PWM Cable

[Paul Rodi]

Hello,
My team and I are trying to figure out how to cut a PWM Cable? Can anybody help us, we tried using a zap cutter but it didn't work does anybody have any suggestions as to what we should use? We need the male end taken off completly, not the wires themselves. Has anybody had trouble with their male ends closing up? If so how did you fix it?

Team Synergy 975
Please and thank you

[cabbagekid2]

Hey Paul,

Are you trying to just cut a PWM cable in half? Or are you trying to cut it and re-crimp the ends of a PWM cable to make it shorter?

We just use regular wire cutters or any "diagonal/side" cutters to cut our wires.

[Vikesrock]

I'm not sure if you're having trouble cutting through the 3 wires or making the modifications to the PWM cables provided in this year's kit but a simple pair of wire cutters (http://images.google.com/images?q=wire%20cutters&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) should be able to do both of these tasks

[Cow Bell Solo]

I would agree, wire cutters should work. In the past when we have cut PWM cables in half, a simple wire cutter did the job. And with the modifacations to the PWM cables this year, a basic pair of wire cutters should work. When we made the modifacations our pair of wire cutters did the job.

[cabbagekid2]

One suggestion that i've seen to take off the plastic that protects the male pins (other than to cut it off) is to stick a precision screwdriver between the plastic housing you want to take off and with some pressure it slides off.

[Paul Rodi]

We are trying to get the end off as described in the update modification 1.

http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Relay%20Cable%20Memo.pdf

whenever we tried using wire cutter but it compressed our pins together and almost ruined the wire. We can't figure out how to just cut the end like in the picture.

[wireties]

You are probably using a wire cutter that is too big. Use a small flush cutter designed to cut 22AWG wire and smaller. I just cut up one corner and pulled them off. It worked fine.

[dlavery]

As already described in this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70686), there is a simple technique for removing the pin hoods from the PWM wires that is very quick and (almost) foolproof.

Grip the pin hood with needle-nose pliers or a Leatherman tool. Position the width of the hood between the jaws, near the base of the jaws. When properly positioned, it will look like you are squeezing the three PWM wires in to each other if you were to apply too much pressure - this is the correct orientation. Squeeze slowly and firmly (do this very slowly at first, until you get a feel for the right amount of pressure). As pressure is applied, the rectangular pin hood will suddenly crease and deform into a semi-hexagonal shape. Stop squeezing. At this point the hood has released, and can be pulled straight off the end of the cable with your fingers.

It takes longer to describe the procedure than to do it. Once you get the hang of it, you can remove the pin hood and free the cable in about three seconds.

-dave


.

[Randomness811]

Does anybody know where i can find crimpers for pwm cables?
Has anybody seen a set that will crimp an entire pwm, versus having to crimp each individual wire of the pwm?

Head of Electrical
Enforcers Team 178

[Mark McLeod]

Jameco has the crimper at: http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?jameco_page=42&langId=-1&productId=159266&catalogId=10001&freeText=159266&storeId=10001&search_type=all&ddkey=http:StoreCatalogDrillDownView

[Electrical1764]

Another technique I have used is hold the PWM by the wires fairly close to the end that is to be cut, and use a razor to cut the plastic off. This works very well, there is no need to squeeze anything and the end looks nice because it was not roughed up by a pair of wire cutters.