How much do you have to spend to get a good crimping tool?

[wraper]

Usually they have force adjustment. IMHO should be adjusted for tighter crimps. Might look like this due to misalignment though. As the place on connector where force should be applied was locate where die has a gap in it.

[cliffyk]

Usually they have force adjustment. IMHO should be adjusted for tighter crimps. Might look like this due to misalignment though. As the place on connector where force should be applied was locate where die has a gap in it.

That may be it... I am 83 with severe arthritis (and Parkinson's on top of that), so I have backed off the force adjustment a notch and a half or so. Hell at my age if something lasts just 5 years the good news is it's not going to be my problem... 

[Monkeh]

For added points, here's an example from my set of cheap ratchet crimpers.





It suffices. Don't mind the slice down the middle (proper copper crimp, obviously..).

This is about a £20 tool. Those Knipex are about £100.

[wraper]

This is about a £20 tool. Those Knipex are about £100.

That knipex costs around $200 (ex VAT) but it comes with 5 rapidly interchangeable dies. So it's like having 5 separate crimpers.

[Siwastaja]

As a general note, crimping is being touted (for good reasons) as the most mechanically and electrically reliable connecting strategy.

But, there lies a huge trap: with crimping, the devil really is in the details, everything has to be just right. Sometimes you even get a result that looks decent but once you try to pull it, you'll see it isn't properly crimped. Such poor crimp is way worse than an average solder job.

Hence, for most connectors, the only really reliable way is to only buy decent crimps, which come with a datasheet, which lists the manufacturer-specific crimping tool; which typically costs around $500 for the manual version and much more for the automated. Combination tools or cheap tools that do all sort of crimp connectors like many different JST sizes are IMHO not worth a penny. I solder these connectors instead when I need to one-off a prototype.

The classic automotive blade connectors as shown in this thread are hit-or-miss; you get the crimps from dozens of manufacturers, all slightly different, and find dozens of tools, all slightly different. Your best bet is to stick to well-known brands (like the Knipex as shown) and do frequent quality control by pulling quite hard on the wires.

[Monkeh]

This is about a £20 tool. Those Knipex are about £100.

That knipex costs around $200 (ex VAT) but it comes with 5 rapidly interchangeable dies. So it's like having 5 separate crimpers.

Ah, I thought it was the basic model. Still, the dies are equivalent so for the single-application tool the comparison is still valid.

So real-world pricing for the MultiCrimp about £300 in the UK, £250 from the continent while that's still viable.

If you really want to be positive, the Knipex are worth the money. These cheap ones required adjustment. In both cases it's critical to source decent quality terminals - end up with thin ones, steel ones, and so forth, and you'll get bad results with any tool.

[wraper]

So real-world pricing for the MultiCrimp about £300 in the UK, £250 from the continent while that's still viable.

If you really want to be positive, the Knipex are worth the money. These cheap ones required adjustment. In both cases it's critical to source decent quality terminals - end up with thin ones, steel ones, and so forth, and you'll get bad results with any tool.

https://www.conrad.com/p/knipex-multicrimp-97-33-02-crimper-non-insulated-open-end-connectors-insulated-cable-lugs-insulated-connectors-ferru-821056
Dunno if Conrad ships to UK. But it has about the same price at some other places.

[mansaxel]

Dunno if Conrad ships to UK. But it has about the same price at some other places.

In my experience Conrad is constantly overpriced, at least on tools and electric/electronic parts. With only modest effort on your favourite search engine you are going to find same/similar or better parts and tools at much nicer prices otherwhere.

In Sweden, we frequently use  "Crimpex" or "Elpress" crimpers, made here. Look much like the others (I'm uncertain who copied who, except that I know for a fact that Elpress has been around for over 30 years; I used one for the first time in the summer of 1990.) I've got a RG58 and RG59 crimper from Crimpex. Works really well. Also a large 10mm² and up crimper from Elpress, which is really good on battery terminals et c. My insulated red/blue/yellow crimper is a noname tool, but works. It's got the wide jaws and makes a really tight crimp with quality terminals.  Another nonamer is my tool for uninsulated terminals. It is quite tedious to get everything right with it, but crimps done right are tight and solid.

