Gentlemen,
Two questions -
Can anyone recommend a good quality, professional grade crimp tool ? I am tired of using my $3 cheepy.
Where can I buy a quanity (box) of non-insulated spade terminals ? Radio Shack will sell you a handful for a high price. I’d like to buy a big box or two.
Thanks,
Jeff
Try this http://www.allelectronics.com/index.html… I buy stuff from them a lot…Tim
All Electronics is just one of a few places that sell to the hobbiest- Another very good one is here: www.jameco.com Prices are comparable to All Electronics, sometimes cheaper-- shipping is about the same-- Jameco does sell crimping tools–
Check your neighborhood yellow pages directory for Electrical Supply companies, or supply houses. They cater to electricians and will have what you are looking for.
Some of the larger Home Depots also carry the Klein range of electrical tools including Wire Cutting/Crimp tool. They also stock the Sta-Con brand of Spade & Fork connectors. Don’t cheap out on the tools. A quality tool is a good investment.
Spade or Fork connectors are invaluable layout wiring aids and will simplify any wiring project.
BillFromWayne
www.modeltrainjournal.com
If you can find a “snap-on” tool truck" in your area, they have the best-but their
prices are also expensive, this is from a 30-year retired mechanic.
Hope this will help–[:)][:)]
Expo is right about that. If you get a chance, get inside and look at what is available. You’d be surprised what would work for working on trains.
Hi Chief, Learned long time ago to buy the best in tools, even around the house
I don’t buy any cheap’s from anywhere.
Snap On makes and sells a second line called " Blue-Point" that is very good and they sell OTC which is also very good.
Mac tools are excellent!! Slightly less expensive than Snap–
To: the one looking for crimpers & etc. hope this will help.[:)][:)]
If you have been following the many discussions on powering your layout on the forum for the last year, and specifically my posts where I keep saying, “I don’t have that problem with my layout.”, you may think I am an electrical genius. Well, I’m not! Far from it. However, when I wired my layout, I liberally used crimped spade connections and I believe this really simplified my wiring. Rarely have I ever found a loose wire. [^]
IMHO, Spade Connectors are a must, especially with the control systems that we are using today. My crimp tool was from Home Deport, and, don’t laugh, after I figured it out, it is great! [:)]
A good article for CTT magazine would be the use of the many different electrical products for our layouts using Home Depot or Lowes as a reference. [8D]
If you want the best here they are;
Crimp tool: T&B or Klein
Crimp connectors: T&B Sta-Kon
If you don’t want to take my word do a web search.
[I suppose you already know this, but I will say it anyway, when using any kind of connection whether soldered or not always use “heat-shrink” over the connections, the best is to solder first then heat-shrink!
No offense to all who have been doing lay outs for years, but electrical is the same in any field.
[:)][:)][:)] [:)]
I can’t comment on the spade connections, but a very good, afforable crimper is likely right around the corner from your house. Channel Lock makes a crimper for around $20. This what I have at work (I’m an electrician) and at home. The tool is roughly 9" long, which makes for longer handles, which makes for less effort to make a crimp. They are knockoffs of the standard “StaKon” (sp?) crimpers, an industry standard.
One thing this has over the cheapies, is that most cheapies have the crimper between your hand and the pivot. This means you have to move your hand out of the way to get the tool off of the crimp you’ve just made; these have the crimper on the other side of the pivot, which means you just have to open the pliers enough get it out of the crimp. This doesn’t sound like much, but if you have to crimp a lot of connections, and it saves a few hand movements on each one, it adds up.
Hope this helps,
J White