Garage Topic

Drone landing pads? Buy One, Or Make Your Own?

As I already mentioned in my previous post, I recently acquired a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. I have been interested in drones for probably the last five to six years but I’ve never really dove deep into the world of drone accessories until I actually owned a drone for myself. One of the accessories that had me scratching my head initially was the landing / launch pads that can be found all over the internet. I couldn’t understand why anyone would need a landing pad for a drone. After all, I’ve watched many YouTubers hand catch these things in videos going all the way back to the Phantom 1 days. These drones can pretty much takeoff from any surface so why do these landing / launch pads even exist? It seemed silly to me that anyone would actually buy and use a landing pad. However, After watching several YouTube videos, and reading their comment sections, I quickly realized there actually was a legit reason for this type of accessory, and it wasn’t silly after all.

Protect the electric motors

One of the reasons to use a landing / launch pad is to keep sand and dirt from being sucked through the electric propeller motors on the drone during takeoffs and landings. Even on a concrete sidewalk (for example) there can be fine sand and dirt on the surface, not visible to the eye, that could be stirred up and sucked through the motors when the drone is either landing or taking off. Now, consider taking off from short grass. Grass grows in dirt, there is dirt under that grass, and even microscopic fine dirt is abrasive and can cause damage in electric motors. I don’t know how fragile these electric motor actually are, but I certainly don’t need to find out the hard way either.

Protect the propellers

Another reason is grass. (mentioned above) The Mavic series of drones, along with others, have very short landing gear, especially the in the rear of the aircraft. If you’re trying to takeoff and land in grass, it better be really short, or you’re going to be cutting grass blades with your propellers…. which isn’t good for the propeller blades themselves, or the electric motors. A nice solid landing / launch pad completely removes this problem.

Precision landing

And probably the main reason for a landing pad is: Precision Landing. The way I understand precision landing is that the aircraft uses it’s vision sensors to get a visual “snap shot” of the exact location where it took off from, so that it can return back and land exactly where it took off from. I’m not totally clear on this but it sounds like when you takeoff, you need to go straight up at least 20 feet and hover a second or two to let the drone get the visual shot that it needs for precision landing. If you don’t allow the drone to get this visual shot, then it will only return to home via the GPS home point location that was set before takeoff, which is not nearly as accurate as precision landing.

Why does the landing pad help with precision landing? Bright colored landing / launch pads give contrast so the vision system on the drone can differentiate between the blah colored ground and the vivid colors of the landing / launch pad. For example, if you were taking off from a concrete parking lot, the entire area is the exact same color. How would the drone’s vision system be able to tell the exact spot where it took off from? The takeoff spot would look exactly like any other spot in the parking lot. But if you had a nice brightly colored landing pad, the drone would easily be able to tell where it cam from.

Which landing pad?

If keeping the motors and propellers safe from damage wasn’t reason enough, once I learned a landing / launch pad would help with precision landing accuracy, I was sold! I now needed a landing pad but I wasn’t really impressed with the ones that were readily available.

The really cheap landing pads are made from very thin nylon tent-like material that folds up like a band saw blade and is kept in a storage pouch. (see below)

How to fold a drone landing launch pad — How to fold a drone landing pad. Similar to folding a band saw blade.

Folding a drone landing launch pad — Folding a drone landing pad

These are fine if you’re not looking to spend much money, but they are very light and could easily blow away in a light gust of wind. They are sold with tent stakes to hold them in place but how do you use tent stakes if you’re taking off and landing on hard pavement? Not a great solution in my opinion.

landing launch pad on grass with tent drone stakes — Flimsy and light fold up landing pad on uneven grass with tent stakes.

Another problem with fold up lightweight style launch pads is they do not provide a stable surface on soft ground like grass. (like above and below)

soft drone landing launch pad on uneven grass — Lightweight landing pad on grass. Notice the uneven landing pad follows the uneven ground.

Another type of fold up landing pad… instead of folding like a band saw blade, these fold flat like a road map. These are probably a little better that the thin nylon tent-like material landing pads, but still not great. They still do not provide a perfectly smooth level surface when used on grass, etc. (see below) Not terrible, but not great either.

foldable drone landing launch pad on unlevel grass — Fordable landing pad not sitting perfectly flat on uneven grass.

Can I make my own?

I decided that I could make a landing pad that would fit my needs better than any of the ones that are available on the retail market. I own a 24 inch vinyl cutter so that dictates the size of the decals that I can cut. Sure, I can make multi-part decals to make a larger landing pad, but a 24 inch landing pad is plenty large enough to take off from, and with precision landing, it should certainly be large enough to land on, too.

