Extruder fan... what is the 2pin connector called ?

[jsc]

Huh. I guess it wasn't as obvious as all that. I did it wrong and went through a few extra pins doing it. Then the black wire on my other fan slipped out, so I had to redo that one. Good thing I got extras. (I smashed the bejesus out of the wings onto the wires, not around the insulation, but they seem to be holding pretty well.

I was shopping for a replacement 50mm bed fan for a dual extruder set up, as I get reduced cooling around the back and left sides of objects. Hoping more cooling is better cooling. I ended up with this one: http://www.digikey.com/product-search/e ... =search_go which has good numbers, but is twice as thick as the one that came with my dual v4. That means I need a fan screw that is 10mm longer than the one I have. I'm running with it for now rotated 90 degrees from the way it should be mounted and printing out the right extruder. The air flow is significantly greater than the stock fan.

[ednisley]

they seem to be holding pretty well.

Vibration will fix that for you in short order... [sigh]

Whenever I don't have the right crimper, I bodge the joint with pliers, then solder the wire to the connector. Absent my usual "the bigger the blob, the better the job" technique, the pin will slip into the shell.

Soldering is a Bad Idea, because solder wicks up into the wire and fuses the wire strands into a bar inside the insulation. That concentrates the stress at the end of the fused section and, eventually, the wire will break where you can't see it.

Soooo, the strain relief crimp around the insulation becomes much more important than it looks: those wings move the strain out into the flexible stranded wire beyond the solder-fused part.

If the Right Crimper for each pin style didn't cost a hundred bucks, I'd have dozens of different crimpers...

[Tim]

The other factor in favor of the DIY method of pseudo-crimping with pliers is that if you do a lot of modifications to your printer, you will probably replace the connector again before the lousy crimp job has a chance to fail.

[jsc]

Would this be an appropriate crimper? $23 http://www.amazon.com/HT-225D-Cycle-Rat ... B007JLN93S

[insta]

It's a much better one than folding the wings with pliers.

[jdacal]

Would this be an appropriate crimper? $23 http://www.amazon.com/HT-225D-Cycle-Rat ... B007JLN93S

That looks a lot like the one I have. The thing about the crimp is that it not only flattens it but it then puts an indentation in the center that won't let the cables move around and work their way loose. Squeezing them with pliers seems to always allow some "wiggle" room that at some point down the line will allow them to pull out or worse cause intermittent connection. Soldering as mentioned works great too if you can keep the solder small enough to not interfere with the pin fitting into the plastic housing.

A wire that works its way partially loose can introduce resistance and a voltage drop to whatever its feeding. So you can then have overheating or intermittent components due to the low voltage, these are more expensive to replace than the crimper.

Then again you might get lucky with just the pliers (I have in the past). But its still risky.

[jsc]

I'm learning to hate these connectors. I got my crimper in today and tried redoing my extruder cooling fan. After working my way through all my spare pins and nearly all the connectors, I still hadn't gotten two good crimps at the same time, and the wire had become unreasonably short. I ended up having to cut off the connector from my old fan and soldering the wires together just to get the printer back in action again. So some advice for someone trying to do this for the first time: buy a lot more connectors and pins than you think you'll be needing, and don't practice on the thing you need to work.

[jdacal]

I'm learning to hate these connectors. I got my crimper in today and tried redoing my extruder cooling fan. After working my way through all my spare pins and nearly all the connectors, I still hadn't gotten two good crimps at the same time, and the wire had become unreasonably short. I ended up having to cut off the connector from my old fan and soldering the wires together just to get the printer back in action again. So some advice for someone trying to do this for the first time: buy a lot more connectors and pins than you think you'll be needing, and don't practice on the thing you need to work.

Push in the connector until the "V" shaped end is flush with the face of the crimper then "slowly" begin to bring it down making sure the tops of the "V" start being pushed towards each other, then you can just crimp really tight and finish it off. Usually works ok for me with the crimper. Also, you want the wire insulation to go "just" past that "V" shape as well so that it bites into the insulation really good.

[jsc]

After working my way through several sets and watching some youtube videos, I figured some of that out. Here's some random details and questions.

The pins say 26-30 AWG. Is that a range, or a two-diameter spec? That Amazon crimper comes with a die with two slots, one labeled 24-30 and the other 18-22. I used the 24-30.

The pins have large wings at the end, to create a collar to grip the insulation, then a smaller section to grip the wire, then a larger section again, with spikes sticking out to the side. Presumably you don't crimp the bit with the spikes?

If I crimp down all the way until the ratchet releases, the narrow section is crimped pretty good, but the insulation is absolutely smashed flat, and can even be severed. There is a tension adjustment which I will need to figure out how to rotate at some point, but I can also just count clicks and manually release. I was trying to figure out a two crimp protocol for both sections individually. That's when I ran out of spares.

Also, insertion: when you look down the holes of the connectors, there is a little protrusion sticking out into the channel. The pins get inserted with the open side towards the protrusion?

[jdacal]

Here's a video from the place where I bought mine. See if it helps. I have to leave for the airport at 5:30 so I have to get to sleep or I'd take a little more time to explain it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vptd2n5p5-I

Just crimp it down til the last click, don't force it until it bottom out.