Ratchet Crimping Plier (Coaxial cable crimp, 0.256/0.319/0.068/0.218mm²)

Coaxial connectors are crimped rather than screwed for a reason worth knowing. A coax cable is a centre conductor, a dielectric, a braided screen and a jacket, and the connector has to make two separate connections — the centre pin onto the centre conductor, and the ferrule onto the braid — while keeping the whole assembly concentric. Concentricity is not cosmetic on coax: the geometry of the cable is what sets its impedance, and a connector crimped crooked or loose creates an impedance discontinuity that reflects signal back down the cable. On a television feed that shows up as a picture that breaks up in rain; on CCTV it shows up as a soft or unstable image; on a data or radio link it shows up as loss. This is why hand-twisted and push-on ends give trouble that a properly crimped end does not.

The mechanism is a full cycle ratchet — the jaws will not release until the crimp has completed its full stroke, so a partial, under-formed crimp cannot be made. On coax that matters as much as it does on power terminals, because a ferrule that has not been fully compressed onto the braid loosens with handling and the screen connection is the first thing to go intermittent.

Crimp pressure is adjustable, and the jaws are carbon steel with a chemical black finish, a corrosion-resistant conversion coating thin enough not to alter the die dimensions. PVC handles.

One honest note about the specification. The four figures quoted for this tool — 0.256, 0.319, 0.068 and 0.218 — are listed in the catalogue as mm², but those are not conductor areas. They are die sizes, and they correspond closely to the standard hexagonal crimp dimensions used on coaxial connectors in inches, where the small figure is the centre pin and the larger ones are the ferrule sizes for common RG cable types. We would rather tell you that than repeat a unit we believe is a printing error. If you tell us which cable you are terminating — RG6, RG59, RG58 — we will confirm the tool suits it before you buy.

The buyers are aerial and satellite installers, CCTV and security system installers, radio and communications technicians, network and AV installers, and hardware dealers supplying them.

Strip the cable to the connector manufacturer's dimensions rather than by eye, keep braid strands from touching the centre conductor, seat the connector fully before crimping, and test the finished run. Ask us on WhatsApp for a price and for connectors to match your cable.