Coax crimper
- Thread starter crazyboy
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What type of crimper is it?
And maybe a pic would help.
And maybe a pic would help.
You must not be using the right connectors for the crimper you have.
There are usually at least 3 diffrent connectors--for both kinds of RG 6 and one for rg-59.
It looks the one lowes sells needs the connectors with the separate ring.
The best ones are like the cable guys use that compress a plastic seal longitudinally--the only trouble is the tool costs about $50
There are usually at least 3 diffrent connectors--for both kinds of RG 6 and one for rg-59.
It looks the one lowes sells needs the connectors with the separate ring.
The best ones are like the cable guys use that compress a plastic seal longitudinally--the only trouble is the tool costs about $50
mgosdin
Member
Thayne said:
I bought one of those as a Kit including 10 of the ends for not quite $40 at Lowes. It does a great job on the RG-6, I wish there was a similar tool for some of the other types of connetors.
Mark Gosdin
Hi guys,
Let's stop the confusion here, any crimper that mangles the connector simply does more damage than good, toss it out and never mind the "silly" questions. I have used crimpers (manual and press) in industry to attatch various coax connectors and they use a proper hexagonal die sized for the connector in question. I'm sure you've seen many examples of this in prepackaged coax cables and cable TV hookups, if it's not hex, nix. Now if you want to save your hands, buy a double action type crimp tool with interchangable dies. They cost a bit but the cantelever mechanism greatly increases the force making a tight crimp with a minimum of effort and you can crimp almost any connector.
Let's stop the confusion here, any crimper that mangles the connector simply does more damage than good, toss it out and never mind the "silly" questions. I have used crimpers (manual and press) in industry to attatch various coax connectors and they use a proper hexagonal die sized for the connector in question. I'm sure you've seen many examples of this in prepackaged coax cables and cable TV hookups, if it's not hex, nix. Now if you want to save your hands, buy a double action type crimp tool with interchangable dies. They cost a bit but the cantelever mechanism greatly increases the force making a tight crimp with a minimum of effort and you can crimp almost any connector.
mgosdin
Member
Previous Encarnation & Crimping Tools
In my Previous Encarnation as a Novell Certified Network Engineer, in the early 1990's, I crimped literally hundreds of 10-base2 Ethernet cables. (That's RG58 cable with BNC male ends.)
I had the professional crimp tool and dies for RG58 & RG59 cable sizes, it was a slow, tedious process and very difficult to achieve a good result. We had probably a 1 or 2% failure rate overall among the apparently good ends.
Since our customers were scattered over the eastern half of Oklahoma any failure was unacceptable and the alloted install time at each site was very short, we eventually ceased using crimp on ends and went to using screw on BNC ends. Those rarely gave us any trouble as long as we could keep the end users from unscrewing them!
I'm still using screw on ends with my RF cables whenever I can, they're "good enough".
Mark Gosdin
In my Previous Encarnation as a Novell Certified Network Engineer, in the early 1990's, I crimped literally hundreds of 10-base2 Ethernet cables. (That's RG58 cable with BNC male ends.)
I had the professional crimp tool and dies for RG58 & RG59 cable sizes, it was a slow, tedious process and very difficult to achieve a good result. We had probably a 1 or 2% failure rate overall among the apparently good ends.
Since our customers were scattered over the eastern half of Oklahoma any failure was unacceptable and the alloted install time at each site was very short, we eventually ceased using crimp on ends and went to using screw on BNC ends. Those rarely gave us any trouble as long as we could keep the end users from unscrewing them!
I'm still using screw on ends with my RF cables whenever I can, they're "good enough".
Mark Gosdin
mgosdin said:
Screw-on BNC connectors better than crimp? I would have thought just the opposite. With a screw on, you can't see inside it, how do you know if it's making good contact, or contact at all? I've used Rat Shack's screw on BNC's, but always have trouble with them.
mgosdin
Member
Screw on BNC Connectors
In my experience a properly installed Screw on BNC works just as well as a Crimp on BNC.
The advantage of the Screw on over the Crimp on is that it does not require a special crimping tool and can be quicker to install. It still requires a good cable stripping tool, but the Crimp on needs that too. The downside is that the Screw on can be Screwed off.
In any case you should use a Multi-meter to test continuity and resistance on the center pin / conductor and shield.
I've had seemingly well installed Crimp on BNC ends fall off when pulled on, or the temprature changes or for no known reason. Like I said, in the case of our network installs some 10 years ago we concluded that the Screw on BNC's worked as well as the Crimp on BNC's and were less hassle for us.
As always, Your Milage May Vary.
Mark Gosdin
In my experience a properly installed Screw on BNC works just as well as a Crimp on BNC.
The advantage of the Screw on over the Crimp on is that it does not require a special crimping tool and can be quicker to install. It still requires a good cable stripping tool, but the Crimp on needs that too. The downside is that the Screw on can be Screwed off.
In any case you should use a Multi-meter to test continuity and resistance on the center pin / conductor and shield.
I've had seemingly well installed Crimp on BNC ends fall off when pulled on, or the temprature changes or for no known reason. Like I said, in the case of our network installs some 10 years ago we concluded that the Screw on BNC's worked as well as the Crimp on BNC's and were less hassle for us.
As always, Your Milage May Vary.
Mark Gosdin
The snap-n-seal connectors work great. I picked up a compression crimper on ebay for about $15, and it does rg-6/58/59 just great. And fortunately for me my next door neighbour is a cable installer, so I have a good supply of connectors 
Al42
Member
A gas-tight connection is still best, and can be done with soldering or crimping. (Screw-on connectors can't achieve gas-tight connections.) But either one takes a certain amount of knowledge and experience. This isn't a matter of elitism - a good, easy to make rf connection is as real as losing weight without dieting or exercise. It can be good or it can be easy.
Otto
Member
I have the same tool that was pictured in the lowes ad. I have not had a problem with it yet. It just takes a little practice to make them look good. usually I only make three crimps in a row, so you dont get that "chewed on" look. thats how my local cable Co. does their crimps, and I just copied the same look so they dont think someone has "messed" with the cable install...
TeRayCodA
Member
But....does'nt the military still prefer crimping connectors?
Al42
Member
There's the right way, the wrong way and, to really FUBAR it up, the military way.TeRayCodA said:
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