DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
TERMINATION
A mass-terminated joint is qualified by its tool.
An IDC joint cannot be inspected once made. It is qualified by controlling the tool and by testing samples, which makes the tool part of the specification rather than an accessory.
- Which tool
- The press and the die, because they set the depth every contact reaches
- How it is set
- Against a sample, with the setting recorded and controlled
- How it is checked
- A pull test on samples, not an inspection of the finished part
- Who owns the setting
- Because a tool adjusted on the line is a tool nobody can reproduce
Where each decision comes from
| Decision | What it sets | What it costs to get wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Press depth | Whether each conductor is displaced | One joint open in a connector that looks terminated |
| Cable alignment | Whether conductor one is conductor one | A harness reversed at both ends |
| Strain relief | Whether the cable loads the joints | Joints that fail when the cable is pulled |
| Tool control | Whether the setting is reproducible | A batch that cannot be repeated or defended |
The expensive mistake.
Treating the tool as an accessory. A mass-terminated connector is only as good as the press that made it, and a tool adjusted on the line makes the finished part untestable.
And the one that looks harmless.
Reversed ribbon orientation. It terminates perfectly and puts conductor one at the wrong end, and the fault appears at the first functional test rather than at the bench.