Almost feel as if my word is as if written in some holy
book to be quoted. Nope, just that my concepts in
crimping I got in the industry and college when I got where I got exactly matched in concept and with agreement style that of where I work that wound up in the same way by also having studied the concept. In other words, a
crimp tool that displaces material instead of crushes that material tends to work better in
crimping - no matter the
crimp type, than those types of
crimp tool that smashes a
crimp.
Overall theory is in making a
crimp sufficiently encapsulate and apply even pressure to all parts of the stranded
wire surface by way of a tooth displacing
crimp material into the
wire well area so the individual strands of
wire lacks area to deflect and
shift to where there is less pressure. This as opposed to a sort of crushing
crimp such as an oval
crimp which simply as if pliers or a vise smashing the
crimp onto the
wire, some parts about the
wire having a more as it were intimate connection with the
crimp terminal than those areas of the
wire strands that are towards the edges which do not have as much pressure applied to them. It’s a general concept of if a circle has the same ID as an oval once the circle is smashed or one more C-Shaped tooth crimped circle now has less ID.
Those McMaster Carr tools listed are not persay the best nor Klien or Stakon
insulation displacement type. They will work for the most part but not what I would choose other than as plausible type of tooth tool that will work. The jaw itself is cut away in recess sub-jaw similar to am AMP
crimp tool in doing damage to the normal
crimp in a way that is hard to explain. Still it is economical and easy to get.
Ah’ the Vatco 1900 tool... Not good as a
wire stipper and at times even sufficient as a larger size
bolt cutter, but them
crimp jaws work well for most not high temperature
crimp terminals, and to the best of my knowledge, is the only tool that has all three main
wire gauges on the proper side of the hinge
in one tool. Metal
thickness on the
crimp tool is not extreme but sufficient. As I was told in approving this tool “not the best but marginally sufficient.” Still not the greatest of tools but a overall good tool. This tool is perhaps the only tool on the market that will
crimp a flag
terminal (90 degree ring terminals) without needing special work with a grinder to get rid of the cutting
edge that otherwise damages the
crimp. This granted that for a 12ga
wire on a flag
terminal into the 16ga
crimp jaw at the
edge of such a Vatco tool, it is not proper but does work better than other methods otherwise available. Watch them
wire stripping jaws when cutting a screw - them is dangerous in making nasty cuts into the meat of your
hand. Best to grind the stripper jaws away but be careful not to grind away the stops or you could over
crimp and stress the
wire crimped in over tension. This plus the Vatco tool, being a
rivet and only 1/8" steel does deflect and
bend in making screw cuts not always nice, and or getting a bent or broken tool. Not so bad as some metric screw cutter multi-tools I have used over the years made out of very much lesser grades of steel - sufficient to
bend the tool before it cuts a screw,. But still while ability to cut a screw in length is useful, such a tool is not optimum for larger screws.
Than again, I gave Mayhem a set of them a few years ago. He recently sent me an E-Mail about having broken them (in the photo). Ah’ what a shame and that was one of four I bought and that tool goes back years with me, but I can easily see how it could happen - I still use a pair at home and often question when they will break. Don’t use such a tool on high temperature
crimp terminals.
These days I more use the Klien 1005 and 1006
crimp tools. Same tooth, more rugged. Granted I have no idea of why such a tool has a set of dikes at the tip and often grind such a cutting tool off so I can now use them for flag terminals. These are the proper “Stakon” tools - just by a different brand. Many brands of tool offer the exact same product which no doubt if not exact same in spec. are made by the same company just with different brand names on them. Two tools however to buy as opposed to the Vatco all
in one tool. The #1005 is a “insulated
crimp” and 14-16ga
crimp jaw tool for “uninsulated
crimp termilals.” The #1006 is for 10-12ga and 18-22ga
crimp termials also of “uninsulated
crimp terminals.” Ignore the “insulated” or “non-insulated” nature of your
crimp terminal. The pressure of the
crimp tool will displace any vinyl or nylon in the way sufficient to let the jaw of the
crimp tool displace the
terminal barrel sufficiently that you will get a proper
crimp. Only real purpose of the insulated
crimp (when you don’t apply adhesive lined
heat shrink over it) is to insulate the
barrel or even area of the
crimp against shorting. The jaw displacing
thru the
insulation and
crimp won’t
effect this
insulation over the rest of the
terminal. If in doubt, wrap the say vinyl
insulation in electrical tape or
heat shrink tubing and it’s now back to protecting conducting parts of the
crimp sufficiently. Still stick with the jaw type displacement of the material instead of just crushing the
crimp terminal.
