Making a wire harness from scratch: It's taking me alot more time than I thought it would and it helps if you have the right tools.
This might not be too exciting to post about, but I was so impressed with the results - of having the right tool for crimping.
I needed some good crimp connectors. I liked these - got them off amazon, they have two crimp regions, one for the conductor and one for the insulation. These also came with the little boots to make a good water resistance joint.
When I started in the garage in the morning, I had the yellow tool on the left. Do your self a favor and just through it away. $23 bought the Red tool in the center. It has a little shape in the middle for forming the crimps and is alot thicker. This tool makes perfect, production quality joints. The last tool on the right - $15, I bought for the larger crimps used on the 8 AWG battery / power cables.
The connectors I need to use are for larger wire than the M-Button. This is a problem. Found a great document: IPC/WHMA-A-620 which gave me the idea to add filler material in the crimp zone. Filler material - can be extra wire for example. Makes the wire thicker at that interface, and can provide extra strain relief.
In the morning with the yellow tool:
This could have been done with a separate wire, I used a single piece and folded it back upon itself.
Then applying the connector, and crimping, realized how poor the yellow tool was. I had to result to soldering the joint. I think the results were acceptable, but fussy and takes a bit of time. Ended up using needle nose pliers, they were better than the yellow crimp tool. First fold over the material, then solder.
End with the shrink wrap.
Then after I bought the RED tool, purple wire, same doubling of material, then Crimp once, twice - no soldering - done.
Very nice joint. Faster, cleaner, easier, better. Very professional looking.