FTZ 94284 Terminal Crimper
- Thread starter jviss
- Start date
Yea, but if you drill a 5/16" out to 3/8", you loose the tin plating. A 5/16" won't go on to a 3/8" terminal otherwise.
I just "invested" $31 in 5/16" 4AWG lugs. Ugh! Maybe not a good idea!
Well, duh! I didn't suggest drilling anything. They were all 5/16 studs, so that's the lugs I bought.
I didn't say you did, or that what you did was "Ugh! Maybe not a good idea!" I was talking about my investment in 5/16" lugs.
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So, I found the Greenlee crimper, Greenlee K09-2GL, on eBay, "used once," for less than I paid for the FTZ - so I bought it. I'll be able to compare the tools, but I assume the Greenlee will be superior. I still have the option of returning the FTZ crimper.
What I like about the Greenlee is that it's apparently of much better design and manufacture (made in Germany), and doesn't require adjustment or calibration, as the FTZ tools does. And, it follows the industry standard color code, and the colors are marked on the dies and simply lined-up, not requiring reference to a table.
I'll post a comparison review of the two when I get the Greenlee, and probably crimp a few of the FTZ terminals with the Greenlee, to see how it does.
I wish I had done some more research before pulling the trigger on the FTZ, but, oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.
What I like about the Greenlee is that it's apparently of much better design and manufacture (made in Germany), and doesn't require adjustment or calibration, as the FTZ tools does. And, it follows the industry standard color code, and the colors are marked on the dies and simply lined-up, not requiring reference to a table.
I'll post a comparison review of the two when I get the Greenlee, and probably crimp a few of the FTZ terminals with the Greenlee, to see how it does.
I wish I had done some more research before pulling the trigger on the FTZ, but, oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.
Copper is kind of tough to drill too. It tends to suck the drill bit in pretty aggressively. I've had better luck with a rat tail file. You still loose the tin regardless of how you open up the hole.
Agreed. I have a tapered, hand reamer that works well, if you are careful to take a very small shaving at a time. The tin can be replace, sort of, with solder.
I've owned the Greenlee K09-2GL (a genuine Greenlee) and tested both tools extensively. It's not a bad tool but also not the AMP or FTZ.. Pull out strengths are higher on the FTZ and then even higher on the AMP. The FTZ is the closest tool in performance I have found to the AMP tools.
The biggest problem with the Greenlee right now is that the Chinese are knocking it off so extensively & quite poorly in performance, to the point that many of the ones you see out there are not a genuine Greenlee tool. They are $35.00 Chinese knock-offs, painted green, & selling for a similar price to the genuine Greenlee. Up until a few years ago the FTZ was Made in the USA. After Ilsco bought FTZ they moved production of the crimp tool off-shore. I have both the Chinese version and a US version (two US made tools actually) and they are so close as to barely be discernible differences. Calibration is easy:
FTZ 94284 Calibration
#1 Set the left die to "A"
#2 Set the right die to "C"
#3 Open handles fully
#4 Close handles until the "A" die and "C" die first touch
#5 Do not close handles any further (dies just touching)
#6 Measure the distance between the handle centers at the handle ends
#7 Distance should be 14" - 16" center to center
#8 If not 14" to 16" turn the Allen head adjusting screw (on right handle, side of tool above sticker) clockwise to widen the handle gap and counter clock wise to narrow the gap.
#9 Hint closer to 14" and the crimp is on the low side of adjustment (less tight), closer to 16" and the crimp is tighter.
So far I've not had a single tool beat the FTZ in consistent crimp pull testing other than the AMP Rota-Crimp tools (the tools I actually use on a daily basis). I have tested tools from Burndy, Quick Cable, Greenlee, Panduit, the Greenlee Chinese knock offs and piles of Chinese manual & hydraulic tools searching for a better value than the FTZ. Some of these hydraulic tools are even imported & stickered by less than ethical US companies claiming AWG dies when in-fact they are not.
The main reason I do not recommend the Greenlee, in my article, Making Your Own Battery Cables (LINK) is due to the massive counterfeit issue with those tools. While the genuine tool works pretty well the knock-offs do not.
I'm not suggesting drilling lugs but here is a safety tip when drilling copper, lead, brass, bronze or plastic. A standard twist drill has a positive rake at the cutting edge which sucks the drill into the metal. The cutting edge needs to be ground to a zero or - 2 degree edge. A standard bench grinder will work but may result in asymetric edges causing drill wobble and less than round holes. For other than high precision holes it is acceptable. A straight flute gun drill with 0 degree cutting edge is the best solution but the twist drill is acceptable otherwise. These edges allow the metal to be chipped away rather than torn.
