DoN

Well -- they both are "Type F" crimpers -- for the double flagged crimp pins.

The first one is likely for the longer pins used in rectangular connector bodies (up to at least 104 pins, IIRC, and down to 6 or so. These connectors normally have keying corner pins so you don't get one of a series of similar connectors in the wrong jack, and jackscrews to pull the connector into complete mesh. A company I once worked for made flight simulators, among other things, and used a lot of these connectors -- usually the 60 or 104 pin ones. (Yes, these were made by AMP too. :-)

The second one might even work with the pins for the DB-25 and similar connectors -- but it only crimps one range of wire sizes instead of two, and it does not have the pin nest to hold the pin at the right depth in the crimper, so it takes a bit more care.

Be warned -- if you get into collecting AMP crimpers, you can keep on forever. :-) I can still lift my bucket of AMP manual crimpers one-handed -- but only because I don't have the hydraulic heads and dies in there. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

FWIW, there was an AMP crimper with this removed when I bought so i skipped it. Then after several connectors, I removed it on mine. Its easier for me to place the contact this way. The contact would be at the right depth but not the right rotation with the pin nest in place.

Karl

To be able to know which specific terminals that many of these types of crimpers were made for, one will need to download lots of AMP/Tyco and various distributor's catalogs to find out.. if the crimper part number can be researched.

Then, finding the proper terminals may not be so easy either.. unless one wants to buy them in thousands quantities, or take chances with buying poorly described surplus (of which the part numbers have probably been changed).. if the terminals aren't obsolete.

As DoN has suggested, the particular type of crimpers are for (specific) connector body terminals.. and that generally means that they won't crimp more popular styles of terminals properly (spade, ring, quick-disconnect etc). At best, they may work with one size of flagged-molex-type terminals, but probably only for one particular wire size, and one particular brand of terminal.. then again, the spacing of the flag dies may be significantly different.

The two particular style of the crimpers mentioned, are the closed die types, meaning that they're generally only useful for terminals on the ends of wires.. not for butt-splicing lengths of wire together (then the crimpers are trapped on the wire).

Then there's the issue of wear from previous use. Some crimpers are manufactured with adjustable parts, although many are not.

The reason that some high reliability fixed-die, non adjustable crimpers can crimp terminals to several sizes of wire, is because the actual terminals are designed for one specific wire size. That means that terminals intended for n-gage wire won't be a reliable connection with a different gage of wire. A different brand of terminals will likely result in unpredictable/faulty crimp quality.

There may be alternate uses for some hand crimp tools, as I was suggesting in a post: Crimping Tools Alternate Uses Hand Crimper 11/20/10

Many styles of hand crimping tools can be found very cheaply as surplus, and then used for other purposes.

Looking for crimping tools on eBay can be frustrating, since many sellers don't take the time to include numbers, close-up pics of the dies, or detailed descriptions. When a particular style of crimper is found, it's sometimes useful to search for other examples of the same type, to see better pics of the dies, or lower prices.

O.K. I find that it works well for me -- so it seems to be an individual thing -- and best to start with it available.

Enjoy, DoN.

[ ... ]

These are specifically for pins for insertion into connectors, not spade or ring terminals or quick-disconnects.

The first of the two actually has dies in it (side by side) for two different gauges of wire and the appropriate pins.

Actually -- only the first of the two auctions indicated was of this sort -- the other opens wide enough for the pin to be removed out the open side instead of just being pulled back out from where it was set. But since these were not for butt-splicing anyway, this does not matter. These were for connector pins -- nothing else.

And for most you can get the data sheet giving the dimensions of go and no-go pin gauges to verify the crimper in hand.

And -- of course -- there are the crimpers (like Daniels) for the machined pins which adjust for a fairly wide range of sizes of wire for a given pin.

Certainly. Stick with the right brand terminal.

Of course -- the pre-insulated terminals (ring, fork, spade) seem to work pretty interchangeably in good quality crimpers. The color of the insulation tells you which wire size range it is for. In the most common sizes (and most useful for us), red is 16-22, blue is 18-16, and yellow is 10-12. The colors re-cycle many times, with the largest which I have the capability of using being 4-0 -- which requires a hydraulic crimper head and dies.

I like to make sure that it can't be useful for its intended purpose first.

Of course. Sometimes, you have to be able to recognize the special ones -- like the "Heavy head" one by AMP for the 10-12 Ga terminals. Others by AMP (for crimp terminals, not for connector pins) have the ends of the handles painted to indicate the size (and the insulated terminal to use with it). Yellow and red are as above. For whatever reason, the common blue terminal 14-16 Ga has one handle tip blue, the other green. I've *never* seen an AMP terminal which was green, so I don't know why that color scheme.

Note that a smaller looking one with yellow handles will be for the 22-26 Ga wires and terminals -- rather hard to find. Above the

10-12 range, you get into hydraulic crimpers with interchangeable dies covering four wire sizes -- and requiring *lots* of money if you buy them new. :-)

Absolutely.

Enjoy, DoN.