Hydraulic Cable Lug Crimper TH0005 V2.0 (11 US TON) 10 AWG to 600 MCM Electrical Terminal Cable Wire Tool Kit with 32 Die Sets

PROS: Low price, feels and works solidly (doesn't feel cheap). Nice case. Multiple dies. Crimps what non-hydraulic crimpers can never accomplish. One year no hassle warranty included. Comes with extra o-rings. Worth it to pay a little more for this one because the cheaper ones have those silver color dies that's are not as strong as these darker dies. Excellent value for the money. This thing is a beast! CONS: When crimping pure copper 1/0 lugs, the hydraulic strength isn't strong as I would like. I'd rather pay a bit more for one with a larger hydraulic cylinder. That's because when fully crimped, sometimes the lug is still slightly loose so you need to either crimp again (the dies should be wider because one crimp only covers 1/2 of the crimpable area) or use the next smallest die to crimp further. If you think you can make one quick crimp and be done with it, you will be disappointed. Also, the dies slide to the left and right too much so you have to check carefully while crimping to make sure the two die halves line up properly. Also, it's not a true hex crimp. After crimping, it leaves two flat "wings" on opposite sides of the hex (see pic). That made it difficult to slide on shrink tubing designed for that lug size. Also, the "wings" make it appear unprofessional. The major thing is when crimping large 1/0 pure copper lugs (pure copper is stiffer than copper coated zinc lugs), it sure takes a lot of muscle to fully crimp. I'm pretty strong but luckily i was able to rest one handle on the ground to get more leverage. If crimping large pure copper lugs, it would help to be a body builder. Keep in mind, for the price, I would still recommend this. It's way better than a non-hydraulic crimper and using the hammer crimpers make it impossible to crimp when the wire isn't on solid ground such as repairing a cable end under the hood. In summary, if I were on the design team, I'd make a more expensive model with twice the hydraulic tonnage with larger handles or maybe an option to purchase handle "extensions" - longer handles will give you more leverage while crimping (I'm a welder too, so I plan on welding on handle extensions). Also, it should have dies that are wider and fit tighter when inserted in the unit. If you are using smaller gauge lugs, I'm sure this will exceed your expectations, but my thing is the reason people buy these hydraulic units is to crimp large lugs. Remember, for the price, you will still be happy. I'm happy too that's why I gave 5 stars. TIPS: When holding the crimper, keep it horizontal, and the dies will seat themselves to make an even hex shape, which will solve the "loose dies" problem. Also, if you have trouble finding enough strength to crimp, just slip some short metal pipe over the handles to give you more leverage. Good idea to wear goggles because when you reach the end of the crimp, you will be exerting so much force (1/0 pure copper lugs) that the tool can slip and smack you in the head. Also, be careful to watch the dies when near the end of the crimp. In other words, once the dies meet each other, if you keep crimping, the force of the hydraulics may compress the dies onto each other, damaging the dies.

I'm an off-grid solar installer, so I crimp battery cables all the time. Not only that, but I teach at a solar school where we have a lot of different crimpers for the students to practice with. This is the best crimper I've ever used... unless you want to compare it to the several thousand dollar super nice automatic ones... but short of that, this is the way to go. This is highly portable, super easy to use, pretty fast, nice and small, and fits into small locations. I haven't had it leak, but there are extra o-rings just in case it ever does. It is the most functional crimper I've used. It is slightly heavy, but that's offset by the fact that it's smaller than most, so the leverage makes it easy to hold it where you need it.

Obtaining a solid and reliable crimp can often be a bit tricky and this crimper goes a long way towards letting you achieve that goal. I've had a wide variety of crimpers in the past, but really needed one that would reduce the effort required for making larger crimps while also being able to handle some of those in-between wire/terminal sizes. To evaluate this crimper I started off by doing a crimp on a standard 4/0 tin-plated copper lug with 4/0 copper welding wire. The result is shown in the first image. The 4/0 die worked perfectly, leaving just a minor tab off of one side while branding the crimp with this standard size. I then cut the crimp in half as shown in the second image and took a picture of the cross section as shown in the third image. Before making that third image I used substantial force to bend the wire back and forth to see if I could dislodge the wire, or perhaps some individual strands, from the resulting partial crimp section. All I could get was a slight movement of some of the strands that you can see if you inspect the image closely. Next I wanted to see how well the crimper would work with some terminals that I have had difficulty with in the past. These are 8AWG lugs with 8AWG stranded copper wire that go into a standard connector. These particular terminals don't take to regular crimping dies very well because they are somewhat oversize. One type of crimper creates a crimp as shown in the fourth image, which looks adequate but not confidence-inspiring. I knew that a regular 8AWG die would produce a severe over-crimp so I tried the TEMCo 8+ die. The result is shown in the fifth image. This is slightly over-crimped, but felt very solid and survived the strongest pull test I could manage. A cross-section of the cut-open lug is shown in the sixth image. For a final test I tried using a 6AWG die with the same lug and wire combination. This is the next size up from the 8+. The result as shown in the final image. This looks almost OK, but the corners of the hex are a bit rounded which mean a likely under-crimp. The terminal will not just fall off and will survive a light tug, so if you just put heat shrink on this terminal and installed it you might not think anything was wrong. But the truth is that a moderate tug was able to pull the wire free from the lug. This is a great example of why having those in-between sizes can really save the day. Great tool set to have and highly recommended.

Great set, I love all the options. My only complaint is it doesn’t include metric sizing on the dies, which almost all lugs are sized by. Takes some trial and error to match what die I need for Andersons power pole lugs.

This is a great crimping tool for all wiring needs. The extra set of smaller dies provides additional security for wiring in high vibration areas and adverse environments. The case is sized perfectly to allow secure storage without taking up a lot of space in a service vehicle. Hydraulic seal overhaul kit is also included, though it hasn't required a rework in over a hundred crimps to date. I would highly recommend it for a service electrician needing quick and reliable terminations.

This is a quality tool from a quality company. Mine developed a leak in the oil cylinder and after an email to the manufacturer, they rushed-shipped two spare rebuild kits at no cost. Highly recommended.

Should one years ago great item

This is the crimper you want for a professional finish. We did a battery relocate to the trunk of my 67 mustang and ran the positive and ground up to the engine bay, this tool is my go to for any crimping jobs now. The other brands pinch the terminal, these make perfect crimps and it comes with a rebuild kit with all the o-rings and seals plus a diagram to see all the internal components. Temco is quality!

The pressure relief valve handle lacks “On” and “Off” markings, as well as an arrow indicating the direction of operation. The paint coating on the device handles is also blistered, indicating poor-quality painting.

Could not find anyone locally to crimp my heavy duty cables. After calling TEMCo and receiving AWESOME advice, I decided to purchase this one because it offered a wider range of sizes at only a slightly higher price point. Excellent craftsmanship! Easy to use! Very please with this purchase. Can't wait to use it again!