I've noticed what is probably a significant difference between the failed lugs, and the other type that seem OK. It lies in the length of the metal that gets crimped.
The tool I'm using is one of these:
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It seems designed to crimp equally* two locations spaced apart.
But the metal on the failed lugs is too short, and one side of the tool is just crimping plastic.
[*] I emphasis "equally". Lest anyone think I've misunderstood, this is not a tool designed to crimp the conductor and insulator in one go.
Have a closer look, there is not much difference. Yours may be equal mine is not. In any case the right side or the flat side is for the cable connection and the left for the insulation. They may have changed the design as I noticed my crimper does not work as well with the newer lugs that seem to have different insulation.
My dislike of the pre-insulated types is the crimp consists of flattening the part in contact with the cable.
A link was posted earlier by Trevor Wilson where the first pic shows the type I prefer:-
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You can't produce this sort of shape with a pre-insulated type as it would pierce the insulation. But then the pre-insulated types are used (in the UK) on mains wiring etc where the conductor is a single strand. And a heart shaped crimp wouldn't work with those.
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*Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups *
Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
If these aren't identical, it's going to take measuring instruments to prove it.
Crimping the plastic is a waste of time anyway. On the failed lugs that I crimped, the plastic that covers the insulation has returned almost to its original shape, even though the tool squashes it pretty much flat.
I know that there are tools designed to crimp this sort of lug
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in one action, where the section closer to the spade crimps the conductor, and the section at the end crimps the insulation, but the tool I have is definitely not one of those.
The tool designed for that sort of lug has a knife edge bit in one side of the crimp jaws which make a heart shape of the crimp. Your crimper looks the same as mine in the jaws with the exception of the size variation I am certain that the flat side or right side goes toward the lug and the side that sticks out is the cable side and is designed to crimp the lug insulation to the cable insulation. If you place the lug in the jaws with the cable side on the left you will see that the crimps line up to do what I described.I am going to check and may buy one similar to yours because some of my new lugs do not fit old one with bigger insulation crimp on left.
Here are two insulated lugs that I crimped with mine, from which I then stripped the insulation.
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Note how the one on the left, which I bought from Dick Smith Electronics (DSE), has crimped the insulation as well, whereas the one on the right, with the shorter crimped section has not. This is not because I failed to insert the one on the right correctly - it's hole has a constant radius, and there is no room to put the insulation in. The one on the left has a barrel (there is no slot) that has a wider section to accomodate the insulation.
The left one looks the better result, though I have to admit that with these two, they've passed any pull test I've managed to apply. I can only conclude that the fully insulated lugs that I bought from Jay Car are (and I use this word very rarely) crap, because I was able to pull them apart without even using pliers to hold the lug.
Finally, I tried using the tool the other way around, on one of the DSE lugs. If there's any difference in the result, it will need to be determined by a stronger person.
The teeth(?) look much the same in all cases. I originally envisaged something would push down further in the centre, to create the desired shape, but it appears they down't work that way.
FWIW, here are images of both sides the business end of my tool
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The bottom one is a mirror image, to make comparison easier.
I am going to wear out the reply button. The heart shaped is for those non insulated open lugs you showed an url for earlier here is a couple more pics, I think,new at this pic posting
And what's the view on the comparative effectiveness of swage impact crimpers and hydraulic crimpers over ratchet crimpers? I find them both useful for automotive battery and similar large cabling but too cumbersome for smaller gauge wiring or close quarters as they need space and at least two free hands; indeed with the hydraulic I often need someone hold the cable and connector while I use two hands to crimp. And the swage impact crimper is a out of the car bench only tool.
eg
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for an impact swage crimper and
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for a hydraulic crimper.
I find with the right sized die they do seem to good job on even small terminals but if the size is even slightly wrong they tend to crush the terminal so its unusable.
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