Making A Hammer Crimper

Hey folks. I've just got a quick build video for you today. In this one, I make a hammer crimper for crimping lugs to the cables that I'm using for the electric crosskart battery. A hammer crimper is a pretty common tool and is reasonably affordable, costing around $30-$50. But, most of you know what I'm about. Why spend the $ and wait 2-3 weeks for delivery when I can make it out of scraps in 20-30 minutes and get straight to work crimping cables? I wrote a short build article explaining what I did in more detail: https://renewablesystemstechnology.com/project-blog/making-a-hammer-crimper

A few side notes about crimping copper lugs to battery cables - as with everything these days, there's a silly debate about whether to solder a lug and cable or not. Some people believe solder is the only way, while most electricians simply crimp most cable and lug connections. But there are circumstances that apply.

There's nothing wrong with soldering your lugs, if you have the means to provide enough heat to do so without damaging the cable insulation and you use a rosin core solder, NOT acid core (that's corrosive to rubber and plastics and is used for copper plumbing, not electrical). That's the problem with soldering. It makes a solid, sealed connection that won't corrode, but the thicker the cable is the more heat it takes to wet it until you get to a point where a standard soldering iron isn't up to the task.

Crimping will provide a bond that's as strong if not stronger than solder in some cases, but if tinned copper wire/cable isn't used (which is expensive), then some precaution needs to be taken to prevent the cable from corroding inside the lug later, which all copper does when it's exposed to moisture in the air. You can sand a bare copper conductor clean and shiny, but it will eventually turn green (sooner or later depending on RH levels) and could affect the connection if the mating surfaces aren't married perfectly and air tight. To prevent this, you should use tinned copper lugs, not bare copper lugs. Tinned copper lugs have, of course, a coating of tin on them to seal the copper from the air and they aren't too expensive. The next thing you should use to protect the connection is heat shrink tubing. But not just any kind - you need the stuff that has a layer of glue on the inside surface. It's like hot glue, when heated this will make the final seal between the shrink tubing and the cable/lug connection to keep air and moisture out. Windy Nation sells a variety of battery and welding cables, lugs, shrink tubing and loads of wind and solar gear at windynation.com

I'll have the next video for the crosskart build series uploaded in roughly a week, give or take a couple of days. I'll be assembling the P groups for the 11.5 kWh LiFePo4 battery and test fitting them in the crosskart cabin with aluminum cases and the new bucket racing seat from Scat Enterprises. I may test fit the cooling system while I'm at it, if the pump arrives in time.

Website: https://www.resystech.com

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