One should note different “seats” or “saddles” available in what is a #1005 verses #1006 in a Klien brand proper “Stakon” tool. The #1005 most closely conforms to a Vatco #14-16
wire gauge size, the #1006 tool than more closely conforms to the Vatco other two sizes. On the #1005 tool, that oval
crimp is not useful for
crimping wire but is useful in prepping your
Nicopress oval sleeves for their proper
crimp - this especially for 1/16" crimps. Just use the oval
crimp to get a certain tension onto your
wire rope crimp so it does not move before you give it the proper
wire rope crimp. Also useful in ovaling and or rounding out certain stuff or in gripping stuck screw threads. Lots of leverage to that oval and that is what it is good for in my opinon.
Grind away them front dike jaws but do so really carefully because both the stop and the saddle are in perrel if you grind away even just a
bit too much as commonly done. Grind away too much and it is only good as a flag
terminal crimp tool. Grind away too much of the tip of the tool and it now damages
crimp terminals crimped under it due to the saddle having too much cut away from it. In other words, be really careful in how much of the front
edge you grind away = 50% of all of this type
crimp tool will be lost by over ambition in grinding away the front cutting
edge if you are not really really careful. Half my
crimp tools of that type now are designated only for doing flag terminals now due to this over ambitious grinding.
I do not recommend grinding away that front cutting
edge of a “Stakon tool” unless you have need of
crimping old style Union 2P&G (meaning two pin and
ground pin) /
Stage Pin (as now said) / Slip
plug terminals. Got like five of these tools in my work box now between shop tools and my own and only two of them I feel have the proper cut to them once grinded or not so at all in having gotten to it yet. Ignore the cutting tip and use the tool as designed in having stops for a proper tension as designed.
That said. While not ideal, I do also allow a ratcheting tooth Paladin tool for
crimping terminals at work. It’s jaws are a
bit wide but it does do a good job in not releasing until the proper tension, that you have a good
crimp. Beyond the concept of a tooth verses oval
crimp tool is just getting that
crimp tight enough so it don’t pull loose. Over the years there has been a lot of lamp bars with internal crimps becoming a constant problem of some
wire pulling free not just because of the wrong
crimp tool used, but because some weak wristed hack crimped sufficient to them but not sufficient to make a proper connection. Back to the concept that if you screw to a wall three crimps of 12/3 SOOW cable, you should be able to not just hang from it but
bounce on it without the crimps failing by way of either over or under-crimped terminals. A very good test of one’s
crimping ability I often state that I learned in college while studying the Union type
connector.
Onto the Lowes ring terminals. Every
stage pin plug I am aware of uses a #8-32 screw on it thus the #8
ring terminal - insulated or not is the proper size to fit. Insulated ring terminals for the most part on many styles of
stage pin plug will work, otherwise you just grab the ring
in one pair of pliers and the vinyl
insulation in another and just kind of twist and pull and such a thing quickly gets removed. That said, the standard #8 un-insulated or insulated
ring terminal is not what you want to be using on a old school Union
plug. That distance between the
barrel and the ring on a Union
plug is much shorter than that of a regular
ring terminal. Be mindful of this. You can make it work but it is not easy and McMaster don’t sell
Union Connector type ring terminals. They do sell the proper flag terminals however in even 14-16ga.
