Tweakers' Asylum

Cheap copper cable terminations

23.242.178.78

emailtim

Picked up some of these "pure copper" lugs. They appear to be fine for larger gauge cables.

The hole size could be a tad smaller than 5/16, but they fit my Cardas binding posts fine.

Price is reasonable for a pack of 10 or 25.

My Fluke meter could not measure any additional resistance over the probe leads.

.

2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED

8 gauge Pure Copper Lugs (Open in New Window)

Follow Ups:

RE: Cheap copper cable terminations - lokie 06:49:26 09/12/23 (3)
Yup.

I'm playing in the same sandbox.

I need to upgrade my crimping technique.

I love the Cardas Litz hook up wire for speaker/XO cabling. Kind of pricey and no shielding but my XO sits right next to my speakers.

I also use Cardas speaker binding post but am thinking they are a little thick and have been ogling WBT posts which are more minimalists. After removing all brass and non-copper connections from the chain, I'm thinking that less is more and removing all excess and unnecessary chunky copper from the path. I read on the intrwaweb (which means it must be true!) that thick copper adds smearing.

Anyway, here's a picture of my "diy quick release" method. Thoughts?
- RE: Cheap copper cable terminations - emailtim 10:28:33 09/12/23 (2)
  Is the nut and bolt brass or copper ?
  
  If copper, where did you source them ?
  
  I am terminating some Canare 4S11 wire for subs. The subs already have push-button connectors on the drivers so I will use bare wire on the driver side and the lugs on the amp side.
  
  Making a shotgun/bi-wire configuration out of 2 runs of 4S11 will be 8 gauge at the copper lug. Don't know if smearing is much of an issue under 80Hz.
  .
  
  2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
  - RE: Cheap copper cable terminations - lokie 05:35:05 09/13/23 (1)
    Neither nut or bolt is copper.
    
    Anyway... The nuts don't touch the copper due to the nylon washers but the bolt does. I don't think it's conductive though. I've been thinking about painting the interior of the copper ring and the bolt where the ring sits but haven't gotten that anal yet.
    - RE: Cheap copper cable terminations - emailtim 10:31:03 09/13/23 (0)
      Just a thought, maybe you could find a suitable nylon bushing to replace one of the washers.
      .
      
      2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
RE: Cheap copper cable terminations - mitch2 00:02:39 09/12/23 (1)
The ad refers to "pure annealed ASTM-B-152 copper," which is likely oxygen-free electronic (OFE) copper with purity of about 99.99%. That material should work just fine for speaker connectors, assuming you can adequately crimp or solder the wire to the connector.
- Crimping - emailtim 00:16:41 09/12/23 (0)
  My regular crimpers only handle 12 gauge and smaller wires so I bought a set of replacement hexagonal crimping dies that I can use in my bench vice or hydraulic press.
  The set has 9 die pairs ranging from 12 to 2/0 AWG. They are supposed to make crimps like the following on welding and battery cables.
  I saw someone else drill a hole in the lug end and both crimp and then solder through the drilled hole.
  
  .
  
  2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
  
  Edits: 09/12/23

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