Electrical connectors … pins! Attention!

PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, Jan, 2005

The pins in electrical connectors must stand straight and tall. A bent pin means a poor connection or no connection at all. And, eventually, a bent pin becomes a broken pin.

But straightening bent pins is not easy. The tool most often used to straighten pins is needle-nosed pliers. That's the wrong tool for the job. Needle-nosed pliers are too big and too clumsy. While you straighten one pin, you'll bend or break others.

Instead, use NSN 5120-00-765-3688, to get a pin removal tool kit. The kit is not only good for removing pins, but for straightening them, too!

The kit comes with four tips to adjust to different pin sizes. Just slip the right tip over the bent pin and gently, carefully, bend it back in shape.

One more tip. Prevent bent pins from happening by lining up the keyway on a connector with the key on the connection. Lined up right, your pins should always be standing at attention.