Bought a really nice crimper

if you want a good crimper for rj45 stuff, you need one with straight travel of the dies, not something scissor-like. Crimping RJ45 plugs at an angle can bend the contacts and cause all sorts of junk connections.

AMP makes one of the better ones. The one from palladin (not the style you show, but one that is similar in operation to the AMP one) is complete trash.

In an ideal world you're no doubt right. But I wanted an interchangeable die crimper at an affordable price. The Stewart and AMP crimpers only crimp RJ45 and cost two or three times the price. From the pictures I've seen they don't look as nicely made as the Paladin either. I deliberately avoided the Paladin all-in-one phone and data tool because it looks like junk. The 8000 series is a different breed of tool entirely. It's very nicely made. And the radius about which the dies turn is large enough to make the tendency for the contacts to bend very small. All the RJ45 plugs I've fitted with it so far have been perfect.

If anyone does know where to get the 2040 die set I'd be grateful to know.

Best wishes,

Chris

Here's one source:

Thanks Don. I saw that one earlier but thought that because it said "cell phone accessories" it was probably some kind of spam site. I'll check it out...

Chris

Boy is that the truth, I had a crimper that you inserted the plug from side. Didn't crimp pin #1 reliably. That is a pretty important pin in the world of ethernet.

Bought a crimper that worked from front and fixed a lot of quirks by recrimping.

Wes S

Yes, I can imagine a crimper which works from the side giving problems if it doesn't move perfectly parallel. The one I chose works from the front.

Best wishes,

Chris

I fully agree.

The AMP crimper *does* have interchangeable dies -- as long as you want to handle various modular phone connectors. I'm not sure what other dies you want for this tool.

Nope! The AMP one has interchangeable dies, and can handle the RJ-11 (4 pin), RJ-13 (four and six pin), RJ-45, and variants of them like the one used as a serial port connector on some DEC terminals -- the 6-pin version, except that the locking clip is offset to one side.

I've got about thirty AMP crimpers, covering all kinds of things up to 4/0 cable (a little bigger than the diameter of my index finger).

I don't know the specific Paladin to which you are referring, but given a choice, I will take AMP crimpers over Paladin any day.

And -- you can get them for more reasonable prices in eBay auctions.

Could you describe what a 2040 die set crimps? I don't know that designation.

Enjoy, DoN.

The one I chose is a different beast entirely.

The one I found in the UK doesn't appear to have interchangeable dies. It doesn't even mention them in the data sheet:

I just want the RJ45 die right now. But definitely a die set for regular insulated power terminals and lugs in the future. Probably also a die set for British "BT" telephone plugs, and an RJ11/RJ12 die set. Maybe even a set for co-ax too, but that's just a vague thought.

The 8000 series "CrimpALL". I am usually about as fussy as you can get when it comes to tool quality, and this tool is excellent. Very rugged and yet precise. It's possible to disassemble for cleaning too, and I think Paladin sell the plastic handles as spares. There is an element of personal opinion to it, of course, but I think this tool is a bargain. I just wish I'd bought it earlier before I spent money on junk crimpers.

Just fixed five broken ethernet cables for my boss at work today. It's fun to have tools.

Standard insulated terminals and lugs:

Chris

Perhaps.

That is certainly *not* the one to which I was referring -- though the *new* price is probably similar. I'll try to find what I am talking about on eBay once I finish commenting about other information which you have posted.

New -- certainly. I *did* buy one new when I was employed, but today I would go to eBay for the same tool.

Hmm ... no idea what the BT plugs are like. But the crimper which I have in mind will not handle anything other than the various telco modular phone plugs -- the RJ-45 and smaller.

AMP makes excellent crimpers for other styles of things as well, and I have a lot of them collected from hamfests and eBay auctions over the years. The RJ-45 one is the only one which I bought *new*. Most of the others cost me between $5.00 US and $25.00 US -- exclusive of the hydraulic driven ones for terminals in:

The first four are handled either by a hand-held tool which combines the dies and the hydraulic pump. The last four are handled by a separate hydraulic head for the dies and a pump -- hand, foot, or electric. I have the hand and the electric for the latter. And I also have a separate hydraulic head for the smaller dies as well, which can be used with those pumps when a hand-pumped one is just too awkward.

I agree with that.

O.K. That is handled by three separate crimpers in the AMP ones which I have. And the interesting thing is that with AMP, the yellow terminals are 12-10 AWG, not just 12 AWG. Which suggests that even though the yellow die set is closest to the hinge, it is still over stressed by crimping 10 AWG wire in a yellow terminal.

And -- this tells me that the dies which you have for RJ-45 must have some angular swing.

Aha -- O.K. They crimp on the end -- but still not with parallel moving parts.

O.K. A quick search turned up quite a few -- all selling for $16.50 US. Check out auction #180075887144 as an example. (It has about eight hours to go, but others will show up later.

