converting bolt cutter into swaging tool

You know, I have thought of doing the same thing with my very old Chinese bolt cutters. In my case, I was thinking of making a tool for crimping splices in fence wire. The cutters are all chipped and the gap is too wide to do much cutting. Several of the linkage components have broken over the years and have been replaced.

I wonder if you can make replacement cutting blades for yours that have the correct shape for swaging and not destroy your good cutters.

Let us know what you decide and how it works for you.

Paul

I think you have a perfectly fine plan as you described it.

Wes

For such a small size cable I think your idea is workable.

Dress a grinding wheel to 7/16 and then dress the radius, make a guage by drilling a hole into something easily cut and then cut it in two.

i can't remember what the brand name is but those "two bolt" cable swagers are economical and, so i was told by a reliable source, are approved for use in aircraft by the FAA (or some other regulatory agency). oh, sorry, didn't read your entire message, decorative. still, the two bolt swagers are economical and you could use it on another project that was more than just decorative.

b.w.

First, the price you guys are talking is way out of line.

$156.00 plus shipping.

A go-no go guage is essential for a secure connection, and that guage is specific to both the tool and the sleeves you are using. Nicopress tools need Nicopress sleeves, and Loos tools need Loos sleeves. The major difference between the cheap bolt cutter and the proper tool is that the tool has an adjustment capability to allow the swaged size to be corrected. The geometry of the jaw where the compression occurs may also be critical, you need to force the sleeve (copper only please) into the strands of the cable, if you merely mash the sleeve out the ends of the crimp you will have nothing. Really, get the right tool or stay home.

Stuart

I did this a bunch of years ago to swage eyes onto plastic coated cable into bicycle lock type cables. The bolt cutters didn't have enough thickness when the hole was drilled out, so I ground out the cutting edges and welded in what looks like 3/16 mild steel and drilled the hole with the jaws closed. Its made up a bunch of cables over the years and is still working fine. I wouldn't trust it (or me) to do a cable that my butt (or anyone else's) depended on, but for my purposes it was a good inexpensive alternative to the hundred + dollar official swaggers.

If I measured a sweged connection with my dial calipers, and measured the go no go gague I would have a pretty good idea of wat was good and no good.

The fitting has no idea what machine is applying force to the connection as long as the amount of metal it displaced was teh proper depth and width.

The

Perhaps the real cheap bolt cutters do not have that adjustment, but most bolt cutters I have used (Even the made in china jobs.) have an adjustment. It would not be much to convert the function from cutting to swaging if the desired geomety was known.

The geometry of the jaw where the compression occurs may

Who pissed in your corn flakes? The guy is not trying to save a few hundred dollars by cutting corners on a crane cable, he is making a railing for Pete's sake. The metal doesn't really care if it gets squished in a hydraulic press, with a factory made swaging tool or a homemade die that is actuated with a BFH, all it cares about is the proper geometry and displacement.

Perhaps you didn't read the post to which I responded...

The poster Tom Wait wants to do this for an airplane.

Actually the airplane reference was not to the converted bolt cutter, here is what Tom was referencing:

If "approved for use in an aircraft" means anything, this would suggest that the important thing is not so much what tool you use to do the job, but rather doing the job correctly. Tom's comment was about a go-no go gauge for a quality check.

As I understand it, a properly crimped cable end is stronger than the cable itself. If I was going to use of a tool of my own design for a critical application, I would damn sure test a few to failure to verify that my tool worked.

For a railing, I think the test would be if I could stand on a horizontal cable with out it failing it would pass.

Stuart ws right, I was _thinking of using a converted bolt cutter_ .I wanted to know if it would work. If I did do it I would certainly test some samples to verify it works before I went flying. The cable assy. doesn't care what squished the ferrule as long as it comes up to spec. As it turns out my local EAA chapter has a tool library that includes a cable swager so it's a moot point for me. However I would be interested to know if it works. Tom

This is an economy model for what you want.

I have used one and it works as advertised. Roger

One last thought on this subject, These tools are very common in Theatres. If you have need of a few crimps and you can take the parts with you, go to your local scene shop near quitting time with a few beers. If you have a bigger job, stop at the scene shop and see if anybody wants some freelance work. You can probably get it done quite cheaply.

Stuart

I made a new set of jaws last night and they work great. Used 5/16" X

2" flat bar. The gear teeth that mesh under the shackle that holds the 2 jaws together were a bit tricky to make with a grinder and cutting disk but it turned out good. I made them and inch longer so in the future I could drill a new hole for different sized sleeves if a need to. I assembled the unit and closed the jaws and then drilled a 11/32" hole centered in the jaws which works great for 1/8" sleeves.

Could you put up a picture? Bob