My first landing pad

The first landing pad that I made is red and yellow and is applied to a black piece of HDPE sheet about 3/16″ thick that I purchased from my local Menards. I’m not sure the intended use of this sheet but they sell it by the polycarbonate and acrylic plastic sheets near the window department. It comes in a 2′ X 3′ sheet and is $19.99, if I remember correctly. I cut 1 foot off and made it a 24″ X 24″ square and applied my red & yellow decal….. Presto, instant landing pad that will remain rigid on uneven ground.

red and yellow drone landing launch pad decal — Red and yellow drone landing pad decal

finished red b and yellow drone landing pad on black HDPE sheet — Finished red and yellow drone landing pad on black HDPE sheet

Time to make a few more landing pads

I used that new landing pad several times and it worked great. A friend purchased a new drone, along with the Fly More kit so he received one of the lightweight landing pads with his original purchase. We went flying together on his first time out with the new drone. It was slightly windy that day and we found ourselves sharing MY landing pad because it was too windy for his, and we were in a paved parking lot so he couldn’t “stake down” his landing pad. That’s when I decided he needed a one of my custom landing pads.

This time I found a 24″ X 24″ about 3/16th thick, smooth PVC drop in ceiling tile at Menards that was perfect for my application. And just over $6 bucks it was priced right, too!

menards 24 x 24 PVC ceiling tile screen shot — Menards 2′ x 2′ PVC ceiling tile website screen shot

green drone landing launch pad on PVC ceiling tile — PVC ceiling tile with green vinyl base color applied.

green drone landing launch pad on PVC ceiling tile with black and yellow — Drone landing pad decal laying on green ceiling tile

finished green black yellow drone landing launch pad on PVC ceiling tile — Finished green black yellow drone landing pad on PVC ceiling tile

The green, yellow and black landing pad turned out really nice. This color scheme is unique because it matches his company colors, and his company name went on after this picture was taken. I think it looks great. The 2′ X 2′ PVC ceiling tile from Menards is perfect for this application. It appears they also offer this ceiling tile in black but I only saw white in my local Menards store.

A few extras…

I figured if I found myself in the situation of needing a decent landing pad, then I’m sure there has to be others in the same boat as me, right? I decided to make a few extra simple landing pad decals that anyone could use if needed. These were just basic black and yellow. I made two of them.

yellow and black drone landing launch pad decal — Yellow and black drone landing pad decal.

If anyone is reading this article and wants a simple black and yellow landing pad decal, click the contact form at the top of this page and send me a message.

Thanks for stopping by Garage Topic…

All Metal large Tablet Holder WITH Case For DJI Mavic Remote Control, Finally!

After many years of looking at drones, I recently acquired a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. I was slightly familiar with drones from watching YouTube videos and reading articles on the internet, but once I actually owned one, I quickly found out that I had a lot more to learn. One of the problems I was having was trying to fit my Samsung Note 8 properly into the holder that is part of the Mavic remote control. It just never seem to fit correctly. And when I did get it to stay in there (certainly not fit correctly) the cable connection was so sketchy that any little movement caused the USB C plug connection at my phone to disconnect. It’s pretty clear that DJI designed most of their stuff around Apple products, and that’s fine, but that doesn’t do me any good as an Android user. After looking around on-line I saw many aftermarket phone and tablet holders that looked great in pictures, but in person they weren’t so great. (I had to return several) I finally stumbled upon an all metal phone and/or tablet holder that looked pretty good, and based on it’s description it should hold my Note 8, OR my new Samsung TAB S6 tablet…. so I bought it.

Once the holder arrived, after being on back order for about two weeks, I was very impressed with the overall build quality and fit & finish. It is everything the product listing on Amazon says it is. The one problem is….. The only way for it to hold my Samsung Note 8 phone, or my Samsung Galaxy TAB S6 tablet, is to remove them from their cases. I did fly my drone a few times with my Note 8 removed from it’s case, but I refused to remove by new table from it’s case just to fly the drone. I really wanted to see the drone view on my larger tablet screen so I did fly it one time with the tablet on the tailgate of my truck with a long USB cable going to the controller. The large tablet made flying the drone WAAAAY better than watching on the small (relatively) screen of the Note 8. Way better!

