Noticed a big difference in my crimps after switching to a ratchet tool

I used to just use a cheap pair of plier-style crimpers from the hardware store at JBG Aviation. After about 6 months of struggling with intermittent connections on D-sub pins, I tried a ratchet crimper from Daniels. The before and after on pull test results was night and day, I haven't had a single failure since. Has anyone else made that switch or found another tool that made a similar difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_torres838d ago

The ratchet tool really locks you into a consistent depth and pressure every time, which is the biggest game changer. With plier style crimpers it's too easy to under crimp or over crimp without realizing it until you see the connection fail. I had the same thing with my D-sub pins on some flight sim panels I build, after switching to a Daniel's I stopped having random dropouts. The pull test is the real proof too, you can yank on those pins and they hold like they're welded in there. Once you get used to that clean click of the ratchet releasing, there's no going back.

abby6988d ago

That bit about "the real proof" with the pull test is exactly what my buddy Mike found out the hard way... He was building some audio rigs for a local theater and using those cheap plier crimpers on XLR pins. He thought he had everything good, but during a dress rehearsal the sound kept cutting out. @faith_torres83 is spot on about the ratchet release click too - Mike finally borrowed my Daniels and tried the same connectors, did a pull test on a few and half of them actually slid right off the wire. He told me he felt like an idiot for fighting with those connections for weeks when the tool was the problem the whole time. Now he's got his own ratchet set and won't even touch the old plier style ones anymore.