Wasted $200 on a cheap crimp tool from Amazon

Bought a no-name wire crimper last month for $25 trying to save a buck on a harness job. It slipped halfway through the first connector and I had to redo the whole bundle. Ended up buying a Daniels Manufacturing tool for $220 and it worked perfect the first time. Anybody else learn the hard way that cheap crimpers just aren't worth it?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley431mo ago

Man oh man, you hit the nail on the head. I did the exact same thing with a $30 crimper from some random brand. First connector I tried, it mashed the wire out the side instead of crimping it. Ruined a whole batch of Deutsch pins. Had to toss the whole harness and start over. My buddy lent me his proper crimper after that and it was night and day. Never again buying cheap tools for electrical work.

diana_west271mo ago

Yo @riley43, but isn’t a real Deutsch tool actually meant for solid barrel pins?

claire_hart531mo agoMost Upvoted

Just read a blog post about this exact thing last week. The writer said REAL Deutsch tools are precision cut for specific pin sizes, so cheap knockoffs always crush things wrong. @diana_west27 you're totally right that solid barrel pins need that tight tolerance. Riley's story about messing up a whole harness just proves it.