I squeeze them transversely (if the hole was a rice grain, I’d grab it by the ends and gently squeeze until it turned into a lentil), to open up the tube, then I clean up the opening with a scratch awl or corkscrew end. Or a nail. Pretty much the closest thing that might work. There’s a kind of fit curve between “can I see it from here,” and “I’ll know it when I see it.”
If the cable goes into the cap, I’ll crimp it down with the needlenose pliers. Bike shops have a special tool for it, I think, that puts a nice crease in the cap instead of mashing it willy-nilly and hoping for the best.
I’ve tried to re-use them, as there’s no reason not to, but couldn’t get them to open up enough to go back on. You apparently having the shin-ning for that.
Hey, I could do a tutorial on it!
Yep, I’m guilty of this as well. Why throw them away when they can be used again?
Heh…yep, I’ve done that. I’d always use new ones, except that I somehow loose the little buggers and am often one short. I guess I could just spend a little money and go to a little effort to buy a few hundred, but I think I’ll just wait for your tutorial and work on my technique.
Use Stak-on terminals for a change of style, The other is to flux and solder . Style-up with a few shiny beads !
That’s a good idea about the solder. I would like to learn how to solder basic circuits, and that seems like easy practice.
I will look up the Stak-ons.
I have absolutely done this.