Hot take: bad crimps were my fault for 6 years until a senior tech called me out

I used to blame bad crimps on cheap connectors or the tool. Then during a line maintenance check in Denver last spring, a 30 year veteran watched me work and said "you're pulling the wire too tight before you crimp, that's why the barrel splits." He was right. I changed my angle and let the wire sit loose before squeezing. Now I check each crimp with a pull test and my rework rate dropped from maybe 10 percent to near zero. Anyone else get humbled by some simple habit they thought was fine?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel14023d ago

Man, that story hits close to home. I had a similar thing happen with my crimp technique about two years ago. I was always yanking the wire back before squeezing the handle, thought it made a tighter connection. Turns out I was just putting stress on the barrel and causing micro fractures that only showed up after a few cycles. An old timer at a training session just said "let the wire rest neutral, don't fight the tool." Changed my whole approach. I also started checking the crimp height with a simple gauge every few crimps instead of just eyeballing it. Made a world of difference, my failure rate dropped to basically nothing too.

betty_kelly923d ago

Yeah @daniel140 that "let the wire rest neutral" thing is dead on. I had a buddy who was a marine electrician and he swore by yanking the wire back until his foreman made him watch a crimp test video in slow motion, you could literally see the barrel start to separate before it was even seated right. He still laughs about how he was making his own work harder for years over such a simple fix.

vera_lewis223d ago

That "let the wire rest neutral" advice is the kind of thing that sticks. My buddy @daniel140 learned that same lesson when his dad, a retired telephone lineman, watched him wire up a new trailer and just said "you're fighting it, son, let it breathe." Now he tells everyone the hardest part was admitting he'd been doing it wrong for so long.