Somebody has one for sale for half price in the town that I'm in, says it was only used a couple times. time2roll,I see from a search here that you bought one. Do you still like it?Reading the reviews, I see that people complain about the dies wearing out quickly. Will I be able to tell if the ones I want to use are worn? What should I look for?I'm not going into business crimping cables, just need to do a few to connect up my batteries and charging system. So Harbor Freight quality seems like it might be potentially right for my purposes :B.I've never used a hydraulic crimper, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I figure you guys are the experts!

Only want to use it for one job....why not rent one... half day or by the hour would be inexpensive.Check Home Depot tool rental or any local outfit that rents tools and equipment.

Before you invest in a hydraulic check the impact crimpers. Used an impact crimper to add four 6v batteries to my house battery bank. They work for 8 to 4/0 AWG cables. Get the correct size lugs for the wire you use and add heat shrink for color codes.

downtheroad wrote:Only want to use it for one job....why not rent one... half day or by the hour would be inexpensive.Check Home Depot tool rental or any local outfit that rents tools and equipment.X2 for rentingoranother place to look is a welding supply shop. Every town has one at least. They might give you a good deal on cable too, mine did - much less than anything I found online.

What size wire do you want to crimp?

I bought one of these when I made my battery cables. It works great!https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E1UUVT0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Buying/evaluating a used Harbor Freight hydraulic crimper?

downtheroad
Explorer
Nov 02, 2018
Only want to use it for one job....why not rent one... half day or by the hour would be inexpensive.

Check Home Depot tool rental or any local outfit that rents tools and equipment.
garym114
Explorer II
Nov 02, 2018
Before you invest in a hydraulic check the impact crimpers.
Used an impact crimper to add four 6v batteries to my house battery bank. They work for 8 to 4/0 AWG cables. Get the correct size lugs for the wire you use and add heat shrink for color codes.
GordonThree
Explorer
Nov 02, 2018
downtheroad wrote:
Only want to use it for one job....why not rent one... half day or by the hour would be inexpensive.

Check Home Depot tool rental or any local outfit that rents tools and equipment.

X2 for renting

or

another place to look is a welding supply shop. Every town has one at least. They might give you a good deal on cable too, mine did - much less than anything I found online.
pauldub
Explorer
Nov 02, 2018
What size wire do you want to crimp?
RobWNY
Explorer
Nov 02, 2018
I bought one of these when I made my battery cables. It works great!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E1UUVT0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
bpounds
Nomad
Nov 02, 2018
My opinion is, skip the crimp, and solder.

Using these:
Solder Slugs

Using solder slugs video

I have an impact crimper, but I prefer these.
Naio
Explorer II
Nov 02, 2018
Those solder slugs look great!
Naio
Explorer II
Nov 02, 2018
I thought the verdict for big lugs was crimp AND solder?
bpounds
Nomad
Nov 02, 2018
You could solder after crimping, but I never do. Cannot crimp before using the slugs obviously.
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 02, 2018
I have and like my HF 7-ton hydraulic crimper.

OK not exactly easy to use to make a beautiful crimp. The dies seem too small as marked. With a single crimp you will end up with dog ears. For a pro looking crimp you will need to less than fully crimp and rotate and re-crimp a bit more each of maybe three times to make a nice hexagon crimp. Have some extra lugs to practice.

Not perfect but does very well with some practice. A real hexagon crimper set that goes #10 to 4/0 in one shot is going to be way more money.

I always recommend crimp over solder for this application. Once you have a good crimp... solder is just a waste of time and probably make a mess of the insulation.

Used tools I would offer 1/3 retail although 1/2 would not be too bad if barely used.

http://www.genuinedealz.com/heavy-duty-crimping-tool-for-battery-lugs-terminals-6-awg-250-mcm