Technical > Photos of Broadband gear > Is this the right tool for the job?

Is this the right tool for the job?

Ive had numerous crimping tools over the years, and by far the best one I have had is this one:

»www.te-telequip.com/index.asp?pa···ustralia

I think it cost me about AUD$80 back when I bought it - needless to say, best $80 I ever spent.

Personally I find that almost the most important thing about a crimping tool are the cutting and stripping blades. Not so much from a sharpness point of view, but from a useability point of view. Without being able to effectively cut or strip cables, the tool is almost useless (unless it has a good crimper - see below).

The tool above has the best set of blades I have come across for cutting and stripping.

However, there is one other crimping tool which I absolutely adore from the crimping side, but deplore from a cutting and stripping side. This tool is:

»www.te-telequip.com/index.asp?pa···ustralia

This baby is ratchetted, and in terms of crimping I have never used anything better. You really do feel like you are crimping properly with this one. But I really really really dislike the cutting and stripping blades on this one. They are hidden behind a slot that is only just big enough to fit a cable though, and usually you can forget about making a partial cut in the outer sheath of the cable, removing it, rotating it a bit and making another cut (which you have to do with some cables to remove part of the outer sheath before arranging your conductors and sticking them into a plug for crimping).

Being ratchetted, you have to close it all the way before being able to release it back out. This often leads to conductors being sliced and breaking off or causing issues later once they break from movement. This isnt an issue with the first tool as it is not ratchetted, so you can make small cuts in the outer sheath of the cable without damaging the conductors inside.

In summary: Tool 1 cant be beat for stripping the outer sheath off the cable, while Tool 2 cant be beat for crimping the plugs onto the end.

Im currently looking for the best deal on Tool 2 so that I can buy my own. Even though I will look a bit strange using two different crimping tools, ask anyone and they will tell you that a decent set of tools are priceless. They may also tell you that sometimes it takes a couple of goes before you really find the tool that just works for you.

reply to 61247813
This is one handy little tool you will find is very nice to stripping wire. Much better than anything built into the crimper.

»www.amazon.com/Paladin-1116-Sure···0006HYUY

I prefer a ratcheting crimper because you know that its been crimped down all the way. If they operate on the lever thats even better because it makes crimping a lot of rj45s easier.

The best ones are the EZ series crimper. You dont have to cut the wires to the correct length the tool does it for you. You just stick the wires through the rj45, and when you make the crimp a blade cuts them off at the end.

Very nice. Wish I still had one.
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Open Source WAN Accelerator
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reply to 61247813
if you google the link they included in this post originally, you'll find that this company pays people to make these kinds of posts on as many forums as they can manage.

which is why his/her account is now nuked.

reply to 61247813
Sneaky.

reply to 61247813
i use a ideal crimper and wire striper.

Really any racheting crimper is decent.