Which crimp tool to buy?

[IdahoMan]

Short answer - These: http://www.ebay.com/itm/S-G-Tool-Aid-18980-Master-Ratcheting-Terminal-Crimper-Set-/191305543811?hash=item2c8ab2f083&item=191305543811&vxp=mtr

Price is nice.

Where are they made? Anybody else here have experience with them?

Thanks.


IM

[tooki]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to invest in a general use semi-decent crimper.

At the moment I need to crimp some of these:

For pre-insulated connectors, the usual red/blue/yellow sleeve ones, I use one of these

  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Crimping-pliers-crimper-Cable-clamp-Can-be-pressed-terminal-diameter-0-25-2-5mm2/827362040.html

which works well.  Your spade connector looks a bit different than the usual ones, but probably would work too.

Those look a bit screwy in terms of the colour coding. The yellow crimp slot seems to be sized for 0.25mm² wires rather than the standard 4.0-6.0mm².

Screwy colors on an LSD brand tool? I am shocked, just shocked!

[Nuzzler]

I bought a pair of these like 20 years ago when I was installing car stereo and alarm systems.

I will never even thinking about buying another kind.  These things crimp those type of connectors so good!

http://www.kleintools.com/catalog/crimpingcutting-tools/crimpingcutting-tool-non-insulated-terminals

Worth every penny i spent for them.

Ditto on the Klein crimper. In addition to the Klein I have the Tricrimp for PP connectors which is great, though spendy. You can get various dies for it to crimp other stuff too.

- Nuzz

[Wolf]

I have been using the kline type crimpers for years but I may have to give that S-G set a shot, looks nice
And good tip about the silicon added to the connectors + dual wall heat shrink going to have to try it, I do a lot of work on commercial snow removal trucks and the wire splices always end up rotting out no matter what (even solder + dual wall shrink)...

 

[nanofrog]

I have been using the kline type crimpers for years but I may have to give that S-G set a shot, looks nice
And good tip about the silicon added to the connectors + dual wall heat shrink going to have to try it, I do a lot of work on commercial snow removal trucks and the wire splices always end up rotting out no matter what (even solder + dual wall shrink)...

Use non-insulated terminals and adhesive lined heat shrink & fill any gaps with a non-hygroscopic hot melt glue, namely polyethylene (PE is a quite good moisture barrier, sticks to most any other polymer, remains flexible over a wide temp range, and has good to excellent dielectric properties).

You end up making your own heat shrink terminals this way at a much lower cost, which is what you'd want for the applications you mention. 

[eKretz]

Yeah sounds like you definitely need adhesive-lined heat shrink for the salt trucks. Some guys make their own using plain heat shrink by slicing up some hot glue sticks and adding a strip of glue alongside the joint before applying heat to melt the glue at the same time as the shrink tubing gets shrunk.

I've got one of the SG master crimp sets too. The dies are interchangeable with my Ideal brand ratchet crimper as well. They seem to work pretty well, the quick change system for the dies is pretty cool but I wish the levers were metal rather than plastic - they make me nervous.

[bicc1306]

Insulated Crimper (KLEIN TOOLS)  may useful to you.