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 How to use the Turret lug installation tool:   There are two ways to mount the tool in a press and there is manual method that requires no press. A press is the best way to go.

Tip: The more you use your 3/32 drill bit, the smaller the outside diameter will get. Eventually the drill bit will not be useable because the drilled hole size will be too small. If the lugs will not go into the hole or are difficult to press into the hole, it's time for a new drill bit.   

Press method one: This is a two part tool that works best if mounted in a drill press. You put the pointed tool in the drill press chuck but you do not turn on the drill press. The lower tool works best if bolted to a flat piece of material. The flat material is then  bolted down to the base of the drill press. You line up the two tools so that the pointed tool comes down and hits the center of the hole on the bottom tool. The two tools are only far apart enough so that when you put a lug in the bottom tool, you should have enough room to slide the board between the two tools.
  The basic procedure is to drill all your holes in your board first using a 3/32 drill bit. I use plain old jobber bits, they work just fine. The drill should be run at the fastest speed that it can go.
You then set up your lug press tool. Put a lug upside down in the bottom tool and push your board over the top of the lug. Find a hole in the board and then push the board down onto a lug. You then pull the handle of the drill press down so that the top tool comes down and flares out the back side of the lug (remember, the drill press is not on). It does not take very much pressure to flare a lug, they are brass inside and plated on the outside so the material is soft and flares easily. Now that the lug is firmly seated in the board, you can pull up on your board and remove it to start all over again with another lug.


Press method two:
Drill all the holes in your board using a 3/32 drill bit. I use plain old jobber bits, they work just fine. The drill should be run at the fastest speed that it can go. See photo A

Install all the lugs into the drilled holes. Be careful with the board so the lugs don't fall out. See photo B

Mount the tool in the press. Mount the pointed tool in a metal plate on the bottom. The flat metal plate is then  bolted down to the base of the drill press. The tool with the hole gets mounted in the chuck. You line up the two tools so that the pointed tool comes down and hits the center of the hole on the top tool. Tighten down both tools so that they are lined up correctly. See photo C

The two tools are only far apart enough to slide a lug in and have just a bit of room on the top and the bottom of the lug. See photo D
  
Move the board between the two tool pieces and line up a lug in the center of the two tool pieces. See photo D

Pull the board straight up so that the lug enters the hole in the top tool. See photo E

Pull the handle of the press down so that the two tools come together. Make sure you keep a slight upward pressure on the board so that the lug is pressed flat against the top surface of the board. It does not take very much pressure to swage/flair the lug. They are soft brass inside with a nice plating on the outside. They are not steel.  See photo F 

Now that the lug is firmly seated in the board, you can let go of the press handle and then push down on the board and move it to the next lug to be pressed. The back of the lug will have a nice swage or flair that holds it firmly onto the board. See photo G.

 

Warning: Do not tip your board over and look at the back of the board if you have not pressed all the lugs yet. Just thought I would throw that in. You know that someone is going to do it.

Warning: If you are using a motorized drill press to press your lugs, do not turn the drill press on. Better yet, please unplug your drill press before you press any lugs.


Manual method: You can do this procedure without a drill press but it requires more than two hands. You can put the bottom tool in a vise or whatever, but you have to find some way of keeping the board level because your hands will be busy holding the top tool and a small hammer. You can tap the top tool lightly with a hammer and flare out the lug.
A customer of mine found this nifty tool at Home depot. It is a tool that holds a hand drill and turns your hand drill into a drill press. She says that it was perfect for installing the lugs in her circuit boards. Of course you do not mount the hand drill in the tool, you just use it as a lug press. I went to Home Depot and looked at it in person and it looks like it will do the job. Home Depot's SKU number for this item is SKU 459380 and it sells for $39.97.
You can buy it on line at www.homedepot.com.


Thanks for the great tip Laura.

 

How to use the lead bender tools
The small lead bender handles 1/4 watt and 1/2 watt sized components. The large lead bender handles 2,3, 5 watt and larger components. Lay the component in the proper groove for the spacing that you desire. I put black lines on the spacing that I use all the time so I don't have to guess which groove is correct.

 


Push straight down on the component legs and they will bend 90 degrees. See photo A

The component looks like photo B after it is bent.

Trim off the excess so that you only have 1/8 inch or so. This is the part that will go down into the hole in the lug. See photo C

 


The component is suspended in mid air from the top of one lug to the top of another lug. See photo D.

Wires can be attached to the lugs by making a 3/4 loop and then crimping them onto the base of the lug. See photo D and E.

Wires can also be shoved into the same hole as a component as in photo F.

Solder a nice dome of solder on top of the lug to hold the component in place. Components can be changed easily with this method. See photo F.

Solder the wires around the base of the lug as in photo F. Wires do not need to be moved usually and I prefer to connect my wires around the base of the lug, just like the red wire is connected in photo F.

I usually connect all wires that lead to the pots like the white wire in photo F. This is because the pot wires are usually the last thing to be connected and it is hard to get down around the base of the lug and not burn other components and wires. Just a personal preference.
 



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