Harbor Freight ratchet crimpers

[signcrafter]

Are these ratchet crimpers any good for ten bucks, http://www.harborfreight.com/ratcheting-crimping-tool-97420.html? It says it works with insulated and uninsulated terminals, not sure how one head can do both but that's what it says. It gets pretty good reviews on the HF site but wondering if anyone here has one and how they like it? As of now I just use my klien hand crimpers but thought for ten bucks if it works good I would pick up the ratcheting crimper.

 

[kf4zht]

Not sure on those but the delcity house brand crimpers are really good for the money. Have a few pairs with different dies. The handles on those look close, would have to see the dies up close

 

[1949 caddyman]

I bought them & the fancy wire strippers. Took them both back.

 

[diggerrick]

Try asking here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27192&highlight=harbor+freight+pass%2Ffail

 

[67carl]

I used them when I installed 5 gauges (plus some other stuff) in my car and they worked great, no issues. There are 3 colors that correspond to the crimp connector you are using and you can adjust the amount the tool "crimps", so you adjust it if isn't crimping enough for the brand of connectors your using. Well worth the $ IMHO.

 

[StevePgh]

I have a moderately expensive Taiwan small gauge ratcheting crimper for dealing with the tiny Molex edge card connectors used in pinball machines. After doing hundreds of crimps, I tried looking for a reasonably priced set of dies to fit the standard insulated and non-insulated terminals because the crimps from that tool are so much better than the el-cheapo crimpers, and I didn't find any that would be a direct fit.

I decided to try the HF one when it was on sale plus 25% coupon. Overall, it's OK - especially for $8 out the door. From a build quality perspective, it is comparable to the $30-$40 crimpers found in typical retail auto part/Radio Shack/ Big Box stores. I can't speak for the difference in the precision of the dies or output crimp quality between the HF and other brands.

The 'adjustment' on it is not variable enough if you are using the smallest gauge wire supported by the terminal - but that could be an issue with the die. If you are using the largest gauge wire supported from the terminal it does make a solid crimp. This lack of 'real' adjustment is the same on both the HF crimper and the Taiwan crimper.

I have no idea where you can get different dies cheap, but I'd like to know. Amazon sells Klein Die Sets for $13-$18 each, but I don't know if they would fit either of the frames I have. The Klein VDV205-036 die set is what you'd want for non-insulated terminals (if it fits). The HF crimper will absolutely NOT do non-insulated terminals.

 

[stage20]

i had a set of taiwan crimpers that worked great. friend borrowed them, never retruned them. bought a set of the HF ones and wires will pull out of the connectors even if you use the size crimper smaller than you should. im looking for a decent ratchet crimper right now. all of them seem to be exact copy of hf with different color handle. dont want china junk.

 

[jkwilson]

I've had a set for about 6 months. No complaints for the price. Way better than the standard cheap crimpers. Probably buy better ones if I was using them to make a living, but I like them.

 

[plinker]

Tool-aid has a decent ratcheting crimper, have had mine for well over a year I'm sure no issues as of yet.

 

[rice rocket]

Damn, I was hoping these were good for RJ-45.

 

[MR_T]

I have these, they worked fine the first few times I used them. Nothing fancy but they ge the job done