Precision Universal Crimping Tool for Crimping Micro Crimp pins. Made in Japan. ENGINEER pa-09

Another excellent quality tool from the Japanese 'Engineer' company. These are a pair of manual crimpers for individual connection pins, such as Jst or Dupont pins. They are spring opening, with a catch to keep them closed when not in use. They come on a blister card, which has some helpful instructions and sizes on the back. (Photo). There is nothing fancy about them. There is no ratchet mechanism, no holding mechanism. All you get are a pair of manual grip crimpers. (Photo). Fortunately, none of that is really necessary and these work extremely well. In fact they are the best I've used. You place the pin in the relevant sized hole and squeeze. You do the conductor first, then move the pin to crimp the insulation. It works extremely well. Just make sure you use the right size hole. It can be fiddly, so it's a massive advantage if your pins are still attached to their manufacturing strip. You can still crimp the pins if they are individually loose, but it is a lot more fiddly. 'Engineer' do 3 different sizes of these crimpers. I personally think that these, the PA-20, are the most useful. I have never had to use a size bigger than 2.3mm or smaller than 1.6mm in all my years, so, I can't imagine needing a different pair. Your circumstances may be different, but if you are crimping standard 2.54mm pitch pins, these are the ones you want. Overall, these are a great set of crimpers, that work really well. Yes, they are a little expensive, but with nothing to go wrong, there is no reason why these shouldn't last a life time. Recommended. I hope you found this review helpful.

I have been using this now for a couple of cheers to crimp JST pins onto ribbon cables, I love the JST connectors but I really do not like crimping them. There's a definite "knack" to using this tool, and even having crimped thousands of these, I still find them very fiddly to crimp. The JST crimps have 2 tab sections, one is used to crimp to the insulator ensuring that the cable is held in place, and the second is the actual terminal itself. The method that works for me is: 1.) bend the insulator tabs inwards very slightly with needle nosed pliers, if you don't do this, you won't be cable to perform the actual crimp. 2) place the crimp into this tool, I rotate the tool in my hand so the legend is facing away, I need to do this is ensure that I'm only crimping the insulator and not the other tabs, I gently close the tool slightly to grab the crimp, then rotate the tool back so the legend is visible, the back of the connector is now facing me. 3.) As I'm looking at the rear of the crimp, I insert t he cable into the crimp and look at the other side to make sure that I haven't pushed the cable in too far or not enough, it should be positioned so that the cable insulator is touching the outer tab, and the conductor is touching the inner tabs. 4.) very carefully I close the tool to perform the crimp. At this point, you might get a good crimp, or, you might end up with the crimp rotating in the tool jaws, in which case you have to reset everything and try again, the final problem you may get is that the tabs just didn't fold properly, in which case you need to remove the crimp/cut it off/trim the cable and so on. If the crimp was OK, then you repeat the process again, and crimp the inner tabs, just make sure that you check that you are not crushing the end of the crimp, if you do the pin won't be usable. Other issues also include the crimp bending. It works reasonably well most of the time, but sometimes they can be infuriating, especially when the tabs don't fold properly. This is a common issue I've read with this tool, but this is one of the best tools for these crimps, so I kind of just live with these issues. Take your time, and inspect everything before you make the actual crimp. It's also well worth having a multimeter set to "beep" mode, after crimping you should check that the cable is ok, sometimes the cable may more and the conductor might make no or poor contact.

Crimps coming out amazing, its night and day compared to chep-ones. Well worth the money if you need quality crimps.

I need a tool that can crimp both JST-XH and Dupont connectors. These aren't it but to be fair they don't list Dupont or equivalent so that's not a critique of tool but just for awareness if that's functionality that you need. For the JST-XH crimps they work well but need two operations for each crimp and are dependent on the operator applying the correct amount of pressure whereas a ratchet tool only needs one and will always turn out a well closed crimp. On the flip side of that though, because each crimp requires two operations the tool is more open than a comparable ratchet tool and so gives better visibility of the work and consequently fewer failures than a ratchet tool. You pays your money and makes your choice as the saying goes. If you need a slim and lightweight crimp tool for occasional use without consuming a lot of toolbox space or adding a lot of weight then these are good quality and would serve you well but for frequent use and/or Dupont connectors I've found the Preciva Dupont crimping tool will handle both JST-XH & Dupont connectors (as well as some others), has a ratchet mechanism (which I personally prefer), comes with a set of JST & Dupont headers, crimps & housings and came in about £5 cheaper than this tool. In summary: A well made tool that is slim, lightweight and comfortable to use but there are cheaper options available with more features for more frequent use.