So back to Amazon I went in search of a quality, all metal tablet holder that will hold the Samsung TAB S6 WITH a case. They don’t exist. At least not that I could find and I spent hours looking for something that world work. I even searched google for something that might not already be listed on Amazon. Again, no luck. So after some serious thinking, I discovered the all metal holder that I already own would do what I’m looking for with just a little modification. And so the modification project began.

After some measuring of my tablet and tablet holder, I knew what I needed and headed to the store. below is a list of items I purchased to make this modification in case you’re reading this and planning to do this same modification for yourself.

One piece of 1″ wide X 1″ tall X 1/16″ thick X 4′ aluminum angle. You don’t need four feet but my store didn’t have it any shorter You could get my with about three inches and still have leftover.
Four #6-32 X 3/8 long, Allen head cap screws. You can use whatever screw you would like but this is what my store had in 3/8″ length, by #6 diameter, and also had a drill bit/tap kit available in that size.
Two #6-32 drill bit/tap kits. I bought two, but if you don’t break anything, one kit should be just fine. They were slightly over 5 bucks each. I can return the unused set next time I visit that store, which is fairly often.

Tablet holder Mavic drone 1" X 1" X 1/16" X 4' aluminum angle — Tablet holder Mavic drone 1″ X 1″ X 1/16″ X 4′ aluminum angle

Tablet holder Mavic drone #6-32 X 3/8' allen head cap screw — Tablet holder Mavic drone #6-32 X 3/8′ allen head cap screw

Tablet holder Mavic drone #6-32 drill bit tap kit

Once I had all the parts and pieces it was just a matter of cutting two pieces of aluminum angle to the correct size, drilling two holes in each aluminum angle, drilling two holes in each end of the metal tablet holder, tapping threads in those four holes, and then assemble for test fitting. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the hole drilling process but I just used a cheap bench-top hobby drill press. It even has a bent shaft so the chuck and drill bit run completely out-of-round. lol.

The pictures below show the results of each step:

Aluminum extension brackets cut to size and holes drilled.

Tablet holder Mavic drone aluminum extension brackets

Holes drilled and tapped in metal tablet holder.

Tablet holder Mavic drone holes drilled and tapped

Aluminum extension brackets installed on the tablet holder.

Tablet holder Mavic drone extension brackets installed

Finished with both extension brackets installed.

Tablet holder Mavic drone finished with both brackets installed

Test fitting the Samsung TAB S6 WITH case in the modified tablet holder.

Tablet holder Mavic drone test fitting on Samsung TAB S6 tablet

One last thing…. I need to take off the new aluminum extension brackets and do some filing and sanding to smooth all rough edges. I do have a large disc sander, which I did use briefly on these brackets, but it’s too course and leaves a rough finish. I need to hand finish these for a nice finsh that won’t cut my skin, or leave marks in the plastic tablet case.

This thing is ROCK SOLID now! The tablet fits very tightly and feels like it’s permanently installed. There is absolutely no movement to speak of. I can’t wait to fly the drone with this new (modified) tablet holder. Look for an update at the bottom of this article with the real world flight test results, and pictures of the finished, hand smoothed brackets.

Disclaimer: If anyone reading this has found themselves in the same situation I was, and is thinking about trying this modification, please do so with caution. Just because it worked for me without damaging the tablet holder itself, doesn’t mean everyone will have the same results. Precisely drilling and tapping small holes in sintered powdered metal parts (I’m pretty sure that is what the original tablet holder is made from) can be tricky. Not to mention, drilling a hole in an already small (relatively weak) piece of metal can remove enough material to cause the part to lose it’s original rigidity and can break very easily. MODIFY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Thanks for stopping by Garage Topic.

USS IOWA Machine Shop Tour. BB-61

A while back I toured the decommissioned USS IOWA Battleship in San Pedro, California. This USS IOWA was the first of four ships built in the IOWA class of battleships, which was the last class of battleships ever completed by the United States Navy. And if I’m not mistaken, these four ships were last battleships ever produced anywhere on earth. So, you could say, even at 78 years old this is the most modern battleship still in existence today, along with her 3 sisters ships, USS NEW JERSEY, USS WISCONSIN, and the USS MISSOURI. All four IOWA class battle ships are now floating museums. As mentioned the IOWA is floating in San Pedro CA, the MISSOURI is floating in Pearl Harbor HI, the NEW JERSEY is floating in the Delaware river in Camden NJ, and the WISCONSIN is floating in Norfolk VA.

I am a bit of a WWII Navy history nerd and touring this ship was a major highlight for me. I won’t bore the readers with countless specs and trivia about these ships because that isn’t really the focus of this website. However, the machine shop on the USS IOWA and all of it machine equipment is probably right in line with the interests of Garage Topic readers.

