Making your own servo wires

[AZ ChopperCam]

In all of my 20+ years of being in the RC hobby I never purchased a servo wire crimper until last week. Now I wonder why!

I bought this from Esprit Models

http://file.espritmodel.com/accessories/crimping_tool.jpg

http://www.espritmodel.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3638

Also bought some male & female connectors. I spent last night cutting all the extra dangling servo wires on my Logo and put new connectors on. Makes the install look so clean and tidy.

I never bought a crimper before because I thought it would be difficult to use and the results may not be safe. I can tell you that it's VERY easy to use and the crimp is every bit as good as factory.

I would highly suggest that if you guys don't already have one, get one and buy a bag of connectors and tidy up your wiring. You won't regret it!

[MarkWebber]

Are you soldering as well? I'm a big fan of redundancy. I just ordered some ends from servo city on thursday for the same reason. Convenient when you need a custom lead, too.

[Mike Spence]

I used to solder connections like this until I had a wire fail from vibration, on a race car not a heli. When you solder you lose the flexibility of the wire. YMMV.

[AZ ChopperCam]

I tried soldering one but it looks like if you put even the slightest bit too much solder in there it won't snap into the plastic piece.

Are you soldering?

maybe I need to find my 10w iron and small gauge solder and try again.

[Angelos]

This "full cycle" crimping tool is much better http://ashtekelectronics.com/store/servo-crimp-tool-p-82.html

-Angelos

[z11355]

Got to agree w/ Angelos. I have the previous (blue version) and it is much better than
the basic red handled one but it is quite a bit more.

and any solder is going to make the wire very hard to get in/out of the shell, nor is it necessary
w/ a good crimp

[MarkWebber]

I haven't got my ends just yet so I haven't tried it yet. I used to solder small connector that were similar. Getting the tiny amount can be difficult. If I remember correctly, I used to tin the wire and that would be enought to fill the joint following the crimping.

As they noted, it probably isn't necessary. Sometimes I over do it to my own detriment. :roll:

[GJestico]

Is there a North American source of those ratchet type of crimpers, Angelos ?

[MarkWebber]

I did a search for the one Angelos mentioned and haven't located it in the US. I did find the other variety as low as $15. I didn't save the link, however. :dontknow No, I don't know why.

[MarkWebber]

Looks like they're packaging that one under a number of different labels.http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=316

[z11355]

THIS is the tool that Ashtek used to sell. It's great. Hansen is the only one I know of that
imports it to the US.

http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products/connectors/tools/crimp_dx/

[MarkWebber]

Thanks z. Have to pick up one of em.

[Greg McNair]

It's about time DJ! C'mon man, you were a scaler...you should have been building your own servo wires long ago! Those other crimpers are nice, but at twice the price. Yikes!

I bought my goodies from Dymond, using the same pliers, but they cost $19.95 instead of $25. They also have great prices on the connector sets and wire:

http://www.rc-dymond.com/index.php?categoryID=36

Having this system has made making servo wires for my 11' and 22' airships a blessing, not to mention how nice it was with the 10' Jet Ranger I built. Making your own servo leads is the only way to go!

[gin]

Where do you get the connectors from?

[Greg McNair]

Rc-dymond.com has it all, and so far, I haven't found less expensive prices anywhere else.

[lakespinner2]

Thank you DJ ! I've had the ratcheting crimpers from hansenhobbies, the one in z11's post above, for several months. I just never thought they'd work very well. I'd tried a much cheaper set of crimpers a couple years ago and I didn't trust the connectors I made with them.

After seeing DJ's post I went and dug them out and made a few test crimps and now I have 'seen the light.' These things are fantastic ! Idiot proof even, I had no trouble doing it. I spent an hour or two hacking off excess wire on a heli I'm building and all the crimps appear to be VERY secure.

There's a tutorial on the hansen web site that shows the red handled crimpers and gives instructions. http://www.hansenhobbies.com/products/connectors/Connectors.pdf I believe the blue ratcheting crimpers work the same but have the wire being fed from the opposite side, compared to the photo of the red crimpers. In fact, that's probably why my crimping sucked a couple years ago, I probably had the pins in the crimper backwards. Now I love this thing.

[MarkWebber]

lakespinner

Glad to hear the positive report. I ordered a pair last week. Wish they were here already. Experience from my years in the auto service industry proved most repairs are only as good as the tools and their proper use.

[z11355]

Here is wire crimping tutorial for the blue handled crimper and yes, the wire feeds in from the
RIGHT

http://ashtekelectronics.com/info/crimp/how_to_crimp.htm

This is also nice.. (you need to find electrical 'lacing tape')

http://ashtekelectronics.com/tutorials/lace/how_to_lock.htm

[MarkWebber]

Nice how-to's :D