My crimp game changed after I stopped fighting the strippers

For like 5 years I used the same cheap coax strippers and just dealt with nicked braid on every other fitting. Thought it was normal. Then a buddy in Phoenix showed me how he runs his blade depth check on scrap before every job. Took me 2 minutes to set mine right. Havent had a bad crimp since. Anyone else ever realize they were using a tool wrong for years and felt dumb about it?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

the_nina2mo ago

... so you mean to tell me the strippers were fine the whole time and it was just a blade setting thing? lol thats honestly a plot twist I did not see coming. I feel like half the time people post stuff like this its just an excuse to talk about their tools more than the actual problem. Not saying its not true, but Ive seen guys swear by gear they were clearly using backwards for years and still get perfect crimps so who knows. Maybe you just got lucky with your fittings after the adjustment and it was never really that deep. Either way glad it works for you now, but I wouldnt beat yourself up over it. Shit happens.

5

hollyc922mo ago

Tell me you've got a sharp blade and steady hands without telling me you've got a sharp blade and steady hands, @the_nina. Honestly, I'm just mad it took me five years and a random Phoenix buddy to figure out what should've been in the manual. Like, I get that some folks can eyeball a crimp and it comes out perfect every time, but I'm not one of those wizards. Ngl, reading your comment made me want to double check my blade depth right now just to prove to myself I'm not living a lie. But hey, if being lucky is what it takes to get clean coax, I'll take it over a nicked braid any day.

3