My eBay search string was:

Interstingly -- most of those seem to be coming from China -- so they may be counterfeit. Here is one (#230080014926) which is not, and it is still not that expensive at $39.99 buy-it-now price. It happens to have the RJ-11 die set not the RJ-45 one.

For what it may be worth -- I've always considered the Paladin line of tools to be repair tools, and the AMP ones to be industrial tools used by manufacturers. As a matter of fact -- I first encountered the AMP tools when I was working for a company which was making flight simulators for the US Military. I've bought Paladin when I could not find or afford the equivalent AMP tools -- especially for hex ferrule crimps for coax connectors.

Enjoy, DoN.

Having found the tool you mentioned on eBay, I've now found the same tool for sale brand new in the UK, although I couldn't find any second hand ones:

This is a BT plug. It serves pretty much the same function as an RJ11/RJ12, but is bigger:

I'm sceptical about how significant a little angular swing is. Naturally there will be a maximum amount of angular swing which the connector's pins will tolerate, but I think Paladin are well below that limit with this tool.

I'd rather buy in the UK when I can. Less troublesome, especially if something goes wrong. Plus I now have a crimper I'm happy with :-).

I'm not sure what distinction you're making here. Some repairers are very fussy about their tools, too!

It may be that this tool is unusual in Paladin's range. But it's really nice. If you see one in a store, pick it up and see what you think to it. I notice from the specifications that the Paladin is twice the weight of the AMP (600 g as opposed to 300 g). This is one of the factors that tempted me to buy it: there's a lot of steel in there. Also, from all the advice I can find online, it's advisable to use AMP plugs with an AMP die set, or Stewart plugs with a Stewart die set. Stewart plugs are affordable here; AMP plugs are extortionate.

Best wishes,

Chris

And probably about what I paid for mine new -- adjusted for inflation across the pond.

O.K. Quite similar -- other than having the locking clip o n the side instead of on the bottom.

The difference is that most with angular swing crimp with the connector inserted from the side, so the angular shift makes it easier for the blades to hook on the sides of the pusher comb and lean over instead of pushing down into the connector body and making contact with the wires as they should. Yours, crimping on the end should avoid this problem.

I understand.

And those who *know* about them (and can afford them) here prefer AMP crimpers. I've used both -- and what I have (though bought used for dimes on the dollar) are mostly AMP.

That is because it is designed to handle dies for up to #12 AWG wire. (In the same terminals that AMP crimpers are designed to crimp #10 AWG wire -- in the so-called "Heavy-head" crimper.

There is no need for the much mass purely for crimping RJ-45 connectors. But for the other uses which you have for it, yes there is reason. (And the Paladin crimper which you got is quite similar to the newer AMP PRO-series crimpers, which I do not like as much as the ones which I collected over the years.)

I've never paid attention to who made the RJ-45 plugs which I use, and seldom are they even marked in any way which I can read. I have had *no* problem with any of them.

BTW -- avoid one vendor in the UK on eBay. Look at auction #120070943793. The last one which I saw had a "Type-F" crimper by AMP sold with the terminals. The "Type-F" is designed to take U-shaped open-sided terminals, and crimp by folding the front U down to something like this (turned on it side) (View with a fixed pitch font like Courier to avoid distortion):

___ / Uncrimped \___

/) Crimped \)

And the back 'U' is turned into a circle to grip the insulation. Very good for the crimp on insertable pins for which it was designed.

However it was being sold with a batch of pre-insulated terminals with tubular barrels -- which will *not* work with that kind of crimper.

I'm not sure what a "Type-W" crimper is, but it *looks* like another "Type-F" -- as far as I can tell with the poor quality photo, and lack of a close-up of the head.

Aha! Here is the "heavy-head" one for 12-10 GA yellow insulate terminals:

Starting at $9.99.

The ones for 16-14 and for 22-16 are smaller and lighter but every bit as good.

Enjoy, DoN.

All three of these crimpers look like good tools to me. Inevitably there's some personal preference involved in the choice. The Paladin suits me because it has that extra strength, so I can use it for heavier jobs in the future. Although I do like tools very much, I must resist the temptation to assemble a whole army of different crimpers!

That's interesting. I understood there to be some difference in the design of the contact blades which pierce the insulation. Certainly Paladin sell one RJ45 die for Tyco/AMP and another for Western Electric/Stewart Stamping. I bought the Stewart Stamping die set and Stewart plugs because I needed to be sure that this job turned out right.

It sounds like we're both happy with our choices. Which is good. There's just a bit of personal preference in it.

Best wishes,

Chris

While I have done exactly that. And am quite satisfied with the collection. In general, I consider the changeable dies type -- for anything other than the big hydraulic heads for the larger gauges -- to be sort of like a 3-in-1 lathe/mill/drill press -- you spend more time tearing down one setup and making the next than the savings in money is worth -- especially when comparing new prices for the 3-in-1 to used prices for the separate tools. :-)

There are different blades -- on the *inside* of the connectors. Some are designed for solid wire, some for stranded, and some are

Indeed so. And previous experience, too.

And to you, DoN.