What you describe really is the best solution. I think its the high price tag of a Nicopress tool that scares people off, but Loos & Co tools are cheaper and of high quality, and a tool that does only 1/16" is actually rather affordable.
Lot's more assembly time as well with Nicropress.
We went the 1/16 AC route with our early generation B/D's and T/H's, was not as happy having a tiny bit of frayed AC cable coming out of the nicropress after. Lot's and lot's of complaints about people stabbing their fingers, thus we looked for an alternative.