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Had to decide on a new crimping tool for the shop's D-sub connectors

The old one was worn out, and the boss gave me a choice between a generic brand for about $80 or a more expensive, name-brand model. I went with the generic one to save the shop some money, which was a mistake. The crimps on the first batch of connectors for a King Air's audio panel were inconsistent, and I had to redo half of them. Anyone have a reliable brand for D-sub crimpers that won't break the bank?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade471mo ago

Ugh, been there with the cheap crimpers. That EXACT thing happened on a G1000 harness I was doing. Learned my lesson the hard way. Save the receipt on that generic one if you can. For D-subs, I've had really good luck with the IWISS brand. They're not the top tier price but they're solid, and the crimps are always even. Got mine online for maybe a hundred bucks and it's been perfect for two years now.

thompson.tyler1mo ago

Tell me about it, @jade47! I had a cheap pair totally mangle a whole set of pins for a project last year. Threw the thing right in the trash out of pure frustration. Your point about the IWISS brand is spot on, that's what I ended up getting too after wasting twenty bucks on the junk one. It really is night and day when the tool actually works right and doesn't crush the connector. Never going back to the bargain bin for crimpers again.