My crimper died mid-job on a Friday afternoon in Austin

I was finishing up a new build in the Mueller neighborhood when my non-ratcheting crimper just snapped at the handle after maybe 300 terminations total. Had to drive 20 minutes to the nearest supply house that carried replacements, but they only had a different brand I'd never tried. Has anyone else had a favorite tool fail at the worst time and had to switch brands on the fly?

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2 Comments

fiona_carr261mo ago

Wait, only 300 terminations and the handle just snapped? That's wild... I've had cheap tools break on me but not till way past a thousand usually. What brand was it, if you don't mind me asking? I know the heat in Austin can mess with plastic handles, but that still seems early for it to give out like that. Glad you found a backup at least, but man, that's a rough way to find out your gear isn't as tough as you thought.

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ericcraig1mo ago

Had a buddy out in Phoenix who bought one of those cheap crimpers from a big box store, swore by it for years. Took it out one July afternoon to do about 200 splices on some CAT6 runs and the handle just crumpled like wet cardboard. He was standing there with half a handle in his hand and the other half on the ground, not even a loud snap, just a quiet little crack. Turns out the plastic had gotten so brittle from sitting in his truck bed all summer that it didn't even take real force to break it. He ended up finishing the job with a pair of channel locks and a lot of cursing, but that tool never made it back into the truck.

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