One thing is certain; crimping tools is a money sink hole, especially if you want things like verification or traceability.

[Zeyneb]

So what I could add to what already has been said. Is that for crimping pliers with replaceable dies you might wanna check if the available dies cover a significant range of things you might want to crimp with. Right now I received the Phoenix Contact CRIMPFOX-M (which is actually based on a design of Pressmaster product MCT frame) and there is a crimping die for the right angle flag terminals with 8mm width quick-connects. These are used for H4 headlight sockets in cars. These are a bit unusual as most of the flag terminals are 6.3 mm in width. So I do think I made a good purchase with the CRIMPFOX-M, because I do think I would have a need for some other other die in the future.

[wraper]

In my experience Conrad is constantly overpriced, at least on tools and electric/electronic parts. With only modest effort on your favourite search engine you are going to find same/similar or better parts and tools at much nicer prices otherwhere.

For this particular tool they are among the cheapest. It's even cheaper on amazon.de

[cliffyk]

Pictures.

These are the terminals I use most often, they are from Gardner-Bender, and sold by a local supply house packaged in 100, 250 and 500 piece boxes at a reasonable cost.



As you can see 1/2 the length of the insulation provides a collar to minimize flexing of the wire at the wire/ferrule interface. Centering the insulation in the crimping tool would not provide proper assembly with these terminals.

[wraper]

As you can see 1/2 the length of the insulation provides a collar to minimize flexing of the wire at the wire/ferrule interface. Centering the insulation in the crimping tool would not provide proper assembly with these terminals.

There are 2 crimping points. One to crimp metal part and second to crimp insulation. Look at my crimp and you'll see it needs to be crimped at both ends. And tools are either made to crimp both sides simultaneously in single operation or you need to crimp each of the sides separately with narrow non ratcheting crimpers. What you've done is improperly positioning connector in ratcheting crimper which crimps both sides.

[wraper]

[cliffyk]

As you can see 1/2 the length of the insulation provides a collar to minimize flexing of the wire at the wire/ferrule interface. Centering the insulation in the crimping tool would not provide proper assembly with these terminals.

There are 2 crimping points. One to crimp metal part and second to crimp insulation. Look at my crimp and you'll see it needs to be crimped at both ends. And tools are either made to crimp both sides simultaneously in single operation or you need to crimp each of the sides separately with narrow non ratcheting crimpers. What you've done is improperly positioning connector in ratcheting crimper which crimps both sides.





Well crap. I guess it's true--you never are too old to learn--how's this?

[wraper]

Well crap. I guess it's true--you never are too old to learn--how's this?

Looks fine.

[wizard69]

After years of using them I really have no love for insulated crimp ring and spade terminals.   If at all possible use the non insulated variety and apply shrink tubing afterwards if needed.

One of the better low cost crimpers that I've used is the Sta-Kon WT111M: https://www.grainger.com/product/STA-KON-9-5-8-inL-Crimper-3KH45.    This crimper has been in production for years, probably decades.    It is fine for lighter barrels but really requires two hands when used to full capacity.

As for insulated terminal and my hate for them, it is largely due to failures on equipment installed at the plant.   Since the variety here is pretty large I don't see it a a poor workmanship problem on one assemblers part.   Rather it is a couple of things.   #1. Insulated terminals do not allow for visual inspection.  #2 the deformed insulation seemingly wants to fall off over time.   This makes the actual insulating qualities of insulated terminals highly debatable.    #3.  The electromechanical quality of the crimps with insulated terminals is extremely variable.   This seems to hold true even with the ""proper"" tool.

So if higher quality (generally higher current) connections are required I prefer the uninsulated terminals.    This only if there is no other choice.   

[BlackICE]

I never has any success using insulated connectors. The wires can be pulled out. Maybe the problem is I never matched the connectors to a crimper made just for that connector. But I think the real problem is the insulating material is to easily compressed leading to a weaker clamping force compared to the all metal non-insulation connector.