I shop at Lowes and Menards (Home Depot not close) at times to
stock my own garage and such sutff while more expensive than in buying it by the 100 packages will work. At times you also have to add in shipping costs to any mail order type orders. Also used to have this Ace Hardware in my area that not just stocked the Vatco 1900 tool but also stocked the 100 packs of ring terminals. Sad to say that just as everywhere else, they no longer do. Even stocked 7.5
watt outside
frost blue lamps for use in my clip lights... lucky if one can find another source, but alas they don’t. On the other
hand, as long as not the grumpy old men at your local Ace Hardware, True Value who don’t take you seriously, it is more possible to get what you can really use
thru them in
stock than
thru the chain store. This much less, good luck finding most screw sizes in the grade you want
thru the chin store at a reasonable price.
I digress, yep, go to Lowes if you only need a few and it is economical. Such a
crimp should work with your style of
stage pin plug if not
Bates, ProPin possibly Lex or Union. Need to get the proper size stud hole to the
crimp ring terminal however. It’s possible that Lowes sells the right #8 size or #6-8 size but sometimes there is holes in what they
stock for certain
wire gauges especially. If not for #8 stud, nope, it is not correct.
Home Depot brand verses Lowes... they don’t make ring terminals, most likely they carry a brand of ring terminals such as Ideal or Stakon
etc. which make a well within standard to the industry
crimp terminal that would be sufficient. All are normally the same - often it is just the flair at the
edge of the vinyl
insulation that will spell the difference between brands. That detail will only come to
play when dealing with thicker
insulation or duble wires into one
terminal.
On stripping the
wire... I am sure each pack of
crimp terminals have a instruction part on them which tells you how much
insulation to strip off. For me I tend to range between 3/16" and 1/4" and this more depends upon what type of
wire I am stipping. I tend to strip often a
bit less from a rubberized
wire than a thermoset
wire. The rubber
wire will in the
crimp terminal allow me to push that
insulation back a
bit on the
conductor thus have a
bit of bunched up material behind the
crimp, this as opposed to on thermoset
wire (plastic) that won’t give as well. For that and ideal in general, you want the
wire to range between going to the tip of the
crimp to extending beyond it by a maximum of 1/16". Main concept especially with
insulation that moves and displaces is to bunch up a
bit of it outside the
crimp so that if that
wire has moved or bent, you have
insulation covering the
wire.
Flat piece on the pins... as it were... Not totally sure what you mean but probably it means that you have old style Union if not second generation
plug where a
ring terminal is intended to be installed onto the pin. (This granted that McMaster either just started or has always carried a type of
wire washer you wrap around the
wire than screw a screw into that wrap in terminating it. - past search of mine for such a thing.)
“All
in one tools” are often not what you need, if often just crap. Nuff said - see above. “Smallish crimpers”... yep often people just getting into the industry will attempt to blend into society and by a smallish Linesmen tool also... Neither will function as well as wished for - and you let me catch you with such at tool and you are in for some intensive training in why you wasted your money in something not allowed for you to use thus that you take home at the end of the day and never bring back. Multi-tools... useless - save your money and buy a tool for its purpose not a all
in one problem solver. Even in considering such a thing I am sure you can tell a certain difference in quality of what might seem to work verses what would be ideal for any purpose.
Derekleffew.... dissappointed in ya for speaking my name as if some benchmark but not understanding what I might advise. Best to make advice your own in while not always right as mine also is not, it relies upon your own recommendation and though and not a basis of standpoint upon others that should be unapproachable unless incorrect.
Good to help, good to offer thoughts but I disagree with your advice. First, while there might be an electrically competent Threadlocker compound, I am yet to ever in the years use one. For me, electrical connections have always and possibly will always be mechanical in nature. Metal especially under
current and resistance expands and contracts, relying upon a glue to stick two different surfaces together given this, and be sufficient afterwards to withstand vibration and further use is almost an oxymoron.
