I used to think the new fiber optic crimpers were just a waste of money

We had a job on a G550 last month where we had to re-run a bunch of avionics bay data cables. My old metal crimper kept giving us a 3 dB loss on the tester, no matter how careful we were. The lead tech brought in his new plastic-handled one from a brand I'd never heard of, and our loss dropped to under 1 dB on the first try. It turns out the old one's jaw alignment was off by a hair, something you'd never see just looking at it. Has anyone else had a tool quietly go bad like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthewperry2mo ago

Well, my old crimper has been lying to me for years.

hunt.rowan2mo ago

What kind of lies was it telling, @matthewperry? Mine always shows a perfect crimp, but then the connection feels loose and fails later. I started testing with a cheap multimeter and realized the numbers were way off. It makes you question every project you've ever finished with that tool.

iris_green8424d ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard! Honestly, I had the same issue with my old crimper and it drove me nuts. What finally worked for me was switching to a ratcheting crimper, @hunt.rowan. It applies consistent pressure every time so you get the same crimp regardless of your grip strength. Before I got that, I'd spend hours rechecking connections and it was such a headache. The multimeter trick is smart, it really saves you the guesswork.