Gary Lewis Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Thanks for doing the legwork. Looking forward to the update. But I'm interested in why you would need a hydraulic crimper for a #10 or 12 wire? 1/0, 2/0, yeah I see that... Thanks, guys. As for needing a hydraulic crimper for #10 & 12 wires, I can't say that I really do. The need is for a crimper that does a good job on 2/0 wire, which this crimper is said to do, but it just so happens to also do down to #12. So I'll give it a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Thanks, guys. As for needing a hydraulic crimper for #10 & 12 wires, I can't say that I really do. The need is for a crimper that does a good job on 2/0 wire, which this crimper is said to do, but it just so happens to also do down to #12. So I'll give it a try. Looking forward to the results as well. Have used my smaller one like this a number of times over the past few days and already it's getting finicky on the strokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Looking forward to the results as well. Have used my smaller one like this a number of times over the past few days and already it's getting finicky on the strokes. Update: The crimper should be delivered on April 6th. So they are now in stock. Meanwhile I've been looking for good terminals. I need some to install the fender-mounted starter relay. So I did a lot of searching and found what looked to be a very good terminal set: Gardner Bender 15-108 Electrical Ring Terminal, 12-10 AWG terminals. But a bit of reading on them seems to say they are not made in the USA and are of inferior quality, which may mean they are not from Gardner Bender. So I moved on and found this Molex 194130109 Solderless Terminals Kit from Amazon. It purports to be made in the USA and has excellent reviews. So I ordered a set. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Update: The crimper should be delivered on April 6th. So they are now in stock. Meanwhile I've been looking for good terminals. I need some to install the fender-mounted starter relay. So I did a lot of searching and found what looked to be a very good terminal set: Gardner Bender 15-108 Electrical Ring Terminal, 12-10 AWG terminals. But a bit of reading on them seems to say they are not made in the USA and are of inferior quality, which may mean they are not from Gardner Bender. So I moved on and found this Molex 194130109 Solderless Terminals Kit from Amazon. It purports to be made in the USA and has excellent reviews. So I ordered a set. We shall see. The unfortunate downside to a global economy and corporatism is product made "to a cost" on the other side of the planet. There's not much we can do about that. I'm looking forward to your review when you get the press and lugs in hand. Hubble used to be in my backyard (Shelton or Stratford) now their headquarters is a community college (not paying taxes) and you can guess the rest... Trying to source what we really need is becoming a game of cat and mouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 The unfortunate downside to a global economy and corporatism is product made "to a cost" on the other side of the planet. There's not much we can do about that. I'm looking forward to your review when you get the press and lugs in hand. Hubble used to be in my backyard (Shelton or Stratford) now their headquarters is a community college (not paying taxes) and you can guess the rest... Trying to source what we really need is becoming a game of cat and mouse. Was just sharing my experiences shopping on Amazon with my daughter and SiL. They've recently purchased things from Amazon that are blatant copies of name-brand goods. But the font is wrong in the packaging, the material thickness is 1/2 what it should be, etc when compared to the genuine goods they can buy locally. So I'm confident that the Gardner Bender terminals are copies, not genuine. Hopefully the Molex are genuine. But I'm getting very wary of things purchased from Amazon. Even what are said to be name-brand items aren't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRittaler Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Update: The crimper should be delivered on April 6th. So they are now in stock. Meanwhile I've been looking for good terminals. I need some to install the fender-mounted starter relay. So I did a lot of searching and found what looked to be a very good terminal set: Gardner Bender 15-108 Electrical Ring Terminal, 12-10 AWG terminals. But a bit of reading on them seems to say they are not made in the USA and are of inferior quality, which may mean they are not from Gardner Bender. So I moved on and found this Molex 194130109 Solderless Terminals Kit from Amazon. It purports to be made in the USA and has excellent reviews. So I ordered a set. We shall see. Hi Gary, When you get the crimper can you measure the dimensions of the 2AWG die? I have a Harbor Freight version that has the dies marked in AWG, but I have to use their 0AWG to crimp my 2AWG flexoprene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRy Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 Hi Gary, When you get the crimper can you measure the dimensions of the 2AWG die? I have a Harbor Freight version that has the dies marked in AWG, but I have to use their 0AWG to crimp my 2AWG flexoprene. Just to add my .02 I have had some experience in car audio, Involving very high amperage draws, Parallel and series battery connections. In doing so, I decided to see