[tooki]

I never has any success using insulated connectors. The wires can be pulled out. Maybe the problem is I never matched the connectors to a crimper made just for that connector. But I think the real problem is the insulating material is to easily compressed leading to a weaker clamping force compared to the all metal non-insulation connector.

No, that’s claiming there’s a fundamental problem, which isn’t true. You need the right tool, the right terminal, and the right wire. People often don’t realize that the colors indicate the wire size the terminal is designed for, so they say “ok, I’ll use red for positive and blue for negative”, meaning that the blue one will be too loose because it’s designed for thicker wire.

[tooki]

Still trying to figure out if the $340 Tyco crimp tools are made on the same line as the $25 tools that are sold on Amazon. To my untrained eye - they all look the same but my engineering self tells me there are subtle differences that could be significant to the end result.

The differences are more than subtle, though it depends on the type of terminal. Insulated terminals are fairly forgiving of tool tolerances, while small uninsulated terminals are extremely demanding.

Let’s look at a middle ground, like uninsulated spade terminals. A good tool has precision cut, polished dies that perfectly guide the terminal parts onto the wire and then apply the right amount of pressure. Cheap tools often have cast metal does that aren’t even ground, never mind precision cut, and certainly not polished. Sometimes they apply paint to the dies (!) to mask how awful they are. Such tools do crimp the terminal, but it’s imprecise, and a lot of the pressure gets lost in the tolerances and in wearing down the terrible die surfaces, rather than into the crimp, resulting in unpredictable results.

When you get to really small terminals like 2.54mm headers and similar (“DuPont”, Molex KK, JST XH, etc), tolerances become critical. A fraction of a millimeter difference in jaw height is enough to result in a crimp too loose to hold well, or one with such excessive force it breaks the strands. I have a $350 AMP crimper as well as various cheap ones, and it’s no contest. The best of the cheap ones are good enough for hobby use, but are nowhere near good enough for production use.

[Electro Fan]

Can't go wrong with Knipex but the OP's question is "How much do you have to spend to get a good crimping tool?"  This leads to two other questions:  1) What are you going to want to crimp with the tool?  and 2) How good is good enough?

My experience with this is that when someone is starting down this path it's often hard to predict beyond the immediate connectors of interest what other connectors might need crimping.  And even when you know what connectors you want to start with there is a bit of a learning curve.  A person could spend a lot of time (which might be worth even more than the cost of a very good crimper) researching this stuff, so it might be better to start with an entry or mid-range tool and learn a few things from actually using a crimper.

Having said all that, crimpers can be dedicated or modular.  If you really think you are going to do various types of connectors the modular has some merit.

fwiw, I found these to be reasonable in price and peformance:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00788LS0S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can add the jaws as you discover the need:
https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/voicedatavideo-replacement-parts/crimp-die-set-insulated-terms-awg-10-22#Related%20Items

https://www.amazon.com/Crimp-Insulated-Klein-Tools-VDV205-035/dp/B007888BXK/ref=pd_bxgy_img_3/138-1437845-8841506?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B007888BXK&pd_rd_r=b802a788-ce89-4caf-af7c-ff199cc14e21&pd_rd_w=4ooIK&pd_rd_wg=gkn1H&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=6GXRHBP6SSNTC6PVEQRR&psc=1&refRID=6GXRHBP6SSNTC6PVEQRR

I have one Knipex tool.  I'm pretty sure it will outlive the Klein crimper, and me too - but the at the rate I crimp the Klein will probably also last longer than me.

Having said all that, there is no crimper frame that I've ever seen that will handle all types of connectors.  So for example if you want to crimp ferrules I think you could start with this and crimp a bunch of AWG23-10 ferrules:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W4O14D2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I don't use ferrules very often but they are a nice touch to add when you want to terminate a wire on a screw-down block.  At the price of this tool (and the Klein crimper) it's ok if I only crimp once in a while, and when I need to crimp they work A-OK.

