Best wire crimper

Karl Townsend · 2009-03-26T12:05:42+00:00

DoN and Iggy tried to talk me into crimping my connectors on my justcompleted tractor project. I didn't listen this time because mycrimper is a total POS. So, I solder after crimp to reinforce. I cansee the point about vibration killing this after time.Anyway, I started looking for a better unit. There is a bewilderingselection. I need to crimp terminals on #18 through #10 wire. Lookslike I need dies or several tools. what's my best buy?Karl

Mar 26, 2009 66 Replies

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Larry Jaques 17 years ago

On Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:13:05 -0700, the infamous "Michael Koblic" scrawled the following:

That's always good. I've had great luck with a set of wire crimping pliers like the one on the right here:

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My pair was one of the tools in a $1 box from a yard sale.

In another sailing find, I grabbed a box of 9 stained glass soldering irons, a pound of solder, an eye lag, a packet of 4 lag hooks, a silicone jar opener, a tub of real TSP, a tube of clear 100% silicone sealant, and a quart thermos (stainless, with stainless tumbler top) for $7.30 last Saturday.

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Michael Koblic 17 years ago

Ah, tell me about it! If I had a nickel for each transistor I fried using the "pistol" soldiering iron...I would be in the poor house 'cos in those days tranistors cost 2% of average monthly salary. After taxes!

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Leon Fisk 17 years ago

For anyone still following this, here is an image (a bit crappy too, poor lighting setup, too lazy...) of a couple different "flag" or open barrel style terminals:

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The graph paper underneath has 1/6 inch spacing. These aren't very big terminals.

And the working portion on my AMP crimper for same:

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Don's text should explain these pretty well. There are two positions for crimping the insulation area. The ones labeled "E" and "F".

That type of crimper doesn't work very well on closed barrel or insulated style terminals. The open barrel style is usually much thinner material and doesn't take as much crimping pressure to form.

I used to use a lot of these style terminals doing two-way radio repair...

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Richard Edwards 17 years ago

Leon I have one in the UK it is probably my most used "Nom-Insulated Crimp" crimper. Perfect for just about everything from "D" connector crimps upwards. I suggest that you show a photo of the whole unit so if anyone sees one going cheap they will recognise it and snap it up Bought mine for the equivalent of $5 about 30 years ago IIRC.

Richard

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Leon Fisk 17 years ago

Well, I figured a picture of the whole tool would be easy to find. But it would show little detail in the crimping area.

Mine was called "Service Tool I" and was made by AMP. This appears to be the same tool, but the image with it is wrong:

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The description seems right and the link for the instruction manual is good:

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and shows the proper tool. I'll have to look that over, I don't remember mine coming with any instructions. I did buy it new too and it wasn't cheap for such a simple crimper.

If you use a lot of open barrel or "flag" type terminals this is about the cheapest way to go. Unless you get lucky and find something used cheap. I rarely get lucky finding stuff like this used...

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