Small gauge crimper

[Leo3]

Recommendation for 18ga crimper w/ heat shrink? I'm trying Will's commercial electric one which he actually says he doesn't crimp below 16ga and I'm starting to see why. It just doesn't seem to crimp enough. Should I pick up a pair of the Channellock ones on his page? Or use the tooth (uninsulated) part instead of the insulated part of the CE ones? Or ratchet, which I don't have but Will's crimper video makes them look nice. Also best I can tell those are only for insulated, when I clicked on the amazon link. Help! Thanks.

 

[Zil]

Get a ratchetting hand operated crimper listed for heat shrink. I have one from Grote that does 8 to 22 awg. But it cost over $100. There are good tools available at very reasonable prices here; https://shop.marinehowto.com/products There are many on Amazon for $15 - $20

 

[Leo3]

Get a ratchetting hand operated crimper listed for heat shrink. I have one from Grote that does 8 to 22 awg. But it cost over $100. There are good tools available at very reasonable prices here; https://shop.marinehowto.com/products There are many on Amazon for $15 - $20

Do most of these ratcheting crimpers only work for insulated? I'm working with insulated right now, but might not always be? Or perhaps the hand tool is a little easier to use for non insulated because you can more easily see your work.

 

[Leo3]

It definitely looks to me like the ratcheting crimpers have one die for insulated and another for heat shrink. Like when you click on Will's Titan ones there are multiple purchase options on Amazon, one of them being specifically for heat shrink, NOT insulated, which I think is thicker.

 

[Zil]

There is insulated, there is heat shrink, they both take special crimpers. There are other type terminals. If want to learn more this is a long winded but excellent post. https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

 

[OzSolar]

There is insulated, there is heat shrink, they both take special crimpers. There are other type terminals. If want to learn more this is a long winded but excellent post. https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

Thanks, that was a great article. Sure helped me. FWIW when I followed the link to the tool it was broken but after a little bouncing around on the website I see the author has had a stroke in September and was forced to close his store.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

when I followed the link to the tool

Good crimpers are worth it.

Personally I do not use sleeve-insulated or shrink crimps. I use bare crimps and most often a “B” crimper tool.
Oddly enough, with reviews having varying ratings, the BougeRV MC4 crimpers do an excellent job. I keep meaning to try them on regular terminals but haven’t remembered to do it as I have several other crimpers I like for that.
I do have one “pliers” iWiss crimper that is a joy to use mechanically, dexterially. Except that it sucks for many of the terminals I use. It does fairly well on the hardware store insulated ‘crush’ type crimps that I remove the plastic from and use heatshrink after crimping when I need something quick and I’m out of whatever terminal. I think the issue is not all “AWG” crimps are actually USA-sized and the slight differences (that shouldn’t exist) keep it from crimping tight enough. So it might not be the tool.