Seeking Recommendations for an Automated Crimping Machine (Picoblade & More) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Rokas
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 03, 2025, 10:25:57 am
content: Hey everyone,We’re a small-scale manufacturer of custom hardware controllers for aerial geomatics systems, and our assembly process involves a fair amount of PCB-to-wire connections—mostly using Picoblade connectors but also a few other types. Currently, we’re crimping these by hand, which has become quite time-consuming as we grow and produce units more frequently.We’d like to invest in an automated crimping machine that ideally has interchangeable dies (including one compatible with Picoblade). We’re especially interested in budget-friendly Chinese machines, but we’re open to other brands if they’re worth considering.If you have experience with a specific machine or setup, I’d love to hear your recommendations, tips, or lessons learned. Any advice on balancing cost vs. reliability is particularly appreciated!Key points we’re looking for:Machine recommendations that can handle Picoblade and possibly other connector types with changeable dies.Budget-friendly options (Chinese machines are welcome if they’re tried-and-tested).Practical tips on what to look out for (maintenance, spare parts, reliability, etc.).Any brand/model suggestions you’ve personally used that turned out well.Thanks in advance for sharing your insights! Hopefully, this helps others facing similar scaling challenges with crimping tasks.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 03, 2025, 08:56:20 pm
content: About two years ago we purchased a Schleuniger SC200 with crimp force monitoring, primarily for JST ZH terminals (1.5mm, so not far off from picoblade) on 28AWG wire. It takes a standard terminal miniapplicator format, and can take side- or end-feed applicators. The applicator we have was made by Mecal, we ordered it from Schleuniger along with the machine, sent in some sample terminals and wire, and received a full QA report with measurements and micrographs of test crimps along with the hardware. You can of course order applicators from the terminal manufacturer as well, but if you need something specific for whatever reason it isn't hard to have something made to spec.On the whole, I really like the machine, although a have a few gripes with the software/crimp monitoring. Schleuniger was acquired by Komax, who make a lot of similar equipment, so I don't know what will happen with the two product lines generally. The SC200 has also been replaced by a more capable machine, which I have no experience with. We've put about 17,000 terminals through it, and it's absolutely paid for itself in the labor it's saved versus manually crimping. Some thoughts you might find useful in no particular order:- A strip/crimp machine like the SC200 can strip the wire in the same cycle as it crimps it, which I think is a better workflow than stripping in a separate machine. This way you don't need to manually remove the stripped insulation before crimping or worry about the bare strands getting messed up during handling between the stripping and crimping operation. Just stick the cut-to-length wire into the machine, it goes KAKLUNK, and the wire comes out with a beautifully crimped terminal on it.- The applicator format is fairly standardized, but I believe there are two different stroke lengths that are common. Stroke length is set by the crimping machine, so you will need to make sure you order applicators that suit whatever machine you get.- Applicators come in mechanical- and pnumatic-feed, meaning how the terminal strip is advanced between crimps. I was told that the mechanical feed applicators tend to be more fiddly to set up properly, which makes some sense, so we went with pneumatic. The applicator has a built-in valve for the pneumatic feed that is sequenced by a cam on the applicator ram, so it just needs a constant air supply to work, but the SC200 includes a valve that can be programmed to directly control a pneumatic feed actuator.- Crimp force monitoring is challenging on small terminals. Differences in wire properties can affect how reliably you can detect a good or a bad crimp, even down to different reels of wire. We are actually starting to reduce the number of different colors we use in small signal harnesses in part because of this. The way the monitoring is set up on the SC200 is also kind of clunky, and the interface is difficult to use, but I think they have since brought out a new monitoring system that is hopefully better. The new machine also includes an extra cutter, which automatically cuts off the front of the terminal on a bad crimp to ensure it can't be used. I like having the feature for piece of mind, especially as tiny terminals like the ZH are hard to inspect.- Speaking of inspection, having a microscope handy is extremely helpful. Even a basic video microscopes likethiscan be a huge help, and is cheap enough to have one just live at the bench next to the crimp machine.- You will need to measure the geometry and pullout force to validate proper crimping, so be sure to plan for that as part of purchasing the crimp machine. There are relatively inexpensive tensile test machines on ebay (example) that can work if you can come up with a way for them to hold onto the terminal. Properly measuring the crimp height requires some special tooling. You can buy dedicated crimp height measuring tools from your crimp tool manufacturer, I had our machining department knock out a little stand for a digital micrometer and appropriate anvils which does the job for 1/4 the cost.- Lubrication is very important, both of the terminals themselves and the applicator mechanism. Our SC200 included a little wick-based oiler that the terminal strip runs over before entering the machine, it applies a tiny bit of lightweight "vanishing" oil (Stoner E807) to the terminals and keeps the forming surfaces of the applicator lubricated. The applicator itself has a bunch of moving parts, and needs to be periodically lubricated with a suitable grease.