal by cracking the metal deeper and exposing it to air/moisture/etc. this is not the case with aluminum. is the same true of nickel?

[tINY]

I know that we use a Nickel plate over copper and then plate gold on top of that for "hard gold" contacts on CPU sockets. It's definitely stable, durable stuff.

In fact, undercutting from the copper eroding faster than the nickel is a constant hassle in this process. Besides, Have you seen the old nickel plated revolvers? It eventually just wears off after a lifetime of hard use.



-tINY

[S21]

Crimped connectors have the advantage of high pressure at the join. Good crimps are better than good soldering.

[tINY]

That's what they said in school. I still like the idea of a sheath of sacrificial lead and tin - especially if there's exposed copper wire between the crimp and the insulation.



-tINY

[Richard Crowley]

Crimped terminations may well be better than soldering, but I wouldn't bet on that when the crimps are made with tools/dies that may not perfectly match the pin, and by someone with little previous experience. Another reason I prefer solder-pot pins. Not to mention the fact that solder-pot pins tend to be SOLID "screw-machine" parts, and the crimp terminals tend to be thin STAMPED metal that are not nearly as strong. Especially for heavy use like stage boxes/snakes, etc.

[BoseBoyz]

Originally Posted by rcrowley

...but I wouldn't bet on that when the crimps are made with tools/dies that may not perfectly match the pin, and by someone with little previous experience.

The crimp tabs all vary slightly in their dimensions, so this comment would suggest that each $.05 contact part number requires its' own $500 crimp tool. Not that it would surprise me, but is that the understanding in the industry?

I've heard it is a mess using the wrong crimper, but how close do you have to be? After all, all we are doing is curling the tabs in toward each other and then compressing them into the conductor. I would think there would be a range of acceptable die dimensions.

maybe this should be another thread...

[tINY]

If crimping these onto tin-plated copper conductor wire, I wouldn't worry about the solder. But tolerances on these are pretty tight....



-tINY

[sameal]

is that??? yes! yes! it is! the sound of a record skipping..

[BoseBoyz]

Originally Posted by sameal

is that??? yes! yes! it is! the sound of a record skipping..

if this is something that has been discussed before, and it is getting on your nerves, the most effective way to put a stop to it is to post a link to the discussion to which you are referring.

[BoseBoyz]

Originally Posted by tINY

If crimping these onto tin-plated copper conductor wire, I wouldn't worry about the solder. But tolerances on these are pretty tight....



-tINY

what make/model are those?

[tINY]

These are typical pins for the circular mil connectors. Most of the ones I worked with (missile system form the early 60's) had solder-cup connectors.

These not only made great cribbage markers, when used with a 4-point crimper, they were permanently attached to a fairly wide range (26-20 AWG) of wire sizes.



-tINY

[BoseBoyz]

how do those work...just squish the tube like a bicycle brake cable terminator?

[S21]

Squish with a special squisher that doesn't deform the general shape of the pins. :-)

Hence the need for the correct crimp tool

[Richard Crowley]

As S21 says, you must take care to NOT deform the pin when crimping or it won't fit properly into the connector shell. Unless you use a good crimping tool with the proper die set, crimping isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. You could wind up with a big, expensive mess.

[S21]

Originally Posted by tINY

Personally, I often put a bit of solder over the crimped end before I insert it into the connector when reliability is critical.

My "must not fail" connectors have the backshell filled with epoxy or hotmix glue. This makes it impossible to repair the connector, but does provide mechanical support.

[BoseBoyz]

Hey, tINY and others, seems like this topic is kind of migrating over to here, where it would be great to have you involved: DB25 Soldering Tips?

[dualflip]

Ive been screwed so many times by tin plated switches and tin plated connectors or contacts (in general), that i get gold plated everything, even if its overkill on some applications.