how absolutely dirt cheap I could do some of the cabling and terminals. Used, discarded welding leads partial roll of 3/4 copper tubing, cut into 3" sections, one end pounded flat, drilled for whatever sized terminal up to 1/2" Soldiered with plumbing soldier and flux to the 0 or 00 leads. Withstood clamped amperage draws in excess of 500 @ 14.6v in a span of 17ft repeatedly, for 18 months before the battery bank boiled dry. Don't take my advice, but in summary don't be scared to try something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 Just to add my .02 I have had some experience in car audio, Involving very high amperage draws, Parallel and series battery connections. In doing so, I decided to see how absolutely dirt cheap I could do some of the cabling and terminals. Used, discarded welding leads partial roll of 3/4 copper tubing, cut into 3" sections, one end pounded flat, drilled for whatever sized terminal up to 1/2" Soldiered with plumbing soldier and flux to the 0 or 00 leads. Withstood clamped amperage draws in excess of 500 @ 14.6v in a span of 17ft repeatedly, for 18 months before the battery bank boiled dry. Don't take my advice, but in summary don't be scared to try something. Chris - I'll be happy to measure the die, all 18 of them. And I'll also measure the die on my 16 ton crimper, which I'm sure are metric. And I'll bet yours are metric with just a table to convert them to AWG. I suspect that the TEMco die are a true hex given what the adverts say, and I know the metric ones I have aren't. They are wider than they are tall. So what I'll do is to draw up the two on CAD and post that. Ryan - I have jumper cables for my winch that are made from welding cables. They are used when the winch is on the trailer and is to be powered by the battery in the truck. They work great. But I prefer the tinned marine cable I've used elsewhere since the tinning will prevent the copper from corroding. On the use of copper tubing for terminals, I've seen that done, and I'm sure it works well. But like on the wire, I prefer the tinned ones that are closed on the end since that also protects both the terminal and the wire. Having said that, a few of us have found that the metric die don't get along very well with the standard-sized AWG lugs. But with thicker Megalugs they work pretty well, although they still leave wings. So I'm hoping the new crimper will crimp standard lugs nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machspeed Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 Chris - I'll be happy to measure the die, all 18 of them. And I'll also measure the die on my 16 ton crimper, which I'm sure are metric. And I'll bet yours are metric with just a table to convert them to AWG. I suspect that the TEMco die are a true hex given what the adverts say, and I know the metric ones I have aren't. They are wider than they are tall. So what I'll do is to draw up the two on CAD and post that. Ryan - I have jumper cables for my winch that are made from welding cables. They are used when the winch is on the trailer and is to be powered by the battery in the truck. They work great. But I prefer the tinned marine cable I've used elsewhere since the tinning will prevent the copper from corroding. On the use of copper tubing for terminals, I've seen that done, and I'm sure it works well. But like on the wire, I prefer the tinned ones that are closed on the end since that also protects both the terminal and the wire. Having said that, a few of us have found that the metric die don't get along very well with the standard-sized AWG lugs. But with thicker Megalugs they work pretty well, although they still leave wings. So I'm hoping the new crimper will crimp standard lugs nicely. On a side note, if you're like me and only need a couple of cables every now and then, I highly recommend the following: https://www.batterycablesusa.com/ I ordered battery cables from them and was very pleased with the cables and their services. The cables ordered are very high quality and the price was quite reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Just to add my .02 I have had some experience in car audio, Involving very high amperage draws, Parallel and series battery connections. In doing so, I decided to see how absolutely dirt cheap I could do some of the cabling and terminals. Used, discarded welding leads partial roll of 3/4 copper tubing, cut into 3" sections, one end pounded flat, drilled for whatever sized terminal up to 1/2" Soldiered with plumbing soldier and flux to the 0 or 00 leads. Withstood clamped amperage draws in excess of 500 @ 14.6v in a span of 17ft repeatedly, for 18 months before the battery bank boiled dry. Don't take my advice, but in summary don't be scared to try something. You don't have any problem with plumbing flux wicking up the wire strands and corroding inside the jacket??? The cable kit I bought from RJM had little solder 'pellets' in the lugs. You'd clamp the lug in a vise, push the stripped end of the cable against it and heat the whole thing with a torch. When the solder melted and you could feel the cable bottom in the lug you were done. And it would solidify quickly because of the heatsink of vise and 2/0 cable. I'm not sure how rosin flux would work with the newer lead free plumbing solders, but the old school No-Korrode acid flux would have that cable green within a week outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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