
Crimping Pliers
What
are crimping pliers exactly? Crimpling pliers are tools designed specifically for securing crimp
beads.
Some jewelry makers actually make use of the
crimping pliers as a toll to help them in their bead crimping as these gives the finished product a more
polished look. The crimp is also secure when use crimping pliers and the resulting crimp are tiny which
is important if you like to hide your crimp beads inside larger beads. And since the working area of the
crimping pliers jaw is narrow, you can fit the pliers into spots that might be a tight squeeze for other
tools. Another reason why you should use crimping pliers more than flatnose pliers
is that the latter makes a smooth, back side.
Using crimping pliers for jewelry making offers users some
advantages such as: they give consistent results. Compared to using flatnose pliers which are actually
much harder to use, crimping pliers makes perfect crimping achievable every time.
The crimping pliers have nose which have grooves in it. When
you close the nose of the pliers and squeeze the handles, you’ll see that the grooves will line up, which
creates two holes in the nose. The first hole looks like an oval shaped hole and the other hole looks
like an oval with a dip on one side.
Crimping pliers are a special type of pliers which can be also be
used not only for jewelry making but for electrical wire crimping as well. Here’s a simple guide to using wire crimping
pliers:
The first and most important step in electrical wire crimping
is to make sure that the power is shut off or unplugged before beginning any kind of work. Also as a
safety precaution, wear safety glasses and take all other appropriate safety steps to ensure your
protection.
Next, take out your wire crimping pliers and make sure the
wire you are going to use is accessible and have whatever you intend to crimp onto it available
also.
Now place the wire into the correct stripping die in the
crimping pliers. Make sure that you only remove the amount of insulation required for the wire to fit
into the terminal. You’ll see that the sizes have labels in it which can either be in AWG or in metric
and the size of the wire can typically be found printed on the insulation of the wire. Next step is to
squeeze the crimping pliers’ handles, twisting it to 90 degrees while still holding the wire to cut
through the insulation.
Once that’s done, you can now pull the pliers to
remove the insulation from the wire to expose the conductor. Now, place the exposed conductor into
th
e terminal until the terminal insulation has covered the wire’s insulation. After this, the next step is to
put the terminal with the wire in it into the appropriate die of the
crimper. The wire sizes will be labeled with AWG or metric and it may have a colored dot that corresponds to
the color of the terminal you are using.
Then squeeze on the crimping pliers’ handles until the
terminal you’re sure that it can’t be crimped any further. Remove the wire and terminal assembly from the
crimper and to make sure that it is well crimped, tug the terminal and you’re
done!
Crimping pliers are very handy tools to have
around. And if you wonder, is it worth your money to buy one? Then ask yourself this: How many ways can I use them? Well,
since crimping pliers are special tools, they can have multi functions so go on and buy yourself an
investment tool!
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