15 Sep
2014
15 Sep
'14
7:23 p.m.
This topic come up often on the Amateur Radio lists I am a member of,
especially as the UK Intermediate Licence includes fitting a connector to
coax cable, but doesn't specify if it should be soldered or crimped, and
many folks feel crimping is in some way cheating.
I feel like a bit of a fraud now. I have a 'full' UK licence but have
never shown I can fit a connector to a bit of cable (needless to say I
have done that many, nmany, times, just never had to prove it).
Whilst I prefer solder, many folks say crimp is best. The problem with
Incidnetlaly, the trick with fitting BNC and TNC solder plugs is to
ignore the ridiculous instructios often given, of measuring so much
sinsualtion to strip back, then strip so much off the inner conductor,
etc. The conenctors are designed to be easy to fit, every cut/strip is to
the end of a part you've fitted.
solder is that it creates a stress point where the
solder "ends" so if the
cable moves the cable can fracture. The heat can also alter the temper of
the cable and make it brittle. (Unlike steel some copper alloys harden with
I beelive the solder forms an alloy wit hthe copper (it virtually has to
for it to 'wet' at all, and this alloy is somewhat brittle. However
well-designed connectors deliberatly prevent the wire flexing at this
point.
slow cooling). This probably isn't an issue with
most classic computer
projects....
Agreed
A properly crimped connector forms a cold weld and so is no less conductive
that a soldered joint, should be mechanically sound, and flexes better than
a soldered joint, but the tools can be expensive....
My feeling, as I said last night is that a well-made solder connection or
a well-made crimp connection will be reliable. Even if the latter is more
reliable on paper, the former is 'good enough' for any classic computing
application
.. and I guess we have all had poorly made UTP/RJ45 (I
know there is no such
standard as RJ45) that has stopped working because the plug is no longer
THere is an RJ45 witing scheme, and it uses 8p8c connectors. It has
nothign to do with ethernet, though.
connected to the cable...
-tony