I own three ratchet crimp tools and not one of them crimps the damn connector correctly. The insulation crimp is always slightly oversize and won't quite fit the housings. I have to go back over them with a needle-nose and give each one a slight squeeze on the insulation crimp.
Hopefully someone here has a known-good tool (that doesn't cost $500).
I can think of a few.
- What exactly are you doing?
- What's your budget?
I ask, as I'm wondering if you'd be best served by a fixed tool or one with interchangeable dies.
For example, brands such as
Pressmaster,
Wezag,
Rennsteig, and
Sargent are most of the primary ODM's that produce the crimp tools for terminal manufacturers such as Thomas&Betts, Molex, Panduit, AMP, Amphenol, and others. They can also be found under tool brands such as Xcelite, Wiha, Gedore, and Waytek (best prices on the Pressmaster MCT crimp tool & dies in the US market I've ever seen). And as they're not branded by the terminal manufacturer, they're notably less expensive (go directly to the source = less money, same tool
).
Knipex makes their own AFAIK.
If you're willing to buy used, you could add Daniels Manufacturing (very expensive new), as well as terminal branded units for say ~$125 max per in very good condition if you're patient. Some of the new units in the above ODM brands can be had for around this as well, depending on the die profile (i.e. MetriPack and WeatherPack are a lot more expensive; bare dies for these tend to be in the ~$150 - $200 range, where as an open barrel crimp profile is typically around $100 or so max,
if the dies are available separately).
One thing to note, the interchangeable models are excellent for prototyping/bench work as well as field repairs IME as they're a lot more cost effective. The tradeoff however, is they typically don't have any locators, so you'll need to be rather proficient at placing the terminals in the die correctly. Fixed units tend to include the locators, but at a higher cost per terminal type.
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