Crimpers, crimpers, crimpers, ...
I happen to have bought a few crimpers over the years. I understand how convenient is to have a trusty connection using a crimper, but I have had trouble shelling out the hefty sum a brand-new required. Being mostly a hobbyist I had a difficult time accepting paying hundreds of dollars for a glorified set of pliers that I would use to make less than fifty contacts a year. However, whenever I have had a hint that an affordable tool could do a reasonable job within a budget I have bought a new crimper. Most of the time to get a disappointing result, or a poor one at best. I usually deal with 2.54 mm DuPont and Molex connectors so I have bought SN-28B (actually twice by mistake), TU-190-8, and another one I bought from RS. The one from RS almost did the trick for DuPont but it crushed the top metal too flat so I needed to use some pliers so I could squeeze it into the plastic part. The two jaws did leave a small space on the side so I reckon the crimp was good but the geometry ...