crimper
Hi,
I just wondered if anyone had made up their own battery leads.
I need 5 of varying lengths with terminals to suit different sized studs and had intended to get these pre-made off one of the e-bay suppliers.
Trouble is it’s a bit difficult to establish the exact lengths and, in this application, I can’t easily loose any excess cable. Auto Electric
Supplies suggested making my own but, at £60, the plier type crimp tooling is quite expensive for just this one use. They do sell a press tool for
£18 (See https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/1082/category/87 ) which can apparently simply be struck with a hammer but this sounds like it
would be difficult to control so has anyone used one of these?
Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.
John.
I found the making of them very easy,
Strip the cable, put some heat wrap on, put the crimp on, and give the crimp two heafty blows with a mallet and cold chisel
each side
I, but not essential, wound up some solder and put that in the crimp, and with a blowtorch heated it all up, after crimping
steve
I use a homemade version of the hammer type tool which works perfectly, the £18 tool look considerably better then my effort so I would imagine it
will be good. I'll try and get a picture of mine .
Cheers
Davie
You could use that in a vice rather than hitting it.
I wonder if a vice mounted DIY crimp is possible. Just thinking about what to use as a "die". Maybe a nut cut in half?
Used the hammer type in a vice and it did a really good job, I would not hesitate to do it again.
I used one of these for many of the crimps including battery leads. At the time it cost me £18 inc del. It works really well, I've also seen it
used on the project Binky series
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8T-Hydraulic-Crimper-Tool-Kit-Tube-Cable-Wire-Crimping-Terminals-Lugs-Battery/202523359695?hash=item2f275539cf:g:23IAAOSwnF
9Y7eZU
[Edited on 16/4/20 by ianhurley20]
Used a vice here and then some solder just to bolts and braces it.
Just made all the cables for mine with the vice mounted tool. Nice and easy.
I wanted to make a few so I bought an eBay Chinese crimping tool. Make a couple and it seems great.
Similar one here.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/28037698469?iid=362961908033
They also do a manual version for a few pounds less.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I wanted to make a few so I bought an eBay Chinese crimping tool. Make a couple and it seems great.
Similar one here.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/28037698469?iid=362961908033
They also do a manual version for a few pounds less.
Yeah I got one of those hydraulic tools too for when I was making the landy battery cables that also went to the winch. Worked perfectly but has never
been used since and is just hanging up in the garage, might use it again but probably not...
[Edited on 16/4/20 by Mr Whippy]
Would something like this do the job, save you some work?
Link
Bought tool as I all ready has cable for a caravan motor mover not hydraulic but similar idea. Cable can be expensive so if you have some maywell work out cheaper to make your own. Watch out for cheap rubish tube connector lugs better off getting some from CPC, also cheap Chinese cables may not be copper but copper plated...
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Yeah I got one of those hydraulic tools too for when I was making the landy battery cables that also went to the winch. Worked perfectly but has never been used since and is just hanging up in the garage, might use it again but probably not...
[Edited on 16/4/20 by Mr Whippy]
In an ideal world we would have the tool but for making a set of leads once ever 10 years is it worth it?
Take a lump of steel and cut a v slot in the side. Place the crimp termination in the v with a short dowel on the other side. Put the lot in a
vice.
The V stops the crimp connector from splaying out and the dowel reduces the crimp area thus gripping the cable.
It's a bit fiddly but is ad good as what the tool would do.
Up until recently I used to have a nice heavy sewage block that was perfect for crimping battery cables I would assemble the connector on the cable and lay it in one of the grooves then using a blunt chisel and a hammer give the connector a clout. Can be done using a heavy piece of angle iron as well. Never had any problems
I have that £18 tool.
I had similar reservations about using a Hammer.
So I put the tool in my vice and squeezed it up that way. Worked great.
Works great really solid V shaped crimp even on 0 gauge cable but needs a big hammer
crimper
I've got the hydraulic tool - wasn't expensive and I use it infrequently, plus I do battery cables and stuff for mates so it pays for itself in coffee :-)
Merlin Motorsport can crimp battery cables to length: https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/s/electrical/battery-cable-and-eyelets
Cheers
Mike