Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19981006111706.00d2a468@olsusa.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 11:17:06 -0400
To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
From: Lynda Frantz <LFrantz@compuserve.com> (by way of Marvin Kaye <marvkaye@olsusa.com>)
Subject: Crimps with a trick
Mime-Version: 1.0

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>>
I used bare metal terminals (no plastic for strain relief or insulation)
which are almost free.  I crimped the barrell onto the wire then added
solder from the ring side of the barrell sparingly similar to what Bill
Gardner described.  I would try to have the solder wick only about 1/3 the
way up the barrell by metering in just the right amount of solder.

I also did the following trick:  I took a piece of white shrink tube which
I flattened and wrote an identifying legend using a Sharpie ultra fine
point permanent marker.  For example, "P23 NAV/COM" means pin 23 of the
navcom is where the opposite end of the wire went.  It was presumed that I
knew what the current end is hooked to.  If you want to make the legend
longer indicate the to/from which might be a better idea.   I then slipped
the shrink tube over the barrell of the terminal connector and shrunk using
a heat gun.  Due to the shrink process my lousy penmanship actually came
out looking pretty good and I have a nice strain relief too.  Even my lousy
spelling got corrected in the shrink process.  Amazing stuff that shrink
tubing. 

It comes in all sizes and colors.  I even though about but didn't color
code the wire terminals using different colored shrink; green for ground
wires, red for bus voltages etc.  The only color that will not read for
marking is black.  The greens, reds, whites, blue and yellows all mark up
just great.  Shring tubing is available from any electronics store
including DigiKey at 800 DIGIKEY.  

Jim Frantz
angle-of-attack.com 
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