Here I have used my side cutters to nip away at the crimped then soldered AMP PIDG insulated terminal. As can be seen the solder did NOT wick past the crimp-band area and create a hard spot. This is because I made the crimp with proper tooling to begin with thus making soldering unnecessary. If you used a crappy tool, yes you would create a hard spot and yes the solder can wick beyond the crimp-band area.
IMPORTANT: These images are for illustrative purposes only and are not a suggestion nor recommendation to crimp and use solder. As they say; your boat, your choice.
Which Crimpers Do I Use For Insulated Terminals?
I actually don't use many of the crimpers shown in the body of this article, not that they are not okay tools, but as a professional I prefer the crimps made with professional level tools like shown here..
If I am putting my name on a crimp only professional grade tools such as these AMP crimpers will make me happy. Please do not feel you need to run out and buy these, as everyone has their level of quality that will make them happy, mine is obscenely high.
These parallel-action crimp tools are used in the aerospace industry to make certified aerospace quality crimp terminations. They can be re-built and re-calibrated by certified re-builders / re-calibrators and will literally last a lifetime. Each of these tools has made thousands and thousands of crimps and they remain in-spec.
The one on the right crimps blue and red insulated spade and ring terminals and the one on the left crimps yellow insulated spade & ring terminals only.
The gold standard AMP T-Head crimper on the right is part# 59250 and sells new for $1347.00. The one on the left is part # 59239-4 and sells for $671.00. They can often be found used through a re-builder or re-calibration specialist for considerably less money.
Before you can begin to complain about how expensive a DIY/mid grade crimp tool is just think about what the ones I use cost.. (wink)
What About Heat Shrink Crimps?
While I love heat shrink crimp connectors I was never fully satisfied with the available crimp tools for professional everyday use. I first developed some custom tools by modifying existing crimp tool frames, testing the pull strength and then worked closely with a German first then a USA manufacturer, who builds crimp tools for AMP, to land on this tool.
The Pro-HST crimper is what I consider a pro-level tool for heat shrink crimp terminals. While this tool is not inexpensive it is made right here in the USA in small lot quantities. The pricing certainly reflects that it is US made and made in small quantities. I generally sell this tool to professionals and occasionally a very discriminating DIY.
The Crimp Dies Do Not Just Squash The Terminal
Cheaper tools essentially squash the terminal into an oval shape. With the Pro-HST the terminal fists with less space between the crimp nest-walls of the crimp die. The jaws then come down and compress the terminals so it has a more 360 degree compression of the terminal rather than just a squish action. In testing the Pro-HST beats all my others in terms of pull out strength for heat shrink terminals, including comparisons against high end German tools that cost 4X as much.
The Pro-HST Heat Shrink Terminal Crimp Tool
THIS PRODUCT NOW AVAILABLE IN THE NEW MHT WEB STORE, CLICK BELOW
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