Talking about tools that crimp...

A friend of mine recently asked me if I had any cunning plans on how to crimp some battery lugs without a proper tool (he being a couple of thousand miles away so borrowing mine was somewhat problematic)...

I gave it some quick thought and came up with a work-around using a quickie DIY die made from scrap metal and using a vise. Somewhat kludgy, but workable, so I sent him an email with the details.

A couple of minutes later I got a return email with the statement "But, I don't have a bench vise"...

Now, some scientists believe that the thing that separates us from being common animals is our ability to use tools... Personally I don't buy that theory as I've seen animals make and use tools enough to know that Homo Sapiens is not alone in the tool use gig. For what it's worth, I think the scientists were pretty close but actually, what separates us from the animals, is our ability to use a vise.

Since vises are such an important tool aboard a boat I'll talk about that in depth tomorrow with another post, but for now we are going to talk about battery cable crimpers... Because my sub-human buddy needs to crimp him some cables and he needs to do them NOW!

Most of us on boats would really like to have a pro cable crimper like this one from Ancor...

It's powerful, precise, and not silly expensive (less than $300) in the world of really good professional tools (some "Pro" crimpers can go as high as $5000). While it does a great job, it is a bit overkill for the needs of a cruising sailor (unless that cruising sailor is running a battery cable business) and it takes up more room than most of us are comfortable giving to a tool that gets used for a job every other blue moon...

Now here is a really neat hydraulic crimper I really lust after.

It does everything the Ancor does yet in a smaller size and at a quarter of the cost. Last time I rewired "So It Goes" 48V battery bank I used one... and, well orgasmic is the only word that comes to mind... A truly awesome tool. If someone made carbide blades for this to make it into a crimper/cutter it would be a must have.

Of course, as cool as that hydraulic crimper is and however much I lust for it, I already have a hammer/anvil sort of crimper that works really well, takes up almost no space and costs less than $20. Since it works as well as it does, replacing it just does not make any sense. It's a very good tool and hard to beat for a boat's tool kit... So overall, I'd say this was the tool to get.

Have you ever noticed that no one ever tells you about the tools you SHOULD NOT get until after you buy it and then they tell you how awful it is? Man, I hate it when folks do that, so my apologies if you happen to have one of these lug crimpers from hell...

They are awful. They are expensive. They are dangerous (well unless you do electrical work wearing full body armor). It is a wonder that the company that makes such a great pro crimper also makes and sells this dangerous waste of space (Hey, I got all the way though that without saying SHIT once)...

Listening to The Chieftains

So it goes...