Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
Male Pins & Female Sockets
- Pin Contacts (Male): Protruding pins that fit into female receptacles.
- Socket Contacts (Female): Recessed, spring-loaded contacts that receive the male pins.
- Crimp Contacts: Used for reliable, solder-less connections.
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
Contact Materials (The Conductive Elements)
Contacts are the core conductive elements, typically made of brass or phosphor bronze, and plated to improve conductivity and resist corrosion.
- Copper/Brass: Commonly used for base conductivity, often tin-plated for cost-effective, durable connections.
- Silver/Silver-Nickel: Used in industrial, high-temperature, or high-current, demanding environments for optimal, long-lasting conductivity.
- Gold Plating: Often used in sensitive electronics or data applications for superior oxidation resistance.
The following panels will show you some examples of both the Male & Female Contacts, as well as Silver & Gold plated Contacts.
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
CDFD 0.5
This part is an ILME Contact Pin:
It is Female.
It is Gold Plated, for Optimal Conductivity and Anti-Corrosion.
It is 10 Amp, used in Plugs & Sockets passing up to 10 Amps of Current.
It is 20 Awg, where Awg refers to American Wire Gauge. Used since 1857, this System indicates wire thickness accommodated by the Contacts, with smaller gauge numbers indicating thicker wires.
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
CCFD 2.5
This part is another ILME Contact Pin:
It is Female.
It is also Gold Plated, for Optimal Conductivity and Anti-Corrosion.
It is 16 Amp, used in Plugs & Sockets passing up to 16 Amps of Current safely.
It is 14 Awg, which means that it can facilitate wires thicker than the previous example.
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
CCFA 0.5 & CCMA 0.5
By this slide, if you've an eagle eye & an inquisitive mind, you may have a question along these lines:
Hang on a minute! Those Contacts on slides 3 & 4 look different but they're both Female?
Are you sure? Did you mean to say that CDFD 0.5 is Male, and CCFD 2.5 is Female?
That would make more sense, as one appears to be a Receptacle whilst the other appears to be a Pin?
Did you have such a question to ask? Are you like I am?
Male & Female in the context of Plugs & Sockets, refers to the final destination of the Contacts - i.e. it hasn't anything to do with how they appear to the naked eye, rather it refers to whether or not the Contact is to be fitted into a Plug or a Socket.
By way of example, this image shows a CCFA 0.5 Contact, a CCMA 0.5 Contact, a Plug, and a Socket. It is the "F" in the part number that signifies Female, and the "M" in the part number that signifies Male. As you can see, these Contacts are both Silver-plated.
Contacts, Connectors & Crimps
Contacts, Plug, and Socket
At 2M, Plugs & Sockets are handmade on a continual basis for bespoke Control Panel and Cable Builds. The time it takes to build a Plug & Socket depends on it's complexity.
Send us your Enquiries & Specifications so we can get you booked in to our Diary & Workshop Production Runs:
To round up this Case Study, the is an overview of this rather more straightforward-looking example for laymen eyes:
A Female Contact, a Male Contact, a Female Socket, and a Male Plug.
In summary, the sex of your Contacts in the Workshop may be misleading to your naked eye, but the sex of the Plug is always Male, and the sex of the Socket is always Female. Experience will strengthen your recognition, recall, and muscle memory in Automation, as with any other Industry.
Have a great day!
