Crimping Tips

Most of the terminals available through White Products are designed to be crimped with production tooling in a factory environment. The tips offered below may be helpful for successfully crimping terminals with a hand tool in the field.

Unlike Sta-Kon^®, Scotchlok^®, and Panduit terminals that are made to be crimped with hand tools, open-barrel automotive terminals are designed to be crimped with high-speed production equipment.

Successfully crimping these open-barrel terminals by hand requires some special considerations. Barrel dimensions and material thickness are not standardized, and making perfect “first time” crimps with a hand tool is often a matter of experience and luck.

Most tools available for crimping replacement OEM terminals are designed to crimp a wider range of terminals with less precision. The tips listed below should be helpful in obtaining and recognizing a reliable crimp.

Crimping Tips

• Select a crimp die that seems to fit the terminal. Too large (resulting in a loose crimp) is better than too small (resulting in breaking the terminal).
• A loose crimp can often be tightened in a smaller crimp nest until a satisfactory crimp is attained.
• A crimp that appears to be tight, that cannot be pulled off a wire by hand and that has not cracked or broken the terminal should not require secondary soldering.
• A crimp that does not meet the above specifications should be soldered. Care should be taken not to apply excessive heat or solder that could destroy spring tension and cause failure.
• Cable seals are always gently crimped with just enough pressure to hold the seal in position. A tight crimp will damage the seal and cause failure.
• The cable seal should be moved into position and crimped after the electrical crimp is soldered to avoid heat damage to the seal.
• A qualified repair technician must make final determination as to whether or not a crimp is satisfactory