I couldn't find anything else at all for crimping microfit connectors, except for the £600 molex tool, and maybe except for the IWISS, which has some pretty mixed reviews and still costs about £20. This is one of the nicer tools i've owned and it should last a long time. The grip is very comfortable and the tension is carefully set. if you do a lot of crimping then this will save you a lot of time and discomfort. PA-09, which is what I bought, can just about crimp 18AWG (I think the wire is 24AWG in the photos), but I would recommend 20AWG or smaller with these. It makes the process a lot more easier, but you still have to actually crimp the wire which is a skill I have not mastered

Perfect tool for crimping connectors. Well made, pressure is controlled by you not by a ratcheting mechanism - which is what you want. These haven't failed me once. I see some people suggesting you crimp the connectors holding the insulation first then do the wires. Don't do it like that. 1) Put the connector with the wire crimps in the centre in a suitable slot eg 1.4mm for JST-XH The fins for the insulation should be sticking out and shouldn't be in the crimp at this point. 2) Insert the wire so that the insulation is just level with the inner part of the outer wings/fins. 3) Crimp. 4) Pinch the insulation wings/fins slightly to narrow the gap a little - finger pressure is fine at this point. 5) Carefully move the wire and crimp to the appropriate slot (1.9mm for JST-XH) with the outer insulation wings/fins in the slot. 6) Crimp again. Open the jaws and take out your newly crimped wire. Using this method you can pretty much guarantee success every single time. I've used these for Dupont connectors and JST-XH with great results. If in doubt, watch the video in the listing it's not marketing fluff it shows you exactly what to do. Yes they cost a bit more but they are, honestly, worth it.

I bought these to replace some cheaper ratchet crimpers I had bought for crimping XH, PH, DuPont and Molex Mini. So first up I needed two different ratchet tools to cover all those sizes which was nearly the cost of these anyway, then the cheaper ratchets often over crimp and smush your connectors anyway and are fiddly to line up. These however are precise, i find it very hard to over crimp with them if I have the right slot selected and yet they produce a solid crimp, yes you have to crimp twice (once for the bare wire then once for the insulation) but given how easy it is to get this done because of the thin jaws i actually found it quicker than trying to line up and crimp just the once with the ratchets. It might seem like a big cost but they cover a wide range of sizes and that means i only need the one tool so buying cheaper ratchets is a false economy. It is hard to overstate how much of a pleasure these are to use, everything is just tight and well aligned, super comfy to use. Just do yourself a favour and buy them I swear I'm actually looking for more things to crimp they are just that nice. In summary Buy cheap, Buy twice. Just get these instead, seriously Japanese tools are the best

The price differences between models is almost as bewildering as the crimp size combinations. Pa-09, -20 or -21? Looking at my requirements, in 20+ years, I've only ever needed the 1.6 and 1.9 mm slots - I've never used any other sizes in this style of crimp and all three models accommodate these two sizes. Working on that basis I settled on a pair of Pa-20 simply because of all the options they were the cheapest. Buying directly from Engineer in Japan wasn't a problem either - there was no extra customs duty payable and they arrived in 14 days. I was in no particular rush and this decision saved another couple of £s (in total saved just under 40% off rrp). The crimpers themselves are very well made, easy to use and produce a perfect tidy 2 point crimp. Purists may point out that the insulation grip is a crimp rather than the wrap-round produced by the Dupont or Molex "official" tools and there is no ratchet to ensure you use the correct pressure - but you have to bear in mind they are at least 10 times cheaper, and for someone who isn't making up leads for a living, with a little care they produce a perfectly adequate end product.