Ramps reliable connectors for pins

My mendel prusa is pretty mechanically reliable now after building it, tweaking it and replacing plastics that break for no apparent reason. The only problem i seem to have is with the connections to the ramps board.
This wasmt a kit i sourced parts from all over and built it myself.

Im continually having to fiddle with the conndctors to make sure they are seated properly.
Especially the end stops and temp sensors.
Any time i move the machine or adjust something near the ramps board where i might touch the wiring the dupont connectors seem to come loose.
The mega and ramps board along with the graphical display are mounted securely on perspex across the top front of the printer.

When i wired it all up i used proper dupont housings which i properly crimped and tested they were secure.
I made sure i cable tied the wiring for strain relief leaving a bit of slack so the connectors arnt strained.
But i still need to periodically push the wire into the housing to push the crimp tightly on to the pin.

It seems the crimped female sockets in the dupont connector casing creaps up the pin until it looses the electrical connection.
The little plastic flap on the connector housing doesnt seem to keep the crimp on the pin.
Im almost at the stage of soldering wires to the ramps board and using inline cable plugs instead.

Has amyone else had this problem and found a solution?

Gordon

Yes, I suffered the same on my Rostock Delta.

So I refrained from crimping and bought these : connector

Both in 2, 3 and 4-wire versions and I soldered them onto the original wires.
This also gives me longer wires :-)

They are double sided, so cut in half, you have 2 !

Thomas

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2014 06:16AM by Replace.

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www.3daybreaker.blogspot.com

Orca V4.4 rebuild to Ramps with Mk8 and E3D, as well as a Rostock Delta Mini and an OLO in backorder :-)

And they dont loosen?
Those are the very same dupont connectors on those leads ivd used, but crimped myself.
I wonder if the housings i have are cheap copies maybe?

I think i might try a set from farnell or rs components.
More expensive but maybe its the quality of the dupont conndctors that is causing the problem.
If that doesnt work ill have a go with those.

thanks

Gordon

They don't loos"n

They look pretty the same, but crimping myself and inserting in the housing rendered them very unstable, so I switched to the factory crimped ones as shown.

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www.3daybreaker.blogspot.com

Orca V4.4 rebuild to Ramps with Mk8 and E3D, as well as a Rostock Delta Mini and an OLO in backorder :-)

The crimp connectors I get from Digikey have a little metal tab that can be slightly pushed down to tighten up the grip. I've had a few that felt loose and using a pin or a small nail were easily tightened up.

There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to tweak what you have a little to make it all secure. The female sockets come back out of the housings very easily. I usually just use the tip of an x-acto to pry the locking tab. Once removed, it's a simple matter of squashing the square connector a bit before you put it back into the housing. Alternatively, you can bend the pins on your board ever-so slightly to create a little more friction. So long as they were soldered to the board correctly, the pins can easily handle a little adjustment here and there.

They are actually loose in there housing.
To make sure they are secure I have to push them on by the wire.
Which obviously doesnt help making them secure.

Ive looked at one on a pre crimped lead I've got and the housing is much stronger and the plastic tab stiffer.
So I think the ones I've got are cheap and nasty.
They were from a 3d print supplies ebay seller so I thought they would be up to the job.

Looked on farnell and rs components yesterday and the postage is way in excess of the cost of the parts so ill wait till I need something else and then order what I hope will be better quality housings.

Gordon