The challenge I've found with connectors is that you often don't know what you need (type and size) until you encounter the need; then you have to find the connectors, and at that point you know what tool you need.  After some experience with connectors you get to which comes first? The chicken (crimper) or the egg (connector)?  At which point you will probably wind up with a frame that takes a decent selection of dies, and then you stock up on the connectors those dies support, and this works until you run into something new; then wash, rinse, dry, repeat.  It takes a while to build up a full service laundromat in this metaphor and unless  you are in a moderately high volume repeatable manufacturing mode, there is a chance that lots of stuff will be one-offs, or at least until they become repeats - so having more tools (frames/dies) that can do more things in low to moderate volume with good enough quality can be more cost-effective than buying el primo crimpers for all the possibilities that might or might not ever generate more than occasional use.  YMMV

[BlackICE]

I never has any success using insulated connectors. The wires can be pulled out. Maybe the problem is I never matched the connectors to a crimper made just for that connector. But I think the real problem is the insulating material is to easily compressed leading to a weaker clamping force compared to the all metal non-insulation connector.

No, that’s claiming there’s a fundamental problem, which isn’t true. You need the right tool, the right terminal, and the right wire. People often don’t realize that the colors indicate the wire size the terminal is designed for, so they say “ok, I’ll use red for positive and blue for negative”, meaning that the blue one will be too loose because it’s designed for thicker wire.

I redid a test and found out I was using the die in reverse. Clamping the insulation with the wire section of the die. After correcting this dumb error I got much better crimps, but they still are not as good as non-insulated connectors. I could no longer pull out the wire by hand, but could do so using plies with a lot of force. With non-insulated connectors the wire will break and never pull out. I don't know if this makes a significant difference in real life use.

BTW I used dies like these

https://www.kleintools.com/sites/all/product_assets/catalog_imagery/klein/vdv205-035.jpg

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/voicedatavideo-replacement-parts/crimp-die-set-insulated-terms-awg-10-22#Related%20Items

But branded Eclispe.

[Psi]

I'll just leave this video here

[deadlylover]

I redid a test and found out I was using the die in reverse. Clamping the insulation with the wire section of the die. After correcting this dumb error I got much better crimps, but they still are not as good as non-insulated connectors. I could no longer pull out the wire by hand, but could do so using plies with a lot of force. With non-insulated connectors the wire will break and never pull out. I don't know if this makes a significant difference in real life use.

Don't worry I'm sure we've all made that mistake before. One thing I like about the proper tooling is that they have terminal locators that hold the terminal in place while you crimp (doesn't stop me from feeding the wire in the non-crimping side for a butt splice when I'm upside down trying to repair a harness in a passenger footwell). 

Mil spec for the insulated terminals is 50lbf minimum for 16awg wire, in real world it's usually a good 30-70% stronger than that (even after vibration or salt spray tests according to TE).

Here are photos of a crimp with a "good generic" tool versus the "specified best" tool. (Pressmaster KSA0760 and AMP 59250, terminal is an AMP/TE PIDG butt splice)

[mansaxel]

Here are photos of a crimp with a "good generic" tool versus the "specified best" tool. (Pressmaster KSA0760 and AMP 59250, terminal is an AMP/TE PIDG butt splice)

The Pressmaster is possibly made in Sweden, in the same factory as Crimpex. The "*760" has been around for at least 35 years; I remember a Crimpex CSA0760 being the best I'd ever seen back in 1990. I don't think it's specified for pink butt splices, but for red/blue/yellow insulated ones it is just the trick.  Providing, of course, that you stick to the right conductor cross section for those terminals.

Red is 1,5mm², blue 2,5mm² and yellow is 6mm².

This comes out as in all three sizes a little bit above 16, 12 and 10AWG, respectively.
Proper would be, say 15, 13 and 9AWG, if they were common. Googling gives that at least CPC Farnell thinks these gauges do exist, but probably mostly as translations of metric gauges.

[tooki]

“Possibly”? It says “Made in Sweden” right on the tool!

As I understand it, Pressmaster is the manufacturer. Other companies have their tools made by Pressmaster.