HF Hydraulic crimper, I'm impressed

[jrlp]

Hey guys,

I picked this up (with coupons) as I have a big wiring job, and have lots of 2 and 4 gauge crimps to do with copper lugs. Normally I just smash them in a vise, and indent the flat spots with a triangular stake (broken end of a file), or use one of the hammer-indenting crimpers depending on how much room there is to work with.

So it came in today, and I had to do a few test crimps. I went through the wire sizes / terminals making my way to the big sizes. All I can say is WOW. This thing CRIMPS. My 14-12 gauge crimps are quite literally 50% smaller than the ChanelLok crimps. Definitely cold welding everything together (or is that plastic deformation welding?). Anyhow, the crimps seem amazing. I did a 4g crimp and was blown away at how smooth and uniform it was. As well as how far it actually compressed everything.. I think I just found the one thing HF makes well!

I'll get some pics/videos up tomorrow or the next day testing crimps on a few size wires, testing them for voltage drop, and voltage drop under load (using my welder as a power supply). I think it will blow the pants off the way I have been doing them, that's for sure! It leaves a crimp I'd put my name on for customer's cars, that's for sure!

The bad part is now I have to go buy 30 new lugs to redo all the ones I've done improperly over the years. Does anyone else have any experience with this crimper?

 

[JASTECH]

jrlp, Do you have a link?

 

[Jack Olsen]

This one?

 

[gf0012-aust]

I bought an 8 ton version off ebay about 12 months ago - works as advertised and have been impressed.

so are my mates. One of them has had it on loan for 2 months

 

[jrlp]

Yup, that's the one. 8-ton, used a free shipping, 25% off coupon.

It's great, from what I can tell it's going to be amazing. I was experimenting, and did a few with a smaller die. It made wings on the side.. quite amazing. I see myself using it several times a week, that's for sure. It included replacement o-rings/rebuild kit too!

 

[gf0012-aust]

there are 16 ton versions available now

 

[Provincial]

If it is the one Jack linked to, I am not impressed. The dies flatten out the terminal instead of swedging it tight all the way around the wire.

Getting a good 360 degree swedge is the secret to long-lasting and full-current connections. The shape of the dies is very important. This crimper appears to be a more powerful way to make the same lousy crimps as a cheap hand crimper.

 

[gf0012-aust]

proper crimping is like what the deutsch dt series do- but i've never seem them for lugs

 

[jrlp]

If it is the one Jack linked to, I am not impressed. The dies flatten out the terminal instead of swedging it tight all the way around the wire.

Getting a good 360 degree swedge is the secret to long-lasting and full-current connections. The shape of the dies is very important. This crimper appears to be a more powerful way to make the same lousy crimps as a cheap hand crimper.

Yes, the edges flatten out, but it's easily resolved. You just have to rotate it part way through the crimp, and/or use 2 sized dies. With the 4, i started it with the 2, turned it part way through, then went with 4. It did a hexagonal crimp with no flattening at all.

 

[Shadowdog500]

Yes, the edges flatten out, but it's easily resolved. You just have to rotate it part way through the crimp, and/or use 2 sized dies. With the 4, i started it with the 2, turned it part way through, then went with 4. It did a hexagonal crimp with no flattening at all.

Can you show that in your video today?

When trying different lugs and crimp tools a few years ago I tested the crimps by putting the lug in a vise and attaching a 50lb fishing scale to a loop I tied in the wire. Then I would start pulling to see how many pounds it took for the wire to pull out. The results were surprising in some cases and not surprising in others. The standard crimp set and wire from pep boys would fail at 5 to 10 lb pull. Where the crimps one the anchor marine, wire, lug, and crimper didnt fail at all( i gave up at 50 lb pull).

You may want to try this test to your crimps.

Chris

 

[Dieselbutterfly]

one of the comments on the video that jack gives a link to mentioned mismarked dies,could that explain the problem

 

[Mickey O]

I'm going to keep this tool in mind if I need smashed terminals.

 

[sanddrag]

I've done a lot of 6 gauge terminals with this crimper. It does a good solid crimp, but the "wings" it creates in the terminal are strange and sometimes a problem depending on the application. I don't think rotating the terminal in the dies during the crimp is a good idea.

The video shows this being used on an insulated 10 gauge terminal which is stupid. Really, this tool should be used only for 6 gauge and larger (and non-insulated), unless you lack hand strength or something.

I cringe whenever I see a terminal "crimped" in a vise. This tool does a much more proper job than that. When I bought mine, I think I was out the door for just under $40.

 

[mrpizza]

I bought the small ratcheting hand crimper. Did tons of terminals in my home brewery setup and it works amazing. Just needs a little tension adjustment which is real easy.

 

[jrlp]

I think there may be some miscommunication. Sanddrag, the terminals I would crimp in the vise were 4gauge and physically larger copper lugs. I've done quite a few large ones for my welding setups. I've replaced cables on all my welders, replaced ground on my plasma, and lugs for ground clamps etc. I've never once crimped a small wire terminal in a vise.

As I said, I'll get video for you guys. My new computer came in earlier this week, setup for video editing! i7-3630qm quad core (3rd gen), 32gb ram, nvidia gtx680 video card (4gb ram for the video card alone, ~1400 CUDA cores). This thing FLIES. What used to take me ~45 minutes to encode a video for upload/youtube can be done in under 6-8 minutes now. Best part is, it's a laptop. Running a Samsung 840-pro ssd (256gb) and a 1tb 7200rpm hdd. Still have room for 1 more harddrive at that! From off to welcome screen (windows 8) in under 4 seconds. And even with all this number crunching power, it still gets 4 hours battery life! I feel like a mad scientist. I digress!

As far as turning it in the die, I lined up the flat spots whilst doing so. The lugs are large enough and the flat spots pronounced enough I don't see a problem doing so. The crimping dies are simple slabs of 1.25x1x.375" toolsteel with a small post, and it wouldn't be difficult to make new dies. In fact, the jaw assembly is wide enough to support a 3/4" die, to make a proper plastic crimping die (crimp the terminal, and the plastic to the wire).

 

[jrlp]

My wife is divorcing me because I spend all of my time on here!!!!!

Hahaha.

I hope that's a joke

 

[GeneralDisorder]

IF (and I must stress IF) you pick the right dies it does a perfectly adequate job. I don't use it on insulated terminals personally but for battery cable lugs, etc it works great and makes very nice hex shaped crimps without any "wings". Sometimes you have to use multiple dies to get it perfect but if you are careful with your selection and pay no attention to the markings on the dies it can and will do an excellent job.

GD

 

[jrlp]

GD, I don't use insulated terminals ever. I always remove the pvc skirt for crimping (no matter what I use/used), and use dielectric grease and heatshrink. I just plan on using this for large gauge wires.

 

[jrlp]

Hey guys,

Just did a video with some measurements. It was quite difficult considering I didn't have a vise to hold the cable and I did it on a table! Did lots of measurements before and after. Just editing the video now, but should have it up tonight or tomorrow!