Technical Who makes a good quality wire crimper?

That's not true. Using a proper manual crimper like a T&B, a 'cold weld' can be achieved with what I'd call as 'normal' hand strength. I'm no gorilla and I've never had a crimp fail. I've used both professionally, and for my 'hobby' work much prefer the manual crimpers. Lighter, less bulky, and no ruined terminations if you slip up slightly when starting the crimp. If you're spending the whole day inside a control cabinet making terminations, then the ratchet crimpers make sense.

 

I have used these for the last decade, and purchased them for several employers, in bulk.


https://www.knipex.com/products/cri...crimp-crimping-pliers-changer-magazine/973302


5-dies fits most. For esoteric stuff like plug wires, I have dedicated crimpers.

 

Agree. I cannot get the crimps I make with the T&B to pull apart... the original wires break before the crimp does. On the other hand my low-price-range ratchet crimpers (US$40) make an OK crimp, but I can make them wiggle loose if I work at it.

Cheers,
Harv

 

We had a quasi-scandal at work surrounding some crimped wires on ground-based test equipment for the USAF. This was work we brought back from a west coast facility we folded up, the work was done there.

One of our QA managers saw that one lug had 2 wires in it, a 12 and a 24 gauge wire and he hit the ceiling and notified our local AFPRO office. So the witch hunt was on. I was instructed to make up a dozen samples to pull-test in accordance with MIL-T-7928 (what a memory...). Everything was documented, I did a white paper on it.

Samples were pull tested at our lab. We stopped at about 9, the crimps all held, the wires themselves failed.A few days later we held a meeting, I noticed the QA guy who kicked it all off was not in attendance and I said that we should wait for him. I was told he was not invited... a few days later he got the axe.

This just goes to show how good a crimp connection actually is, done right of course.

 

I wondered about this. I was wiring some gauges and using a cheap-o stamped crimper and I ended up throwing away half of the terminals because wouldn't hang on.

 

Id be lost with out my Thomas & Betts orange and black handled crimping pliers . I almost ended up divorced after I chewed the wife out for cutting nails with them .
I have been using the same pair for at least 45 years and they were well used by my dad when I got them.
There getting loose and I have been looing for a better pair of the same make and model . I can strip and crimp normal automotive type wire all with the same tool .
I left them on a job site once and drove 200 miles back and forth to get them back.

 

Same as I have used for 45 year or so .

 

It would be interesting to call T&B, and share that story. Ask them if they will repair, or do a warranty on one of their tools with probably six decades of use.

Given the quality of their gear, I would not be surprised if they rise to the occasion.

Cheers,
Harv

 

I'm going to crimp battery terminals and eyelets to 1/0 welding cable. How can I do that, and with what crimper? I also am considering cutting 1/8-inch pieces of solder in the bottom of the eyelets coated on the inside with soldering paste, then inserting the cable ends, crimping and finally using a propane or MAPP torch to heat the terminals and eyelets enough to melt the solder into the cable strands. Finally, at the end, I would coat the end of the cable jacket with handle dip, slip some heat shrink over the exposed terminals and eyelets where they butt up against the cable insulation to keep out air and moisture. What do you suggest for a crimper for such a thick cable?

 

I like the handheld hydraulic crimpers for battery cables better than the hammered punch ones. Make you a short test one and attach it to a large bolt thru some overhead brace. Use the bolt like a battery terminal and clamp around it. Then grab ahold and see if it supports your weight...........That oughta do it.

 

Seeing that a battery terminal should never be in that situation , what useful information will that provide ? Be like " testing a connecting rod by putting it in an arbor press ...

 

The idea here is to test the crimp by putting far more strain on it than it should see during normal operation.....by using something we all have on hand. This is a test "in tension" of the finished part, not compression.........tho I guess you could say that its testing the compression provided by the crimper.

 

I just crimped my battery cables in a 20-ton press using a fluted easy-out as a die to squeeze the crimp into the terminal shank after doing the above procedures first with flux smeared inside the terminal, small coils of solder inserted inside, then pushed onto the cable, heated with the MAPP and pushed down once the solder was hot enough to melt. Worked like a charm. Finished it up with the handle dip covering the joint between the cable covering and terminal to seal out air and moisture, then heat-shrinked it. Easy peasy.

 

Greenlee......Southwire both are great
6sally6

 

There are two types of crimpers for that size cable, one is an expensive pliers type that will give you a very good crimp. The other is a hammer type , that can give you a good crimp, but takes some skill. If you are going to solder the connection , actually coat the inside of the terminal with solder first. Then put the terminal in a vise with as little of the terminal in the vise as possible , standing straight up. Don’t forget to put your heat shrink on the cable….up a ways before doing this. Heat only the terminal.



Bones

 

Bet I've crimped a million lugs in my past life. Nice thing about the T&B crimpers is they work well inside a bundle of wires, where most of the others are too bulky.
I have one of these:
I don't beat it with a hammer, I use my hyd. press. Crimps are beautiful and the tool still looks like brand new.

 

We had the T&B crimp tool at work, I would bring my cables in and crimp the ends on. Usually shrink sleeve will fit over the lugs easily.

The last set in 2016, I had a local speed shop make them from my cave-drawings. 20 minutes and $38 later, they were works of art.