On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 12:38:01 -0000, "Al Reynolds"
wrote:


One more question, now that we know which way round I
should be working - how strong should a crimp be? For
example, should I be able to pull it apart by hand?

Not unless you indulge in weight lifting. The crimps do have pull
apart figures. For some heatshrink sleeved crimps we use these are
red: 25 lb; blue: 50 lb; yellow: 60 lb. The figures for crimps not
incorporating heatshrink sleeving will be lower.

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/terminal.pdf is a good article
on crimp terminations and suggests the following "calibration" test -

"(1) Drive a finish nail into the front of your
workbench. (2) Hang the terminal lug on the nail and tie a
plastic 1 gallon milk jug of water onto a 22AWG wire (red
terminals). For 18AWG (blue) use two jugs. For 12AWG
(yellow) use three jugs. "

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/...alibration.pdf
contains some more formal figures for insulated terminals and
quotes:-

Wire Size Pull-out Force
20 AWG (0.50mm2) /= 13.0 lbs (58 N)
18 AWG (0.75mm2) /= 20.2 lbs (90 N)
16 AWG (1.5mm2) /= 30.3 lbs (135 N)
14 AWG (2.5mm2) /= 43.8 lbs (195 N)
12 AWG (4.0mm2) /= 60.7 lbs (270 N)
10 AWG (6.0mm2) /= 80.9 lbs (360 N)

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/