Wasted $60 on a cheap coax crimper, wrecked 8 connectors before I gave up

Last week I bought a no-name crimper off Amazon for my GA plane's antenna cable. First connector looked fine. Second one the center pin slipped right out after I tugged it. By connector 4 I had mangled three more. My A&P buddy handed me his Daniels crimper and it worked first try. That cheap tool cost me $60 plus $40 in wasted connectors. Anyone else have a tool fail like this mid-job?

2 comments

2 Comments

bettymurphy1mo ago

Man that hurts just reading it lol. I once spent an afternoon trying to save money on a harbor freight multimeter and it gave me readings that made my engine look like it was possessed. Ended up costing me way more in troubleshooting time than just buying a Fluke would have been. Wrong tools for the job are basically a tax on being cheap.

bettymurphy1mo ago

Isn't it funny how that pattern shows up everywhere, not just in tools? I see it all the time with people buying the cheapest phone charger on Amazon and then wondering why their battery drains in two hours. Or grabbing store brand pasta sauce that's basically just tomato water and then trying to fix it with extra spices. At some point you gotta ask if saving five bucks is worth the headache of fixing a broken result.