摘要 |
The present invention is directed to the accurate and automatic determination of crimp height of a terminal (20) being crimped onto a wire (22). The crimping apparatus includes a conventional crimping press (10) having a reciprocating ram (14) and base (12), each carrying a mating half of a crimping die set (16,18). A strain gage is arranged to measure crimping forces imposed on the terminal (20) being crimped and a linear sensor (30) measures the position of the ram (14) during the crimping process. As the ram (14) descends and the crimping begins, the force as indicated by the strain gage is monitored until it reaches a predetermined value. Monitoring continues until the force reaches substantially zero, at which time the position of the ram (14), as indicated by the linear sensor (30), is translated into crimp height. |