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Man, I miss the days of crimping everything by hand | Cable Installers - Vivisector

Man, I miss the days of crimping everything by hand

I started installing cable back in '98 and we used to strip and crimp every single connector by hand. Took me about 3 minutes per connector at first. Now these new guys come in with these compression tools that do it in 30 seconds flat. I fought it for years, swore my way was better. Then last month I had to redo a whole 48 port patch panel because my hand-crimped ends kept failing. Borrowed a compression tool for the second try and it worked perfect. Anybody else notice the old tools just don't hold up like they used to?

3 comments

3 Comments

ward.anna5mo ago

Compression tools saved my bacon on a big job last year. Sometimes the new way really does work better once you give it a shot.

taylor_patel5mo ago

Lol yeah I feel that. It's weird how the old tools that were "good enough" suddenly aren't anymore. But here's the thing - do you think it's the tools themselves that changed, or is it more that the materials we're working with now are just different? Like with cables, back in the day you had that thick solid copper that was tough to strip but it held a crimp forever. Now it's all this cheap CCA or oxygen-free nonsense that barely holds a shape. I've noticed the connectors changed too, the little metal teeth inside don't bite like they used to. So maybe it's not that your hand crimping got worse, but the stuff you're crimping got cheaper and finickier. Compression tools might just be better at adapting to that garbage.

holly7095mo ago

Oh man tell me about it. It's like everything's built to be faster but not built to last anymore. I remember my dad's old drill from the 80s, thing weighed a ton but you could drop it off a roof and it'd still work. Got a new one last year and the chuck stripped out on the second job. It's not just tools either. My buddy restores old furniture and he says the wood itself ain't the same. They treat it now so it dries quick but it warps after a few seasons. I think we traded quality for convenience and nobody asked if we wanted that trade.