Introduction
For a while now I have been slowly upgrading some old tools, and also creating some simple tool kits to store at certain facilities so that I don't have to carry around a large tool kit from place to place.
I have ratchet crimpers for standard insulated lugs and also ferrules. The ferrule crimper from Weidmuller is one of the best crimpers I have used over the years, automatic tensioning from 0.75mm to 6mm cable ferrules and very comfortable to use. However, they only crimp cable ferrules and at £130 a set, it is expensive to buy these crimpers for each type of crimp that I use. As I did not use that many uninsulated crimps, my crimper for these was the old multipurpose crimper, more usually associated with auto-parts stores, as seen in the top of the picture.
To build up my large service tool kit, I invested in a set of Teng ratchet crimps. This is an interchangeable tool with dies for uninsulated barrel crimps, uninsulated terminal crimps and insulated crimps. These came in a simple plastic case, that is really designed to be housed within one of their tool chests or moulded cases, as the plastic is rather flimsy and the hinges very weak.
The dies are changed by removing the Allen bolts holding each half of the die in place, so is a little time consuming. I have also struggled a little with the amount of opening of the ratchet handles that can become tiring after a while. One thing I do like about these crimpers is that the mechanism release is a knurled knob next to the tension adjuster, making it easy to release the crimper, unlike the usual release lever between the handles that slowly disappears as the crimper is closed.
Interestingly this crimper is stored in its case closed up and has a small locking button to hold the crimper closed instead of the ratchet mechanism. I have always stored my ratchet crimpers slightly released so that they are not permanently under tension.
Whilst hunting around for some tools, I came across a set of Anvil interchangeable crimpers that were reasonably priced, so thought I would give them a go as a crimper set to leave at my main office. They can be purchased in a kit with different die options or as frames on their own and dies purchased individually. They also have the option of an aluminium frame, as well as a standard steel frame. The anvils are quick change and slide in and out of the frame without any tools. They are locked in place in the frame by a spring loaded ball, so will not drop out when in use.
I opted to purchase the 6 dies set along with steel frame and then upgraded to the aluminium frames as seen above. The set came with a guide to all the different dies available, which is very comprehensive. A total of 40 different dies are available for the crimpers ranging from dies for specialist German terminal crimps, co-axial crimps, RJ Plug Crimps, solar crimps through to the standard insulated and uninsulated crimps and ferrules. The following table shows the dies that I have found available in the UK, but does not cover the full range available in the guide.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out much about Anvil hand tools, the leaflet with them states that they are designed in Germany and made in Taiwan however, the EAN 13 manufacturing code designates the country of registration as Great Britain. I cannot find any website for the manufacturer, but am aware that they make a number of hand tools for use in electronics and electrical engineering, predominantly distributed in the UK by Rapid Electronics.
In comparison to the Teng Ratchet Crimper, they are much easier to use. As the pictures below show, the handle opening is much smaller on the Anvil Crimpers both in the fully opened position and the first ratchet position. This makes them much more comfortable to use. Die changing is dead easy, with no screws or Allen key to loose. The aluminium frame is very light and the plastic grips comfortable. The same can be said for the steel frame, except it is noticeably heavier.
However, I have noticed when using both frames, that the aluminium frame does not close the crimps up as well as the steel frame. I measured the jaw widths without any dies in place and found that the steel frame closed up to a gap of 11.65mm, where as the aluminium frame closed up to 12.45mm. The steel frames are obviously set to crimp with more pressure. There is an adjuster on both of the frames and I moved this up a notch on the aluminium frames so they now close to 12.0mm. Wear may be an issue with extensive use of the aluminium frames, so although they are nice, they may not be a good long-term investment.
I don't have the equipment to test the strain a crimp can take, so can only judge the crimps visually.
Insulated Crimps
The Anvil crimper has a different shaped die to the Teng crimper. The Teng crimper has a much wider die and crimps more of the terminal than the Anvil unit. It also compressed the section of the crimp sleeve that goes over the insulation a lot more. It gives me more confidence that the crimp is tight when using the Teng crimper for this application.
When crimping the yellow 6mm insulated crimps, the Teng crimper leaves the the crimp a little more rounded, whereas the Anvil crimper gave the impression of squashing the crimp more and pushing the sides out. Both crimps seemed sturdy and not likely to be pulled out.
Bootlace Ferrule Crimps
The Teng crimper does not have a die for ferrules, so the Weidmuller crimper was used and produced a much better looking ferrule crimp than the Anvil crimper did. You can see four clear indentations in the ferrule sleeve on the left against the two in the sleeve on the right. Both crimpers produced a curve on the underside of the ferrule sleeve to allow it to sit inside rounded terminals, and improve the surface connection for high current applications. The Anvil crimper will crimp up to 16mm, whereas the Wedimuller is restricted to 6mm ferrules.
Uninsulated Lug Crimps
As with the insulated crimps, the Teng crimpers produced a wider and deeper indentation into the barrels of uninsulated lugs giving the impression of a sturdier crimp. On longer barrelled crimps you would always have the option of crimping a second indentation to provide extra security, but I only had short barrelled crimps available. On this occasion, the Anvil crimper created the more circular crimp and the Teng crimper flattened the barrel more.
Uninsulated Open Barrel Crimps
I had some Molex 20AWG crimps available and the Anvil crimper did not perform very well on this with either the the steel or aluminium frame. If you look closely at the crimp on the right you can see that whilst the section around the insulation looks to be closed up correctly, the section around the cores is not, and the crimp actually pulls off the wire very easily. The die is actually stamped for 22AWG, so if any thing the crimp should have been tighter. This was the case when using the steel frame, that crimped it that tight, the crimp was left jammed in the die and was very awkward to remove it without damage.
Whilst the Teng crimper produced a better crimp that I could not pull off, the section around the insulation was left a bit open and needed pinching up with pliers to allow the crimp to be inserted into the housing.
Conclusions
Neither crimper is perfect, whilst the Teng crimper looks to produce higher quality crimps, the extensive handle opening makes it cumbersome to use. The aluminium frame of the Anvil crimpers is very nice and light, but it was not capable of crimping the uninsulated open barrel crimps. It did seem to perform adequately on the insulated crimps, ferrule crimps and the closed barrel uninsulated crimps. I would be concerned about their long-term reliability though, especially if you use crimps on a regular basis. In that instant the steel frames are, in my opinion, a much better option.
The case of the Anvil crimper is much more robust than the Teng crimper case, that will probably break if it is used as a stand alone and really needs to be combined into one of their cases with other tools.
Both of the kits retail for around the same price, but the Anvil crimper has more options for it and can be further expanded by purchasing other dies. The Teng crimper only comes with three dies and I am not aware of the availability of other dies for it.
It is clear that neither of these interchangeable crimpers can out perform a bespoke crimping tool. The Weidmuller ferrule crimps are very easy to use and produce high quality crimps, unfortunately they come at a price.
I am happy to leave the Teng crimpers in the tool bag, but will also have to carry around the Weidmuller crimpers for ferrules. The Anvil crimper I will leave in the garage for odd jobs around the house and on the car. I'll have to continue to look for another set of crimpers for the tool box at work.
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