DoN Nichols

I know I'm not Don, but that is a hell of a bargain if you need them. Did you win it? I know some of those crimpers are in the $400+ range each.

Hmm ... depends on *what* home duty use.

None of those appear to be for crimping terminals on cables -- unless perhaps the red-handled ones might be. No good photos of those.

Some of them are for IDC ribbon cable connectors.

Some for modular phone plugs (not sure whether any would work for the 8-pin RJ-45 used for twisted pair ethernet.

The nice AMP handles to the left are all for the open flag type terminals, not the pre-insulated barrel ones. Some might be good for pins in the D series connectors -- but none really look like that. These, I think, are for the larger pins -- perhaps those for the multi-row staggered rectangular block type connectors. The open flag type crimpers are all marked "Type F", and you appear to have several of those. If you get connector blocks to match (perhaps some of the new plastic bodied circular connectors as well) it could be useful in making the encoder and power cabling.

The blocks in the last photo appear to fit in the open rectangular frame in the second photo. All three in the second photo are really unfamiliar to me.

The pneumatic tool will be nice for bundling the cables with tie wraps. (But I would probably do old-fashioned cable lacing personally. :-)

I don't see anything which I would recognize as the T&B Ansley Blue-Max press, but if you *have* one in the collection just not photographed, it would be very good for terminating ribbon cable in IDC connectors. You'll probably have to make some connector nests for the various sizes -- but it (if it is like what I have) will work nicely on any 0.050" pitch ribbon cable connectors, including the various D series connectors. I got one of these at a hamfest perhaps ten years ago or so, with all three pusher bars and several connector holders, and I had others at work (with a cheaper press from the same people) to use as patterns in machining up other connector holders. (Some holders just align the connector while letting it reach through to touch the baseplate, while others have to hold the connectors a known distance above the baseplate. Some (for two-row 0.100 pin spacing IDC connectors) have an extra slot milled at right angles to hold the keying projection properly centered. They really work with almost anybody's connectors.

It is an interesting set -- but it is probably not what you need for this mill project -- except perhaps for "crimp and insert" pins on certain styles and brands of connectors.

Once you get this in -- perhaps more detailed photos would help to identify what you have in total. I hope that you really did get the Blue Max -- but it will weigh more than the whole rest of the collection as photographed. Lots of cast iron in it.

O.K. I just went downstairs to check. My press is the Blue Macs 779-3500, not the 779-3200 listed, so it may be the lighter version which I once had at work. Take photos and post URLs once you get the things, and I'll try to talk you through what you have. Individual photos -- including detail shots square on to the heads will help a lot.

Enjoy, DoN.