Crimpers-buy once; cry once

[JoeHam]

I have the Iwiss version of the crimper on the left and it’s great for smaller crimps. 8 - 1/0. Hexagon crimp.

See here :

Amazon.com

The picture on the right is a cutter.

 

[HighTechLab]

My poor temco.

Luckily they are covering under warranty and the handle from my junk Chinese crimper actually was interchangable

 

[HighTechLab]

Note, this crimper gets used daily and has already made many hundreds of crimps. I think it's my fault for wanting to make sure my crimps are totally solid.

 

[Bluedog225]

Wow. 22 lbs of crimpy goodness. This thing is a beast.

 

[HRTKD]

That's a nice set of dies in that kit.

 

[HighTechLab]

Wow. 22 lbs of crimpy goodness. This thing is a beast.

Same kit that I got. By the way on the Windynation 2awg lugs that I use, I notice I can't get a perfect crimp unless I use a 4awg+ die on the bottom and the 2awg die on the top.

 

[HRTKD]

Same kit that I got. By the way on the Windynation 2awg lugs that I use, I notice I can't get a perfect crimp unless I use a 4awg+ die on the bottom and the 2awg die on the top.

I had never thought to use mismatched dies.

 

[Firstascent]

Same kit that I got. By the way on the Windynation 2awg lugs that I use, I notice I can't get a perfect crimp unless I use a 4awg+ die on the bottom and the 2awg die on the top.

What happened when you used a full 2AWG die set instead of half and half 2 and 4?

 

[Bluedog225]

also curious what happens with the 2plus size? Could you post a pic of a mismatched crimp?

 

[HighTechLab]

It squeezed out like a pancake. Will do a test/pic tomorrow when I'm back in the shop.

 

[Bluedog225]

It looks like all the dies have a + size. For handling lug differences.

My issue with these is how long to keep pumping. The instructions day something like “until substantial resistance is met.” Not super helpful.

But the crimps are NICE.

 

[HRTKD]

It looks like all the dies have a + size. For handling lug differences.

My issue with these is how long to keep pumping. The instructions day something like “until substantial resistance is met.” Not super helpful.

But the crimps are NICE.

My first round of crimping 2/0, I pumped until the two dies met. I never had a failed crimp with that technique. The flange of the lug was sometimes a bit pronounced though. Heat shrink tubing helped cover some of my less aesthetically pleasing results.

For the next round, I'm going to crimp a little less and see what the results are. Same cable, same lugs, same crimper.

 

[Tecnodave]

I have both of the Temco hydraulic crippers. The big difference is that the dies are sized for U.L. listed connectors, not the offshore thin ones. Using the larger crimper I have done at least 350 crimps at 2/0 to 600MCM with no failed crimps. The really thin connectors sold on ebay....you will need to do several test crimps to get the right die size. The die and terminal need to match. I use Thomas Betts terminals

Temco really does stand behind their products, I use a number of their metal punches as well

 

[curiouscarbon]

Hi!

Started with this:

HYCLAT 10 Tons Hydraulic Wire Battery Cable Lug Terminal Crimper Crimping Tool With 9 Pairs of Dies​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XR8BY65/

Needed more. This one works pretty nice for the size range it covers.

Second round:

TEMCo Lug Crimper Tool TH0012-8 AWG - 0000 AWG(4/0) DIELESS Indent​

TEMCo Lug Crimper Tool TH0012-8 AWG - 0000 AWG(4/0) DIELESS Indent Electrical Battery Terminal Cable Wire 5 YEAR WARRANTY - - Amazon.com

TEMCo Lug Crimper Tool TH0012-8 AWG - 0000 AWG(4/0) DIELESS Indent Electrical Battery Terminal Cable Wire 5 YEAR WARRANTY - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

it’s pretty great. lotsa leverage easy and Firm crimps. but for big lugs it feels a bit skimp.

Round three:

TEMCo TH0020 Lug Crimper Tool for 10 AWG - 400 MCM wire lugs- DIELESS Indent​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJYY5GA/

it’s awesome. i love it. the handles twist and extend for additional leverage and allows me to crimp the everloving %^*& out of the lug with minimal effort on my part. even for medium sizes like 8-2awg i still like to crimp with this, if the lug is chunk.

these three are my “crimp army”

the extendable arms on the third one are a favored feature for me vs the second one. i barely use the second one now due to the ergonomic improvement of TH0020 over TH0012-8.

i’m an amateur

hope this helps

 

[corporate.joe]

So, like I said, I'm cheap but I'd like a backup if (when?) my cheap Chinese hydraulic crimpers leak. Has anyone tried this caliber of manual crimpers and had bad luck? They sell for about $30...
View attachment 71997

I have that very same kit purchased from amazon. Hasn't failed me. Incredibly easy to crimp, effort wise. Is a little awkward to hold and insert the lug and wire with only two hands. I've only crimped 2awg and 6awg with it. The wire cutter works great for both of those as well. Smaller blade cuts the jacket on 10/6awg solar wire great.

Joe-

 

[Tecnodave]

Personally I much prefer the 6 sided die crimpers for multistrand wire although in industry we generally used the punch crimpers on 19 strand service wire. I beleive there is a much more uniform crimping with the die sized to the terminal

 

[Bluedog225]

You can clamp the bottom handle to your working surface and it makes one person operating much easier. A notched piece of wood works.

 

[HRTKD]

Hey Ray (@RayfromTX), I watched your "Size Really Does Matter" video a couple weeks ago. That's a good one to show newbies that cringe at the cost of big cables.

 

[railcon56]

I hope this helps.

Terrific Ray Thank you.. You really DO Build Cool Stuff.

 

[Firstascent]

Great video @RayfromTX im definitely saving to send to folks in the future.