Yikes! Well, we'll see when I receive this one. I assume I will be able to tell if it's a knock-off, by a close inspection, and test crimps. Bummer.
Once I read this I did some searching and found a copy, for only $65, but it wasn't pretending to be a Greenlee, it is yellow, and labeled "Steel Dragon Tools K09-2GL K-Series Mechanical Crimper fits 8awg- 250MCM with rotating dies." On Amazon. I can see how someone could make this into a counterfeit Greenlee.
I hope I haven't been ripped off. I'm going to email Greenlee and ask them how I may determine that I have the genuine article.
Back in my machine shop days, we would grind shallow clearance angles on standard twist drills for use in copper & it's alloys. That worked well. I never tried going all the way to zero clearance angle. We usually used something in the 3-5⁰ range for drills that would be used in a press or mill & sometimes cowboy'd it up to 7⁰ or 8⁰ for bits to be used in a hand drill. The steeper angle in the hand drill would reduce the pressure needed, at the expense of a greater possibly of hooking up & digging in. You had to be careful with those. Standard general purpose bits for mild steel were ground with a clearance angle more like 10-15⁰. Bits for use in stainless & aluminum got clearance angles closer to 20⁰ of relief.
I've only ever seen gun drills used for very deep holes. I never thought to try them for shallow holes in cupric alloys. That's an interesting idea.
We used different grind angles for specific different plastics. Poly carbonate would usually tolerate standard twist drills. Acrylic (that is often used for boat windows) usually got a very pointy bit that had a point geometry similar to a spot bit to prevent cracking the material around the hole.
I usually don't go into this much detail about drill tip geometry with people who don't know how to read a drill point by looking at it from the front, but since the subject was brought up, I figured that I would take a chance & babble on a bit.
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That will definitely help but for the average guy grinding a clearance angle is pretty tough. The easy way is the "dubbed" drill.
The angle can be as much as minus 5 degrees but you are gonna be pushin' mighty hard.That's interesting. I've never tried a dubbed tip. I always reground the front surface of the point until the angle between the cutting edge & the chisel came out to what I wanted. The real way to do it is on a proper radial pointing fixture, but I've had pretty good luck with just taking a drill bit to bench grinder & doing it by eye. I don't have pointing fixtures for bits larger than 3/4", so I've always repointed all my larger bits by eye.
The picture below shows how to read a drill point. The red lines shows the current angle of the cutting edge to the chisel. This is a general purpose cutting angle. The green lines show what I would want it to be for drilling copper. Basically, you add 90 to the clearance angle that you want & that is what you look for when viewing the point from the front. a 90⁰ angle would indicate zero clearance behind the point. Anything less than 90 would indicate negative clearance & that would not cut at all. Split point bits cut the chisel in half & don't let you see the clearance angle from a front view.
The picture below shows how to read a drill point. The red lines shows the current angle of the cutting edge to the chisel. This is a general purpose cutting angle. The green lines show what I would want it to be for drilling copper. Basically, you add 90 to the clearance angle that you want & that is what you look for when viewing the point from the front. a 90⁰ angle would indicate zero clearance behind the point. Anything less than 90 would indicate negative clearance & that would not cut at all. Split point bits cut the chisel in half & don't let you see the clearance angle from a front view.
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Just a suggestion, maybe you could put a short blurb in your article about this counterfeit tool issue. I would have been much more circumspect had I suspected that was an issue.
I contacted Greenlee technical support asking how to identify a genuine tool, or a counterfeit one. I also asked the seller of mine where he got it, and for any documentation he might have.
Guys,
The easiest method I've found to drill lugs in the field, and yes budget wise, for the owner, it sometimes has to be done, is a simple step drill.
The easiest method I've found to drill lugs in the field, and yes budget wise, for the owner, it sometimes has to be done, is a simple step drill.
It's really not worth it to confuse the issue any more nor to lead people to a tool that can't make as strong a crimp and costs quite a bit more. I have been testing and looking for a better legitimate lug crimp tool value than the FTZ for years. When I find it I will let you guys know... It's hard enough to get boaters away from hammers & pliers as crimp tools as it is but recommending a $250.00+ tool.........
Crimped a couple of FTZ #4 heavy duty lugs after calibrating the tool. Nice, smooth-looking crimp. I certainly can't pull it apart by hand. I was thinking that when I receive the Greenlee tool, I'll make some "test coupons," short pieces of wire with a lug on each end. My son is a PhD mechanical engineer/materials scientist, and still has access to the lab at URI, where he can pull them to destruction on the Instron. Maybe I'll also section some crimps for examination.