Neutrik crimp XLR connectors

[ruffrecords]

I noticed in the Canford sale that they are selling off crimp version of Neutrik regular 3 pin XLRs. Crimping is an attractive alternative to soldering but when I looked up the official Neutrik crimp tool and die combination I was looking at a price not far from £400. Surely there must be a much cheaper way of successfully crimping these connectors? Canford mentions that the "termination is with the standard 'B crimp' tool (IEC standard IEC 60352-2)" whatever that means.

NEUTRIK XLR PANEL CONNECTORS - D-LX-HA series - Crimp

Cheers

Ian

 

[Ricardus]

Hmmmm, interesting.

I'm OK soldering my connections.

 

[capnrefsmmat]

I think crimping is widely used in certain flavors of electrical work, and so you can get much cheaper tools from electrical suppliers. They vary by size, so maybe you just need one that covers the wire size of your cable?

Adafruit has one at a much more reasonable $35, for instance, covering a good range of wire gauges: Ratcheting Crimper Pliers - #18-28 AWG

I've been looking into using coax cables for some audio applications, and I ran into a similar issue with connectors (like BNC or Microdot). They're all crimp-on, but the crimping tools are expensive. (I think the Neutrik crimp tool takes replaceable dies so it can also do all sizes of coax.) Unfortunately coax seems to use a different style crimping than ordinary electrical wiring, so I don't think the cheap crimpers will work, and I may just have to cough up $100 for a proper one.

 

[ccaudle]

"termination is with the standard 'B crimp' tool

This crimp die mentions "B-Type":
Non-Insulated Terminals Die Set, Open Barrel

It seems to refer to the standard non-insulated terminal crimp sizes. From what I have seen of hand tools there seem to be three standardized sizes of insulated crimp terminals, and apparently there are three standardized sizes for non-insulated terminals as well.

This link has a die specifically called out for D-sub pins, with "B-Type Crimp Nests"
Non-Insulated Terminals Die Set, D-Sub Pins

I bet something like one of those two would work.

 

[Gold]

The Palladin which is now Ideal IIRC has a ratchet crimp frame with dies for almost everything from under the sun.

BNC’s are tricky because there are so many different permutations. I have notes on what cable works with whT connector and what die to use for each cable connector pair. I dontuse coax for much so I settled on a specific cable and a specific connector that I know works.

 

[user 137017]

i like neutrik stuff but i think the price of those pliers is a good reason to carry on soldering

 

[Newmarket]

There's a difference between something that "works" and tooling that should guarantee a proper gas free connection.

 

[ruffrecords]

There's a difference between something that "works" and tooling that should guarantee a proper gas free connection.

I am sure there is but does it need to cost an order of magnitude more?

Cheers

Ian

 

[Newmarket]

I am sure there is but does it need to cost an order of magnitude more?

Cheers

Ian

Always a good question. I guess the connector companies would point to precision and low volume but whether that justifies a particular price is debatable.
But the point I was trying to make quickly is that the technical advantage of a crimped connection is a "corrosion proof" gas tight connection. Why they are often specified in high reliability use cases.
fwiw my go-to connection is usually a Molex KK crimp. But I use the hand tooling at my work

 

[ruffrecords]

Always a good question. I guess the connector companies would point to precision and low volume but whether that justifies a particular price is debatable.
But the point I was trying to make quickly is that the technical advantage of a crimped connection is a "corrosion proof" gas tight connection. Why they are often specified in high reliability use cases.
fwiw my go-to connection is usually a Molex KK crimp. But I use the hand tooling at my work

I too use Molex KK crimp connectors in all my modules and mixers. I got a really nice hand ratchet crimp tool from Rapid Electronics:

RVFM HT-225D Ratchet Action Crimp Tool Ht225d

It cost £50 but I bought mine years ago and it was only £25. It has never let me down.

I am intrigued by this IEC "B crimp" standard. Never seems to be mentioned by crimp tool makers.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Rob Flinn]

I believe that crimped connnections are superior to soldered ones. Not only because of the gas free connection that Nick mentioned, but also they are normally mechanically more robust. This is because most crimp contacts, molex kk, Dsub, EDACS (remember them), DL etc have a part that crimps to make the connection round the stripped part of the wire & another part that crimps around the end of the insulation that you have stripped to. This second crimp round the insulation is far stronger that a soldered bit of cable which is brittle in comparison.

I always crimp Dsubs, EDACS etc unless a clients specifically asks for soldered connections. Ok crimping a Dsub is more expensive in parts, but for me they are quicker to terminate so the cost difference is negligable for something that is superior.

 

[sodderboy]

You said “selling off”, so once you get the crimper and realize that you love them, they will be regular price, or GONE! just like my beloved Crystalcon. They are way expensive now, so I only use them at the mic side.
Mike

 

[pmfalcman]

Quote: "Whilst standard crimp tools can be used, Neutrik type HX-R-BNC together with die set DIE-R-HA-1 are suitable"

Suitable. Not even "preferred". They even do not try to scare people to use their tools, like most manufacrurers do. Quite unusual.

I'd use standard crimping tool and wouldn't worry.
Of course manufacturer promotes its own tooling, especially at this price, but the die doesn't look any different from a standard connector crimper.

 

[moamps]

It seems that none of you who wrote in this thread tried to actually crimp those xlr connectors. I did and I gave up very quickly.
I always use heatshrink on each pin anyway so that it achieves very good mechanical strength also and I can solder a connector much faster than crimping and assembling it.
In addition, wire that is 0.5mm2 thick or more is difficult to crimp.
I would NEVER use those connectors to connect speakers, which is often done with standard connectors. And yes, standard crimping tools can be used. My 2 cents.

 

[Rob Flinn]

I always use heatshrink on each pin anyway so that it achieves very good mechanical strength also and I can solder a connector much faster than crimping and assembling it.

Maybe with these XLr connectors, I would be quicker too, but are you quicker soldering a Dsub compared to crimping ?

 

[JohnRoberts]

Perhaps the tooling is intended for commercial users.

JR

 

[moamps]

Maybe with these XLr connectors, I would be quicker too, but are you quicker soldering a Dsub compared to crimping ?

In the days of analog television, crimping 75 ohm coaxial cables was far, far faster than soldering. And there is no dilemma.
I also did DSUB crimping, but not pin by pin, but using flat cables. I also crimped the EDAC connectors and it went a bit faster than soldering and it was a bit neater. I also soldered a lot of DSUB cables so that I still know the pinout of the Tascam standard by heart. The last project was studio wiring where the main devices were SSL AWS924, SSL SIGMA, ANTELOPE ORION 32 and 8 pieces of tt patcbays. Mogami multicores are used.

 

[Newmarket]

Was the flat cables / DSub case really IDC rather than crimping ?

 

[ruffrecords]

It seems that none of you who wrote in this thread tried to actually crimp those xlr connectors. I did and I gave up very quickly.

Would you care to elaborate why you gave up very quickly? I am not planing to crimp free XLR connectors as shown in the pics in your post. I am really only interested in the chassis mounted ones. Did you try any of that type?

Cheers

Ian

 

[moamps]

Was the flat cables / DSub case really IDC rather than crimping ?

The tool for connecting flat cables to DSUB with IDC contacts is called the IDC crimping tool, but maybe I'm wrong.