Wasted $80 on a cheap crimper that ruined 12 pins

Bought a no-name crimper off Amazon and it crushed half my pins on a 737 tray install. Had to redo the whole harness, cost me 3 hours of overtime. Anyone else get burned by budget crimping tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.willow7d ago

wait, is this really that big of a deal? i mean yeah it sucks but 3 hours of overtime to redo 12 pins? unless you were using some super fragile pins i feel like you coulda just straightened them out with needlenose pliers and been done in 20 minutes. i've definitely used some cheap crimpers that mangled stuff but i usually just bend em back and move on. also $80 for a no-name crimper is kinda steep, you can get a decent one from harbor freight for like $30 that works fine for most stuff. maybe check the die alignment next time before you start crimping that many pins?

rose_hart316d ago

Hold on, Harbor Freight $30 crimpers? I gotta push back a little on that. The cheap ones from there are fine for like, battery terminals or maybe a few random connectors, but for precision pins like Molex or Dupont? They usually smush the pins instead of crimping them right, and the die alignment is all over the place. You're right that you can sometimes bend pins back with pliers, but that's a temporary fix and can mess up the contact resistance or make them loose in the housing. Also, $80 for a no name tool is steep, but the IWISS ones in that price range actually have properly machined dies and a ratchet mechanism that gives you a consistent crimp every time. It's one of those things where you save money upfront with the cheap tool, then pay with your time fixing bad connections later.