Buying/evaluating a used Harbor Freight hydraulic crimper?

[Naio]

Somebody has one for sale for half price in the town that I'm in, says it was only used a couple times. time2roll,I see from a search here that you bought one. Do you still like it?

Reading the reviews, I see that people complain about the dies wearing out quickly. Will I be able to tell if the ones I want to use are worn? What should I look for?

I'm not going into business crimping cables, just need to do a few to connect up my batteries and charging system. So Harbor Freight quality seems like it might be potentially right for my purposes :B.

I've never used a hydraulic crimper, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I figure you guys are the experts!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"lower the roof of the car.. think "rebel without a cause" , fill everything in with lead solder, sand and paint"

Yeah BABY!

CHOPPED and CHANNELED. 51 Mercuries were awesome for this. Went to school with ART HIMSL

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Fallacies die

HARD

Terminate a 10 gauge wire with solder.

Then run the wire out a yard or two, coil it, with no support

Adhesive heat shrink is forbidden

yadda-yadda-yadda-yadda

for however long.

SNAP!

YIPEE! RUMOR PROVEN!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

This is a stud rectifier used in most large AC generators. See the hole in the stem? It's not for a nut and bolt. It's there to solder and guess what? Not only is it subject to generator vibration, the part is spinning 1,200 or 1,800 RPM. All SIX of them

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Ever see a generator?

yadda-yadda-yadda-yadda-yadda vibration

24 hours a day 7 days a week except for shutdown maintenance.

Ever see a Lycoming small aircraft engine? Pilot and passengers are a mile in the air.

Ever see the inside of a Presolite or Ford FAA alternator? SOLID meaning NOT STRANDED stator wires inches long SOLDERED to rectifier plates.

OEM and FAA avoids the issue. Because an otherwise talented assembler may not have a talent to solder. With crimped connections rigid rote insures a termination is crimped correctly. Ever see those Vise Grip like pliers that have to be squeezed shut 100% before they will release?

People make up their own fallacies as to why rules are rules. For instance there are COMMON SENSE practices that say to STRAIN RELIEVE connectors or terminations.

[Horizon170]

For what it's worth, I have a HF, 16 ton HYD. crimper and it works great.Sometimes I also solder after crimping.
BTW, you can use the crimper for other things also.

[wa8yxm]

bpounds wrote:
I don't believe for a moment that any crimped joint is "gas tight". And I don't believe a crimped large cable is ever better than solder, even though I agree that good crimped lugs make fine battery cables.u do your battery cables, find good heatshrink with adhesive on the ID.

I agree with the Gas Tight comment.

However which is better Solder or Crimp... Depends on the install. Most of what I play with solder is the standard.. I don't do Aircraft however where CRIMPED is the standard... WHY.

SOldering "Stiffens" the wire and vibration breaks a "Stiff' Wire.

OR so they tell me. but the important phrase is I DO NOT DO AIRCRAFT.
(Though I may some day do the small Aircraft. You know. the kind you can hold in your hands)

[Naio]

Mex, I have a friend who has been trying to get hyaluronic acid injections in her knee in the US. She can't find a doctor who will do it. Is it easy to find in Mexico? Do you know somebody good? She might be interested.

Also, if you are interested in it for yourself, but the price is too high, you know many of us would be willing to donate :-). I don't think we could swing a $50,000 operation, but I think we could swing a $500 one , or come pretty close :-).

You might need to look into the cancer aspects. I forget the details, it inhibits your ability to kill cancer cells or something. That may or may not be relevant to your situation.

[Bobbo]

Naio wrote:
Wow, I have learned so much in this thread from Gdetrailer and Mex. This forum is an amazing place 🙂

I've seen those Helping Hands things around, but didn't realize they were used for soldering! Magnifying glass and everything, looks like just what I need

People learn from me too! Unfortunately, what they learn from ME is what NOT to do! :B

A word of caution on DMSO. DMSO is an absolutely WONDERFUL solvent. Be sure that it has no contaminants in it. Any contaminants will be carried through the skin when they would not normally be absorbed. Back in the 80's, there were a bunch of health problems because of impure DMSO.

[Gdetrailer]

Naio wrote:
Wow, I have learned so much in this thread from Gdetrailer and Mex. This forum is an amazing place 🙂

I've seen those Helping Hands things around, but didn't realize they were used for soldering! Magnifying glass and everything, looks like just what I need

Your welcome! 🙂

As a bonus, I found an instructables on soldering 101 (basics) that helps to expand on some of the things I have mentioned along with some other tips.

HERE

You can also search using "soldering 101" for some YouTube videos that may be helpful also..

Couple of other items that should be mentioned..

Typical standard solders are a mix of Tin and Lead, the percentage of tin to lead varies a bit. This mix affects the melting temp.

A few years ago, there was legislation (RoHS) that went into effect which essentially stomped out the use of Lead based solders in electronics..

The replacement solder is Tin/Silver based which has a drawback of a higher melting point.

Either one can be used but Lead free is a bit more demanding and soldering wires might result in melting the insulation quicker due to the higher melting temps.

For wire, you NEED to use "Rosin core" solder, this solder uses a rosin based flux which is in the center of the solder. Rosin flux is safe to use on wiring projects since it is not a acid based flux.

Never use an acid core flux or plumbing flux on wiring, it WILL slowly eat the copper...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

hyaluronic acid
Three injections would cost me 500 dollars in Tijuana. Not covered in my HMO. x2 for the other shoulder. Lasts 10 years (lifetime for me).

DMSO will completely outperform NSAID cream. Application lasts 3-4 hours.

They also make helping hands with flexible stalks called OCTOPUS Use paper to insulate work from clips sucking up all the heat. The rail type as pictured is better for joining wires together.



5" lens. LED lit. This is a lifesafer. Used it with 4.0 diopter reading glasses to remove incredibly fine cactus hairs. Enables me to solder very fine wire.

[Naio]

Wow, I have learned so much in this thread from Gdetrailer and Mex. This forum is an amazing place 🙂

I've seen those Helping Hands things around, but didn't realize they were used for soldering! Magnifying glass and everything, looks like just what I need

[Naio]

I have not tried that! I do use other topical anti-inflammatories.

Recently, I have had amazing improvement by using hyaluronic acid topically. It takes about a month to start working. It's a collagen precursor, I think. I can use a normal sized and larger electric drills for the first time since I was a teenager!

Mex, if you want to try it and can't get it easily, let me know. I have some in powder form, would be easy to send to you.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Don't rub it in and I use alcohol to clean the site before slapping it on.

Whatever to keep me at the bench whenever.