How to Crimp JST Connectors for 3D Printers from buzai232's blog

How to Crimp JST Connectors for 3D Printers

When I first started down the rabbit hole of 3D Printer upgrades, one of my earliest projects was installing a V6 hotend on the Anet A8. It came with a small, 30mm cooling fan and plenty of wiring length was included, but it didn’t have a plug for the board. This conundrum introduced me to the art of crimping my own JST Connectors.Get more news about jst connector production,you can vist our website!

Sure, there were perhaps better options on the table that would cost less upfront. I could just splice the new fan to the original fan’s wiring, or solder the wires to the board, but I prefer to keep my setup clean and professional.

After some Google research, it turned out almost every 3D Printer board uses JST Connectors, the XH series to be exact. Better yet, they are easy enough to make on demand. For a one off weekend project, this probably isn’t worth the expense of parts and tools. But for hobbyists doing frequent upgrades or those running home based printer farms, we can certainly benefit from crimping our own JST connectors as needed.
What are JST Connectors?
JST Connectors (Japanese Solderless Terminal) are an extensive family of electrical connectors, often used in hobbyist and consumer products. There are about 500 different types, and they are found in battery packs, RC electronics and in our case, 3D Printer circuit boards.
The most confusing aspect is their naming conventions, which have a range of suffixes like SH, VH and XH just to name a few. Each type has a different shape and spacing between pins, but they are also designed for use with different applications, intended for a specific wiring gauge, current and voltage.

JST-XH Connectors
The XH series of JST Connectors are a small, versatile crimp style connector that is rated for use up to 3 Amps on 22 AWG wiring. They are specifically made for wire to board connections, found on our cooling fans, stepper motors, endstops and so on.

This particular type is visually distinguished by (2) arrow looking prongs on the backside, which help secure it when plugged in. That helps maintain a good electrical connection during use, without any concern of loose plugs falling out.
1. Strip the Wire
If you’ve ever worked with wiring before, you’re probably already familiar with how to strip it. For those doing this for the first time, we’ll take a brief look at how to do it.
Since our wiring is insulated, we need to strip a bit off the end to expose the metal strands inside. These will be crimped inside of the JST connector, and when plugged in to the board, the metal to metal contact makes an electrical connection, providing power, ground or signal.

Using the wire strippers, insert about 3mm of wire in the teeth marked 22 AWG. Squeeze the handle grips together and then twist back and fourth, which helps cut through the insulation material. Pull back on the wire and this should strip away the coating, leaving you with bare wire strands to use.
2. Crimp Terminals
JST Connectors use a small metal crimp terminal for stranded wire, with 2 sets of wings that wrap around and grip it in place. When you buy a JST Connector Kit, these come as strips, designed to feed in to an industrial machine. For DIY purposes, we will just snap them off and crimp by hand.

When I first started out, I was using needle nose pliers to bend each wing in to place. In theory it’s doable, I even managed to make a few decent ones, but the sheer frustration of trying to fold tiny metal prongs around small AWG wiring left me beyond frustrated. This is one of those situations where it’s absolutely worth it to use the right tool for the job.
3. Connect Plugs
With our wiring crimped and ready to use, all we have left to do now is insert it into the JST connector plug.

JST Connectors Terminal Example
JST Connectors Assembled
Now, the back of our Crimp Terminal has a flared metal wing sticking out, this is what holds it in the JST Connector housing. The white female connector shell has slot openings on one side, and when inserted, the wing pops through and locks the wire in position.

Make sure to line up that flared wing with the slot, then go ahead and push it inside. As long as the Crimp Connector shape wasn’t damaged in the previous step, it should slide right in and sit securely in place. Gently tug on the wire to check that it’s snug, then repeat the process until your JST Connectors are finished.