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Can you recommend a good, affordable crimping plier ?

I am amazed at the price range in wire crimping pliers. I am currently using a cheapo 14 dollar Harbor Freight crimper that is okay for the trailer wiring I'm doing. I’d like to get a better crimp plier and figured why not get something high quality that might double later on for aircraft wiring if and when I ever build anything.

I kind of got really religious regarding crimping tools after reading this thread over on the Vansairforce website. It is a somber discussion of the owner/pilot of a Vans RV10 ( N289DT ) that bought the farm, in part, due to electrical issues. The full NTSB report cites electrical connector and other related electrical wiring issues.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=44934

Anyway, regarding some decent crimping pliers, here are some of the usual suspects. I look forward to hearing your recommendations and experiences with crimping pliers.

AMP Pro Crimper II


Crimpermaster


Seal-All Crimp Tool

Stein has vetted out some of the better affordable electrical tools and sells them here: http://www.steinair.com/store.cfm?tlcatid=28

Got everything I needed for my RV-9A here and the tools were very adequate.

I've had good results with this $40 PDIG crimper:

http://www.bandc.aero/aircraft-electrical-tools.aspx

I like klein crimpers for most things and solder for anything important.

Nosedragger wrote:I like klein crimpers for most things and solder for anything important.

Yep

Do some looking on Ebay....I got my AMP Pro-crimp for about $20. It really DOES make a difference!
John

Soldering of aircraft electrical connections is not an approved method. The solder wicks up the wire and creates a hard spot. Over time the individual strands of the wire break from vibration.

I have a AMP Pro-crimp, it not only crimps the connector to the wire but the insulation sleeve in aircraft quality connectors to the insulation on the wire giving additional mechanical support to the connection. I actually have two of these, one that does normal ring type terminals and one that does Molex pins and sockets, plus I have an interchangeable die set that allows me to crimp RG58 and RG400 coax cable.

I agree with John, ebay has some great deals, including buying "never used" if you have a little time to watch for a week or so.

Steinair is a great source of tools, supplies, and informational videos on how to do it.

Tim A&P IA

Decide on a brand and style of connector first, then buy the crimper that is designed and approved for that connector. I make that recommendation after having spent a life-time working at the highest levels in the high tech and industrial electrical control and termination business.

Not to beat a dead horse, but solder is the last option for the reasons mentioned.

A great investment is a DMC crimper and a selection of adapters. You will spend about 200 on eBay if you get lucky.

Otherwise, Mouser has some great import selections for about 40 bucks if all you want to terminate are F-style crimps.

I'm confused. I watch a reputable aviation and avionics shop solder wires all the time. Stein posts it on youtube. What's the deal?

Solder sleeves and splices are different than terminating pins. The sleeves terminate the shielding, and are the best way to do it. The insulation makes a strain relief for bending loads. Same for splices. Not so for pin terminations. Without the strain relief, the solder stiffens the strands to the point that all the bending takes place at a single location adjacent to the solder rather than being distributed. the result is fatigue breakage over time. In addition, properly executed crimp connections are actually more reliable electrically than solder connections in many cases, a fact that is frequently contrary to intuition for some. They hold up better from thermal cycling and mechanical loading.

On the other hand, soldered connectors are used with good results in a lot of applications despite being more time consuming and messy.

lesuther wrote:Solder sleeves and splices are different than terminating pins. The sleeves terminate the shielding, and are the best way to do it. The insulation makes a strain relief for bending loads. Same for splices. Not so for pin terminations. Without the strain relief, the solder stiffens the strands to the point that all the bending takes place at a single location adjacent to the solder rather than being distributed. the result is fatigue breakage over time. In addition, properly executed crimp connections are actually more reliable electrically than solder connections in many cases, a fact that is frequently contrary to intuition for some. They hold up better from thermal cycling and mechanical loading.

On the other hand, soldered connectors are used with good results in a lot of applications despite being more time consuming and messy.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense..