TeamSwift

I got a little bored today and thought I'd do another FAQ. Generaly spekaing ring terminals aren't something horribly expensive. When you get into larger gauge wire though it can add up pretty fast. If you're pretty broke and need a few terminals and they (a) cost too much or (b) you haven't got them in your area you can make them pretty easily in a pinch.

First you want to get a peice of copper pipe that will fit your gauge of wire. You will need to guestimate the length you will need based on the diameter of the pipe and how much of a lip you want on it:



You then take it and crush one side in your vice:



Carefully drill out the size hole you need to mount it. I recomend you use a punch to get it centered properly. I dind't use one here and it shows...but for the FAQ it sufficed .



You now need to take your dremel/grinder/saw and cut a slit just ahead of the flat part:



You're then going to crush the copper just ahead of the slit to make an opening to get your solder in:



Thats it. All thats left to do is to crimp it on to your piece of cable and solder it on. The mechanical connection is very good so you could omit the soldering but I prefer to have the solder in there as an added measure.

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Let me add: After mounting and tightening down the ring terminal it would be wise to coat the terminal with dialectric grease or some other protectant as copper is highly prone to the elements. But let this be said: Using a copper connection is the smartest way to connect anything electric as it has the best conductivity.

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An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.

1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: Red "My PocketRocket"
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: White (Being resurrected)
1996 Geo Metro (Stocker)
1999 Suzuki 1.6 Esteem (Baleno) Wagon (Sleeper creeper)

Silver has better conductivity than copper...but i couln't find any silver pipe to crush .

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LNLC Founding Member

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
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True but, are you going to find many electric connectors made from the stuff? Copper is plentiful and cheaper. Besides M, your artistic talents are best served on copper!

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An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.

1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: Red "My PocketRocket"
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: White (Being resurrected)
1996 Geo Metro (Stocker)
1999 Suzuki 1.6 Esteem (Baleno) Wagon (Sleeper creeper)

That is a valid point


There are actualy quite a few connectors available that have a silver coating. You can even buy silver wire (IIRC its a touch over $1000 per foot) that makes your tweeters sound more delicate according to audio snobs (no its never been proven) who have more money than brains.

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LNLC Founding Member

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
REAL FRIENDS: Is the reason you have no food.

I'm sure it's been tested somewhere in an audio studio but my cheap ass will stay with copper 'cuz the hearing aint what it used to be anyways. I'll save my money to buy more swift parts.

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An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.

1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: Red "My PocketRocket"
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: White (Being resurrected)
1996 Geo Metro (Stocker)
1999 Suzuki 1.6 Esteem (Baleno) Wagon (Sleeper creeper)

The depot and others sell NoOx and other brush-on anti oxidants.
i use it on all parts before assembly.

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looking for:
the time i mispent in my youth

daily driver: red 1991 Metro 3cyl 5sp, roof rack, 8 degree advance,
got 61 mpg combined on 14" tires but i prefer 12"

completed frame up restoration: black 1994 Swift GT 5sp -- like new ! 45mpg

Even if I wasn't a broke ass I wouldn't spend the ridiculous amounts of money on silver wire. I've used silver solder but thats as far as it goes. I'll stick with copper until somebody can succeed an ABX test comparing the copper to the silver or other esoteric cables.

_________________
LNLC Founding Member

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
REAL FRIENDS: Is the reason you have no food.

_________________



An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.

1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: Red "My PocketRocket"
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi: White (Being resurrected)
1996 Geo Metro (Stocker)
1999 Suzuki 1.6 Esteem (Baleno) Wagon (Sleeper creeper)

I'm no plumber, but are you using copper tubing or copper pipe? I believe the pipe is much more rigid than the tubing and probably won't like being crushed. I think bendable copper tubing is what you have.

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1994 Metro - MPH project (getting a DOHC G13B)
1994 Metro - MPG project (getting an XFi G10)
1992 Swift - Parts car (gone)
1991 Swift - Parts car (gone)
1990 Swift - Parts car
1997 Metro - Parts car (gone)
1993 Metro - Parts car
1989 Swift GTi - Parts car
1998 Metro - Parts car

This is rigid tubing. There are two types of rigid that you can get. I believe one is residential and the other is a little thicker. Haven't had any issues with cracking and I've seen this done with both types of pipe. Its definetly not the bendable copper though I'm sure you could use it too.

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LNLC Founding Member

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
REAL FRIENDS: Is the reason you have no food.

You may need to be a little more specific as regards that term 'silver solder'

There are actually two types of 'silver solder' and the term is commonly used to describe what is known as hard soldering or brazing using a filler rod containing upto 40% silver content and a relatively high melting point (450C+), commonly found in jewellry and I believe HVAC work - the second is a low temperature alloy using the traditional tin/lead with 2% silver content which actually brings the melting point down (179~180).

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'93 1.3 Swift GLX
'98 2.0 Grand Vitara

In this case I've used both

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LNLC Founding Member

FAKE FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
REAL FRIENDS: Is the reason you have no food.