When I arrived at the dock where the IOWA is moored in San Pedro, I was very excited to just walk the deck of such a famous ship, let alone get a full tour. For this WWII Navy nerd, the feeling of being within feet of the ship was amazing. It made the hair stand up on my arms and the back of my neck. They have retired US Navy veterans welcoming visitors onto the ship as you walk up the gangway…. and of course I had to ask for permission to come aboard, which the Navy veterans granted immediately.

Once onboard you are allowed to walk wherever you like. It’s considered a self guided tour. The do have yellow arrows painted on the various decks which help to make sure you don’t get turned around and keep moving in the right direction. But you’re still free to tour the “open” spaces as you wish. In fact, I’m pretty sure I somehow got started on the tour backwards so I was moving against the grain for the entire tour. Luckily for me there wasn’t much of a crowd that day so moving against the grain wasn’t much of a problem.

Just as I finished the tour, and I was standing outside on the aft main deck looking over LA Harbor, one of the IOWA museum employees approached me and asked how I liked the tour. After visiting with him for 5-10 minutes, he asked if there was something I wanted to see that was not on the self guided tour. I said yes, I wanted to see the Machine Shop…. and he said “why didn’t you say something sooner?” lol. He said “that easy, follow me!” And off we went to the machine shop…

Below is a gallery of pictures from the USS IOWA machine shop. These are the same pictures shown in my YouTube video but they are probably easier to see in gallery form than in a video slideshow. Side note: If anyone reading this would like a full resolution copy of any picture(s) shown in this gallery, just send me an email and I will send the full res picture(s) to you.

One of the coolest things That I was shown in the Machine shop was this steel workbench top that was stamped with the name’s and home addresses of the men who worked in the machine shop during WWII when the IOWA was parked in Tokyo Bay on V-J Day, August 15th 1945 when the Japanese signed the instruments of surrender on the deck of IOWA’s sister ship, USS MISSOURI. This picture is included in the gallery above but I just wanted to crop-in a little to show detail.

Another cool fact about the IOWA machine shop is…. All of these big machines were lowered into this space while the ship was being built in the late 1930’s – early 1940’s. They have never left the ship since it was born, they have seen several wars and many years of on-again/off-again long term storage. The IOWA was commissioned and de-commissioned three different times for three different wars and spent almost 70 years on the US Naval vessel register. And the amazing thing is…. all these machines still work great! The USS IOWA museum staff still use these machines on a regular basis to maintain the ship to this day.

And lastly, I know this is a controversial topic but it’s worth mentioning…. When most Navy vessels become museums, they are usually demilitarized and most have their propellers removed so they can never move under their own power ever again. However, the USS IOWA is different… Even though this ship has been technically donated from the US Navy to the “Pacific Battleship Center” which is the non-profit organization who operates the USS IOWA as a museum, the United States Congress passed a law to keep the battleships, and specifically the USS IOWA, in such condition that if ever needed again, the ship could be returned to the Navy and active duty.

Below is a copy/paste from the the USS IOWA wiki page:

On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy struck Iowa and Wisconsin from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museum ships; but the United States Congress remained “deeply concerned” over the loss of the naval surface gunfire support that the battleships provided, and noted that “navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic.” As a partial consequence, Congress passed Pub.L. 109–163 the National Defense Authorization Act 2006, requiring that the battleships be kept and maintained in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again. Congress ordered that measures be implemented to ensure that, if need be, Iowa could be returned to active duty. These measures closely mirrored the original three conditions that the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 which laid out for the maintenance of Iowa while she was in the “mothball fleet”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_(BB-61)

I know there is absolutely no way the US Navy would ever want to recommission an 80 year old ship to use in modern times. But for THIS battleship Nerd, just knowing that congress specifically made a law that would allow the IOWA to POSSIBLY return to active service greatly satisfies me.

I would like to thank all of the employees and volunteers of the USS IOWA museum who work hard every day to preserve this important part of US Naval history.

Thanks for stopping by Garage Topic.

Harbor Freight Braun 3 in 1 Quick Connect Light Kit Review. Folding Slim Bar Flashlight .

I take a look at the all new Harbor Freight Braun 3 in 1 quick connect LED light kit, item number 56200. This light was brand new for Harbor Freight in November 2019. It is very similar to the older Braun folding slim bar from last year but this new model is brighter and includes 2 other light attachments, along with a detachable magnetic hook for hanging the light, and a carrying case. check out the video below for more info.

