Bullet wire crimper tool

If a crimp is made correctly, it is "gas tight", absolutely no solder will ever flow to that portion of the connection. However, solder can make the joint brittle and prone to breakage in a high vibration environment. It is somewhat counterinuitive but a good crimp is superior to a soldered joint in most cases.
 
JM 35 Sedan said:
Can you put a picture up of the terminal you are planning to use so we can see what the end that needs to be crimped looks like. The company I worked for used many types of crimped on terminals and many different types of crimpers were necessary on our assembly lines. I wound up with many types of hand operated crimpers in my tool collection.
Some of our products were inherently high in vibration and the terminal connections that held up best were mechanically crimped to stranded wire with a strain relief on the back of the terminal that covered or crimped over the wire insulation. A typical soldered on terminal connection, where the solder would wick down the wire strands and cause all flexing of the strands to occure where solder stops, would never have lasted on these products that were prone to heavy duty use with flexing and vibration present.
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The crimp on bullet terminals I mentioned in post #7 above, that do not require soldering after crimping, are shown in thumbnail pictures attached below. These are not like the original bullet terminals used by Ford that definately required soldering. The last picture in this mix shows a terminal that's lightly crimped and then soldered.
 

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It does to an extent. I see no original bullet terminal photos there. The original types were crimped in the annular recess just behind the bullet tip. They were a 4-way crimp on the later cars that I work on like the 1951 Mercury. The solid brass one in the lower left of the above post, can not be crimped due to its stiffness. It would have to be soldered. The originals were made from thin brass sheet and could easily be crimped. The ones with the dual crimp style are a product made much later. Tools are available for those style. They can have a small sleeve of shrink tube put on to cover the crimp area.
 
JM 35 Sedan said:
The crimp on bullet terminals I mentioned in post #7 above, that do not require soldering after crimping, are shown in thumbnail pictures attached below. These are not like the original bullet terminals used by Ford that definately required soldering. The last picture in this mix shows a terminal that's lightly crimped and then soldered.
Click to expand...

1. Question for JM35 = Are these crimp bullets in the photo 3.5mm, 4mm, or 4.5mm? Photo is fuzzy but might say 4.7mm. and WHERE DID YOU GET THEM?

2. Ford p/n is B-14486 or B-14486B but what are they? 3.8mm? 4.3mm?

3. I just talked with 51CT's recommended supplier, riwire.com, who sells solder only bullets for 38¢ Their bullets are .18" or 4.5mm.

4. C &G has B-14486B for 40¢ but are solder on only. For '32 to '56 cars.

5. Bob Drake has bullets for 60¢ each but has no clue what size they are. But they are guaranteed for cars up to 1948 which doesn't help me. Although they claim to be 'for soldering or crimping', they also don't have a clue which crimper works on them so they recommend soldering.

The suppliers don't know what they are selling leaving it to you F_barners to unweave the mystery.
 
I ordered some once from the old Mac's I believe (pre-Eckler's). I received half and half soft crimp type and solid solder type. I wasn't a happy camper since I prefer to crimp them like original.

Paul Bennett has a point about size. Some of those multi crimp type might work if used with same size sockets but they likely wouldn't work with the old terminal blocks & single wire double socket connectors unless they were the same size.
 
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Paul Bennett said:
1. Question for JM35 = Are these crimp bullets in the photo 3.5mm, 4mm, or 4.5mm? Photo is fuzzy but might say 4.7mm. and WHERE DID YOU GET THEM?

2. Ford p/n is B-14486 or B-14486B but what are they? 3.8mm? 4.3mm?

3. I just talked with 51CT's recommended supplier, riwire.com, who sells solder only bullets for 38¢ Their bullets are .18" or 4.5mm.

4. C &G has B-14486B for 40¢ but are solder on only. For '32 to '56 cars.

5. Bob Drake has bullets for 60¢ each but has no clue what size they are. But they are guaranteed for cars up to 1948 which doesn't help me. Although they claim to be 'for soldering or crimping', they also don't have a clue which crimper works on them so they recommend soldering.

The suppliers don't know what they are selling leaving it to you F_barners to unweave the mystery.
Click to expand...

Paul Bennett, the terminals shown in my last post were pictures I found on the internet that were as close as I could find to the crimp type terminals I use on my early Ford V8's. I got my terminals directly from companies that make and supply terminals to modern manufacturing companies, and not from the antique auto parts suppliers who have been mentioned previously in this post.
I can get back to you with a PM next week, when I am back home, with details on terminals, their measurements, and hand crimping tools I use to apply these terminals.
I'm not concerned about originality and doing high point show cars, I just want to make sure I have good quality electrical connections that won't likely fail. Once these connections are made and covered with tubing, no one but me will know what type of terminals have been used.
 
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I soldered this type by pushing the wire in tight and soldering through the hole in the end of the bullet. East to remove if need be by poking the tip of the hot iron in the hole also

GB
 
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