For most uses of non-current conditions I normally specify one or three types of Threadlocker if not Vibertight compound, when not at times also supplemented by also a type of mechanical means but for electrical connections I never specify a threadlocker compound for any connection. Mechanical means of staying tight for me means one of a few methods instead.
Belleville washer that is a
cone shape and upon tension becomes tighter about the screw in resistance, external tooth lock washers where possible or for those screws that don’t have a head sufficient to use them internal tooth lock washers, than spring lock lock washers for normal
bolt activity to supplement lock type nuts. Than you get into material grades, Silicone bronze for a better material to conduct than zinc plated steel given a high enough
current.
This all dependant upon material and
current. For the most part I still rely upon mechanical means of fastening rather than any locking of the threads while under
current. This especially on any even
plug used. I fully expect that any
plug 20A or more once used for a time under
current will
settle and especially in the 30A up to the 60A
stage pin size, it is going to need a re-tightening after used initially. That shake the
plug test to test for a loose
terminal simply cannot be bypassed for other than
stage pin plugs where there would be a rattle given tolerances. Even for well used say 60A
stage pin plugs, once a year at very least if not more often every time they are used, it it proper and advised to re-torque them once a year at least. Otherwise, even
wire that seemingly has settled under the set screws and even under a
ferrule, or screws that have been tensioned under a lock washer can fail due to further settling. No idea of how many from 30A to 60A plugs I have had to replace over the years due to loose terminals but it is the case of expansion and contraction and wires settling in most all cases as the problem that caused a
plug to melt down.
On a 20A
stage pin plug, if
crimp type one might expect if given a tooth type
crimp tool it will no longer need to
settle and it most likely wont. Add a external tooth silicone bronze lock washer to the
plug and it most likely will be fine... don’t have all the above and under full load for a period of time - just as with those of you Euro type plugs... you need to inspect again at least after a year each connection. Lots of examples in the past of failures no matter the
plug type, and stuff that was just fine... don’t know before it fails unless one inspects every connection out of
preventative maintenance. This even if torquing the heck out of a
plug, it still can
settle up to and including a CamLoc type
plug which I normally don’t have problems with in going five pounds over the specified torque on. 400A.. Yep over torque it you have a problem, go under it and you also do. Five pounds for me means compensation for settling in the
wire on this
plug type.
Torque also means something.... how many people really read and follow that little pamphlet that comes with every new
plug you buy? How many people match the
wire strip lengths up to what if often marked inside each
plug for proper length? In many ways it I expect is a “I’m a guy thus know how to” type of thing yet one would be surprised how much problems a inproper strip length especially with the
insulation inside the
crimp terminal problems will cause with a connection.
Plug says 5/8" stripped on the
conductor.... someone stripped 1/4" and shoved it all into the
terminal. You now have most of the
conductor under a
terminal as the
insulation of the
conductor preventing
current flow as opposed to a good connection - yet most even “Professional Union” types are beyond simply reading the instructions on a
plug, or even looking at what they are doing so as to see if they are doing something wrong. This beyond some
grounding conductor on a
plug hooked up to a hot
terminal.
“Shoe Terminals” are the laymens term for
ferrule and are most used on
Bates, Pro-Pin or Lex type
stage pin plugs. Such a
terminal or
ferrule can be crimped or not. Hmm,
ferrule crimp tool... sweat - I love both my sizes of
ferrule crimp tool, they are really useful for project work but debatable for use on a
stage pin plug.
Pneumatic
crimp tool for ring terminals???? possible.. Got one for
Socapex and
Hoist Cable plugs but not one yet for ring terminals and hope not to need one.... But such a tool is possible.
Below is Mayhem's Vatco 1900 tool I gave him and he promptly broke while
crimping some high temperature
crimp terminals... and as of a few years ago some of the tools in my own tool box. Got more since than to
play with and that's the electrical tool drawer. Since than I had to move screw drivers out of that drawer
etc. Lots of toys to
play with, and evey tool/toy has a purpose. This not including pneumatic or ratcheting multi pin type toys.