The New Harbor Freight BRAUN 3 in 1 LED light kit.

YouTube video down below.

PROS:

Brightness. Just like the folding slim bar from last year, this new folding bar is VERY bright. This light will easily illuminate any tight work space with more than enough light to get the job done.

New attachments. This new BRAUN 3 in 1 model comes with a hook attachment that also includes additional magnets. The new attachment allows for even more mounting or hanging options so you can get the light pointing in just the right direction.

New light tip: The new folding slim bar has a loop on the tip of the light bar, which the old model did not have, which makes it much easier to hang this light under a hood, or in a wheel well. (for example)

Flexible shaft. The flexible shaft light is a great attachment for getting light into extremely tight places or into a cylinder of an engine for inspection. Its this attachment that makes this new product worth having in your tool box.

Removable battery. I am very happy that BRAUN and Harbor Freight decided to keep the removable 18650 battery, like the original light from last year had also. A lot of guys have purchased 18650 battery chargers with additional batteries from Amazon or eBay, and keep extra batteries charged so when their light goes dead, they’re not stuck waiting for a light to recharge. They simply swap out the battery for one that is fully charged and they’re back up and running within a minute or two. It’s great for guys who need a light for an entire 8-10 hour shift. Many of the other brands on the market who manufacturer similar lights do not have removable batteries.

Fairly well made. The overall light and it’s attachments seem to be fairly well made. The majority of the light base (handle) feels like it’s made from aluminum, along with the green quick disconnect collar. The attachments seem to mostly be made from sturdy plastic.

CONS:

Flashlight attachment. The standard flashlight attachment is nothing spectacular. Sure, it does the job of a standard flashlight but it’s not exceptionally bright, and it’s not the main reason for buying this kit in the first place. Not to mention, almost everyone already owns a standard flashlight anyway.

Storage Case. The storage case that comes with this light kit makes me scratch my head. The light and it’s attachments are NOT in the case when you you purchase the kit and it’s a bit of a puzzle trying to figure out the best way to fit all the pieces into the case. There are many small elastic straps and Velcro loops that are apparently designed to hold all the bits and pieces individually but yet nothing seems to fit particularly great. The storage case would be much better if it was just a zippered pouch….. no Velcro elastic holding straps, no mesh netting sewn into each side…. Just a small bag with a zipper is all you really need.

Over complicated, and basically unusable BRAUN 3 in 1 storage case.

Retail price. The original retail price when I purchased this light was $59.99, which is about 1.5 times the price of the original slim bar light from a year earlier. However, I don’t know anyone who has paid full price for their light because you can usually find coupons that make the price on the original light either $24.99, $19.99, and sometimes as low as $18.99…… So asking $59.99 for this new light kit is a bit of a stretch. However, as I write this review for Garage Topic I see the retail price today is listed at $49.99 on the Harbor Freight website, and I have heard of coupons for this light making it as low as $39.99.

Conclusion:

The light and it’s attachments are very nice. They work great and are very handy while working on cars, trucks, heavy equipment, etc. I have also found these folding LED slim lights (new style, or last years model) are excellent for camping. The magnets will hold the lights to my truck door, tailgate, bed side, or easy-up tent supports, etc. I won’t go camping without my harbor freight LED folding lights. At full asking retail price, it’s not that great of a deal. I recommend waiting until you find a decent coupon and buy this light kit at the discounted rate. The standard flashlight attachment is basically an after thought. Sure, it’s usable, but it’s not why anyone buys this LED light kit. If you need a folding slim light, or flexible shaft light, this is a great product when purchased with a coupon….. just leave the standard flashlight attachment inside the confusing storage case in the bottom drawer of your tool box, and then you will love this new BRAUN LED light kit. lol

Thanks for stopping by Garage Topic.

Chinese Hydraulic Wire Crimper with 4/0 Welding Cable Review

Today I demonstrate my new 16 ton Chinese hydraulic wire crimper that I bought from Amazon. I will be using it with 4/0 (four aught) 100% copper, fine stranded welding cable and per-tinned crimp lugs. I even cut apart the finished crimped fitting to inspect the quality of the crimp connection. I bought this crimper to use on a starting unit for heavy equipment that we were building a few months ago and I was impressed with it’s capability, especially for the low cost of the tool. I figured it was worth sharing my experience with the good people of Garage Topic and youtube. Harbor Freight offers a hydraulic crimping tool also, but it costs more than the tool in this review, and it’s a smaller crimper. The largest wire listed on the Harbor Freight tool is 0 AWG (zero gauge). The cable I am crimping in this review is 4/0 (four aught) which is four sizes larger than 0 AWG. (zero gauge) This 16 ton Chinese crimper comes with 5 sets of dies LARGER than the 4/0 I was crimping. (11 sets of dies in total) This thing is an absolute beast for the price. I should have bought this tool sooner!

