Wire insertion system and method

An apparatus for assisting in the placement of wires in an electrical connector, the apparatus comprising:

• a frame;
• a holder supported by said frame for releasably holding an electrical connector in a desired orientation;
• a laser for generating a laser beam sufficiently small in diameter to irradiate a single wire cavity in said electrical connector, thus optically indicating to a user a precise wire hole into which a wire is to be manually inserted;
• a computer system for generating X and Y coordinate information corresponding to a specific desired wire cavity in said electrical connector;
• a positioning subsystem operably associated said laser, and responsive to said X and Y coordinate information generated by said computer system, for positioning said laser at a desired X-Y coordinate point on a surface of said electrical connector, wherein said X-Y coordinate point corresponds to a desired wire cavity in said electrical connector into which a specific one of said wires is to be inserted.

An apparatus for assisting in the placement of wire cavities in an electrical connector body, the apparatus comprising:

• a frame;
• a holder supported by said frame for releasably holding an electrical connector in a desired orientation, said holder further including:
• a pair of jaws for grasping said electrical connector;
• a cam actuated release member operably associated with at least one of said jaws for enabling a user to move said jaws into engaged and disengaged positions relative to an electrical connector positioned between said jaws;
• and
• at least one spring for biasing said jaws towards one another;
• a laser for generating a laser beam sufficiently small in diameter to irradiate a single wire cavity in said electrical connector body, thus optically indicating to a user a precise wire cavity into which a wire is to be manually inserted;
• a computer system for generating X and Y coordinate information corresponding to a specific desired wire cavity in said electrical connector;
• a positioning subsystem operably associated said laser, and responsive to said X and Y coordinate information generated by said computer system, for positioning said laser at a desired X-Y coordinate point on a planar surface of said electrical connector, wherein said X-Y coordinate point corresponds to a desired wire cavity in said electrical connector into which a specific one of said wires is to be inserted, said positioning subsystem including:
• an X-axis motor and a linearly driven X-axis member movable along an X-axis by said X-axis motor;
• a Y-axis motor and a linearly driven Y-axis member movable along a Y-axis by said Y-axis motor;
• and
• wherein said laser is supported on one of said linearly driven X-axis and Y-axis members.