fukin OT as usual... me chinkie crimping tool

I'm amazed, the chinks have managed to make something i havent broken.. yet.

that hydraulic crimping tool i bought for 30 quid, a 'branded' one would
have another zero on the end of the price, so i wasnt expecting much,

but it's actually quite good, not sure if it's normal but the die sizes seem
to be fucked up.... i started making up the 6 main leads going from the
batteries to the bus bars, 50sqmm cable, so got 50sqmm terminals, and put in
the 50sqmm dies.

pump the handle a few times to take up the slack, and i notice theres only
about 2mm left till the dies touch, but i give it a go, dies bottom out, i
release the pressure, and the terminal falls off the cable, it's put an
indent on it, but not a crimp.

so i put the 35sqmm dies (the next size down, starts at 70, then 50, 35,
25,16 and so on down to 4) in the jaws and try again, much better, i keep
the jaws closed with the terminal in it, and yank hard on the cable, it will
not budge out of the terminal, lovely,

So either the sizes on the dies are for the size they mash the terminals
down to, or they are marked wrong,

anyway, 48 terminals crimped on (some were butt splices as a coupel of
cables were too short for the new locations, but were long runs)
it's not leaking oil, hasnt blown a seal, the jaws havent stretched or bent,
dies havent fallen appart, im impressed,

it's taken me 4 days of fannying about to do all the crimps (i can only work
so long till me back/arms/hands tell me to stop or else, and i know better
than to ignore the warning signs that my joints are about to **** up)
but if i'd rented a battery terminal crimper it's have cost me £15 a day, so
2 days rental for a tool that will come in handy in the future aint bad.

 

That's handy to know. They do make some good stuff, the trick is to
avoid the shitty rubber spanners, etc.