Battery Cable Crimping Tool Help

[Cispook]

Originally Posted by waninae39

i see this on amazon for under $100

TMS 16 Ton Hydraulic Wire Battery Cable Lug Terminal Crimper Crimping Tool 11 Dies

I’m going to give one a try. Will let y’all know how it performs

[Cispook]

Originally Posted by Sav'h Steve

"Amazon's Choice" @ $54: https://www.amazon.com/TMS-Crimper-W...raulic+crimper



or near the same @ $46: https://www.amazon.com/Hydraulic-Ter...ct_top?ie=UTF8

I ordered the $54 model - more to come

[WayneG]

I got this one and it is not perfect for non metric sizes, but it gets the job done for less than $40. You just need to use quality lugs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0114QC3OY

PENSON CAYQK007010 Hydraulic Wire Battery Cable Lug Terminal Crimper Crimping Tool, 9 Dies, 10 Ton

[Boxite]

Originally Posted by WayneG

I got this one and it is not perfect for non metric sizes, but it gets the job done for less than $40. You just need to use quality lugs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0114QC3OY

Hi, Wayne! What do you mean by "not perfect for non metric sizes"?
The dies state for 12 AWG thru 2/0. Are you saying those dies are not SAE?

[WayneG]

The dies in my kit are approximate for American AWG sizes, they are actually numbered in metric sizes.
I used the closest metric die set that was equal to or slightly smaller than what I needed.
I crimped it hard but not so hard it deformed the lug. Then I turned the lug 1/3rd a turn and crimped again to be sure the contact between wire & lug was as tight as possible.

[Fred L]

Originally Posted by Cispook

I ordered the $54 model - more to come

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. That is the one at the top of my list.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Fred L

Found this crimper on ebay, the seller seems to have a very good rating. Looking at the jaw(?) it seems to have a very different arrangement than the other hexagon shaped hand held crimpers.
Wondering something like this will provide an air tight crimp?

That's basically a hammer crimp without the hammer. There's lots of variants to that system, some just sit in a vice and you whack it. It seems Airstream does this type of crimp.

Originally Posted by Cispook

I’m going to give one a try. Will let y’all know how it performs

The Amazon version has dies in "square mm." There is a conversion chart to AWG. The Amazon's smallest dies are for 6 AWG wire up to 4/0 AWG or 300 mm2.
The problem with the Harbor Freight one at the same price is the dies are not any standard. At first they just put numbers on the dies, but when people complained, instead of making a standard, they just added "AWG" after the number. There's a die marked 7 AWG when there's no 7 AWG wire in the US. However, mechanically, the press seems to work fine.
The biggest complaint of the Amazon or HF hydraulic presses is the dies don't align perfectly so you can get "bunny ears" on a crimp. As someone noted, rotate the crimp 1/3 and crimp again.
Renting a crimper is just as expensive as buying one. It's how I get most of my tools, one at a time.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

....There's a die marked 7 AWG when there's no 7 AWG wire in the US. ...

Hi

Odd numbered wire gages are uncommon, but not impossible to find. Should you ever be in a *very* weight constrained situation (an aircraft is one example) the stuff is out there. Finding it at anything close to a rational price .... forget it. ....

Bob

[Cispook]

So I gave the Harbor Freight crimping tool a test today. New eyelets on the battery cables. Overall very pleased. Well worth the cost for a non-professional tool that honestly will see only 20 or 30 use cycles in my lifetime.
Well packaged; clean and easy to operate. It does make flat rabbit ears so I took another’s recommendation and rotated each job to ensure a good crimp. First time around I didn’t get a good crimp and it was end user failure (my fault). A few photographs below

[Cispook]

Originally Posted by Cispook

So I gave the Harbor Freight crimping tool a test today. New eyelets on the battery cables. Overall very pleased. Well worth the cost for a non-professional tool that honestly will see only 20 or 30 use cycles in my lifetime.
Well packaged; clean and easy to operate. It does make flat rabbit ears so I took another’s recommendation and rotated each job to ensure a good crimp. First time around I didn’t get a good crimp and it was end user failure (my fault). A few photographs below
Attachment 307621Attachment 307622Attachment 307623Attachment 307624

I have no clue why the photos are duplicated. If an admin wants to delete the second set I would be appreciative.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Cispook

So I gave the Harbor Freight crimping tool a test today. New eyelets on the battery cables. Overall very pleased. Well worth the cost for a non-professional tool that honestly will see only 20 or 30 use cycles in my lifetime.
Well packaged; clean and easy to operate. It does make flat rabbit ears so I took another’s recommendation and rotated each job to ensure a good crimp. First time around I didn’t get a good crimp and it was end user failure (my fault). A few photographs below

Great Job! I see the heat shrink ready to go on.
I opted for the Amazon version because the dies were marked in some common fashion, in their case, mm2 (square mm). Both were about the same price, and maybe came down the same assembly line. I think the Amazon version has larger dies too. 6 AWG is as SMALL as it goes.
I'm impressed with your crimp.
When I took my batteries apart, I saw Airstream made battery cables using 6 AWG and a hammer crimp. (that's when you put a big dent in the terminal to compress it.) I thought I could do better even if I don't have the crimper from NASA.
Someday, I'll make a crimp and cut it in half to see if it's really a solid mass of copper.

[Cispook]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

Great Job! I see the heat shrink ready to go on.
I opted for the Amazon version because the dies were marked in some common fashion, in their case, mm2 (square mm). Both were about the same price, and maybe came down the same assembly line. I think the Amazon version has larger dies too. 6 AWG is as SMALL as it goes.
I'm impressed with your crimp.
When I took my batteries apart, I saw Airstream made battery cables using 6 AWG and a hammer crimp. (that's when you put a big dent in the terminal to compress it.) I thought I could do better even if I don't have the crimper from NASA.
Someday, I'll make a crimp and cut it in half to see if it's really a solid mass of copper.

Thanks. To me it’s what works. If I was going to do hundreds of crimps I would have sprung for a professional tool ... I figured this tool was just above a hammer crimp and below NASA.