So why does everyone treat them like common hardware? Check out the picture below, whoever "owns" a bench that stores connectors like this should never be allowed back in your lab! Those two-cents worth of stainless-steel screws are full of contaminates like oil, skin, and the worst culprit, tiny pieces of metal. Keep them as long as you keep the adapters, and your adapters will last a lot longer, like the happy SMA to 7-mm adapter shown in the photo below:Īdapters and connectors are precision items, that's why they cost a fortune. WRONG! Those plastic thingies are called dust caps for a reason, they keep your connectors clean. so you take off the caps and throw them out, right? They come with some plastic caps on each end. You've just bought a nice new set of coax adapters for that new lab project. Did you ride the short bus? Storing connectors Turning the mating surfaces means you are wearing out the connector for no reason other than you have poor motor skills. Here's some photos of what will happen! You should only be turning the threaded sleeve. When you are tightening or loosening a connector, try not to spin the mating surfaces against each other. Pretend it is made of eggshells and filled with explosives (unless you are in an airport!)ĩ. The hardware you hold in your hands could very well be worth more than your automobile. Remember, you are not tightening lug nuts. Remember, righty-tighty, lefty-loosey! The total damage done by people turning stuff in the wrong direction is second only to damage caused by klutzes who "thumb" hybrids.Ĩ. Check out our page on connector torque!ħ. It's OK to use less torque, but not more. For most connectors with 5/16 inch hex nuts, use 6-8 inch-pounds. If you need a special adapter, buy it, borrow it or steal it, but not from the cal kit.Ħ. Never use any part of a calibration kit as an adapter. Save the 2.9mm and 2.4mm parts for millimeterwave measurements.ĥ. Don't use higher frequency connector than you need. Learn how to gage connectors to determine if they are out of spec. Cleaning the threads is good practice, but stay away from cleaning the center conductor of an air dielectric connectors such as 3.5mm, 2.9mm and 2.4mm.ģ. Learn how to clean connectors with alcohol and cotton swabs. If you can't fit a wrench to your stuck connector, see below.Ģ. There are wrenches for every size adapter, even SMA bullets. Don't use pliers on a "stuck" connector for any reason. Some things you should know about connectors.ġ. How (not) to trash a cal kit (separate page) Connector Do's and Don'ts Read the material below so you'll know how to treat connectors so they'll have a long and productive life. Your connectors and adapters cost someone a lot of money. "That test station is behaving awful flaky, what could it be?" Look for images of other disasters in the Microwave Mortuary! PO Box, APO/FPO, Alaska/Hawaii, American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Comoros, Cook Islands, El Salvador, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gambia, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Iceland, Jamaica, Jersey, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, US Protectorates, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (U.S.Click here to go to our main page on microwave connectorsĬlick here to go to our page on how (not) to trash a cal kit!Ĭlick here to go to our page on cable care
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