YouTube video down below.

I am pretty sure that most of the 16 ton hydraulic crimpers listed on Amazon and eBay are probably from the same factory in China. They are just re-named, or re-branded depending what the private sellers decide to call the product in their Amazon or eBay listings. The unit I purchased from Amazon is called “Goplus”.

This is a picture of the hydraulic crimping tool I purchased:

PROS:

Low cost. I do not remember the exact price that I paid for this crimper but it was considerably cheaper than the Harbor Freight crimper, which is also considerably smaller than this unit. Not to mention, this crimper is WAAAY cheaper than the well known, brand name crimpers that is available on the market.

Capability. This crimper comes with eleven hex dies which will cover a wide range of cable and wire sizes. Everything from a wire just large enough that you wouldn’t want to crimp it with a hand crimper, all the way up to cable sizes that your average guy would probably never be working with anyway. Another thought I had was…. the dies are nothing proprietary. They literally look like a square piece of metal with a hex hole punched in the middle, then cut in half to make the die. A handy guy in his home shop could easily make custom dies for this crimper out of a square piece of mild steel, drill a hole, then cut in half. Presto! Instant custom die.

Simple and easy to use. This crimper is very easy to use. There is one vale to open and close just like on a hydraulic floor jack, and a handle to pump the hydraulic jaws together. That’s it. (The jaws are spring return) As long as you have the correct size dies installed for the size of cable and fittings you’re using, and you center your fitting in the dies, you really can’t screw up the crimp. Then you just pump the handle until the dies come completely together, so there is no longer a gap between the dies. Done.

Complete kit. The crimper comes in a blow mold case, which is not very good quality, but the only thing the case does is hold the tool and dies together while being stored. The case does not affect the functionality of the tool while it’s crimping wire or cables. And besides, for the cost of this tool, I really didn’t expect the case to be great anyway. lol. It also comes with an extra set of o-rings so when the tool develops a leak in the future, you will already have the o-rings to fix the leak….. if the extra o-ring kit isn’t lost by then. lol

Quality of crimp. I was very impressed by the quality of the finished crimp. Between the size of dies I was using, and the size of the fittings and cable I was crimping, I was VERY happy with the result of the finished crimp. I used my sawzall to cut a test crimp apart to inspect the crimp quality and it looked perfect to me. See for yourself below:

Freshly cut apart with sawzall to inspect quality of crimp

Finished crimp with adhesive lined shrink tubing

CONS:

My number one complaint is die sizing. The numbers on the dies are not inline with any numbers used for wire sizing here in North America, not this part anyway. I’ve been told it’s some sort of metric wire sizing….. which is perfectly fine, but it’s just not very convenient of anyone in North America. You would think if they’re selling millions of these crimper kits here in North America, it wouldn’t be too much trouble to have a different set of dies stamped with AWG sizing. It takes a little trial and error to get the correct size die for your project. I recommend at least one or two test crimps with scrap wire to make sure you get the sizing correct before crimping anything on your project itself. I was mildly upset with the die sizing but then I remembered how much I paid for this crimper kit and I immediately had a smile back on my face. lol.

Other than die sizing, and the low quality case, there really is nothing else to complain about with this hydraulic crimping tool.

Conclusion:

I would absolutely recommend this hydraulic crimper to anyone who needs to crimp any wire or cable that is too large to crimp with a hand crimper. It is a complete kit that covers a wide range of wire and cable sizes, it is very easy to use, it gives very high quality crimp results, and is very reasonably priced. The only down side would be if you’re a commercial contractor, who needs to prove that he used certified crimp fittings with a certified crimper, on a commercial job, then this crimper would not be for you. However, if you found yourself in the situation that I just mentioned, you’re probably not reading this review anyway. You would most likely be standing at the city desk of your local electrical supply house picking up that well known, brand name crimper that I mentioned earlier in this post, and paying 60 times (roughly) more than I paid for the crimper in this review.

For the average guy who is looking to crimp heavy gauge welding cable, or battery cables, or even cables for your DIY solar system install, this crimper would be excellent for you.

Thanks for stopping by Garage Topic.

Check out the crimper video on my YouTube channel