Nicopress hand swager for 5mm & 6mm ferrules

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Gin

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Perhaps this is better suited in the 'Wanted' section but first I thought I would enquire as to whether anyone knows of a source where I might buy such a tool, new or used, at a price much lower than the £100 plus of a retail one?
 
I used to know someone who made his own copy of the ormiston tool. I've got one of those, £36 from Northampton Sailboats, but only goes up to 4mm. You could make one that did bigger. Check out proffessionally done swages to get the final diameter.
Whether you want to trust the result in your application would depend on several things.
Having specified a few crimp tools in the electronics industry I would say £100 is pretty cheap. I would normally pay to get it done, but I needed wires crimped directly to a mast fitting.
 
Thanks, I have the same situation as lw395, it has to be done on site.

It seems large ferrules could take a fair bit of pressing, hence the long-handled Nicopress type question.

Do you reckon that if I made a tool such as you describe it would be possible and practical to hand crimp 5mm 1x19 wire doubled over to make a thimble eye- Oh! just a thought I've asked the question based on the single wire thickness, BUT should I have enquired for a press capable of crimping 2 x 5mm i.e. 10mm and if so what ferrules do I need?

This is for a non-vital load i.e. guard wires
 
You buy the ferrules by the wire size, eg a 3mm ferrule takes two 3mm wires.
You might size the tool by measuring some professionally crimped splices. Note that the ormiston tool only crimps half of the 4mm size at a time, you then move the tool to do the other half. It has 2 M8 bolts, and really needs to be in a vice or similar to be used easily. This gives some idea of the force needed to crimp bigger sizes.
 
My crimping tool comprised of 2ft long 3/4" sq bar (for leverage) and holes are the same dia as the lesser measurment of hte ferrule thus a 6mm x 12 mm ferrule for a 3mm wire fits into half a 6mm dia hole, the top block placed over it and hte whole lot bolted tightly together until the ferrule and two thickness of wire are crushed down a 6mm dia round swaged joint with 5mm wire he ferrules are I beleive 8 x 13mm so you need a 8mm hole
 
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hand crimp 5mm 1x19 wire doubled over to make a thimble eye

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Doubt if you could make an eye with 1x19, too stiff. 7x19 would be better. I know this is way out of your price range but these are great
http://www.flints.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Hydraulic_Hand_Crimper.html
Shame they're so expensive. You can get 6mm dies for them although not mentioned in that web page.
I'd be a bit wary of 2nd hand crimpers as they seem to wear very quickly and not close all the way, though a handy thing to have onboard for making up pennants etc. Remeber to order copper ferrules for stainless wire.
Might be just as cheap (and tidier) in the long run to get a rigger to make them up with an eye one end and a threaded stud into an eye the other, the stud should still fit through the stantions.
Good luck!
 
Having seen what can happen when DIY swaged wire fails ( MOB during the hours of darkness) I would go for Norseman type fittings every time, then you can cut the wire to suit and/or use a rigging screw or lashing. Talurite splices can fail at 20% of breaking strain if not done properly
 
I have a Nicopress hand crimper with a head that goes up to 4mm. I could get a head to cover up to 6mm.

BUT

I find that compressing it for 4mm ferules is quite hard. I would hate to try using it with the 6mm head on.

It is also quite difficult to make a tidy closed eye using 1/19 4mm wire.

When I bought the tool (well over your £100 quite a few years ago) I was also supplied with gauges to check that it gave the correct compression when in use.

I always do a test swege and measure it with the gauge prior to doing any critical work and adjust the tool if necessary.

Iain
 
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Yes, this is what I feared- maybe the earlier suggestion of a swageless terminal may be wiser and easier!

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For my own yacht I got S3i to supply all the standing rigging (8mm) with the top fittings swaged, nothing on the bottom and cut 18" overlength.

I am using Peterson swageless fittings at the lower end. and for the SSB insulators.

Like yourself I think this is simpler and wiser.

However, on the 4mm guardwire I use hard eyes with Nicopress fittings.

One end is directly in the pulpit and the other end has a binding to the pushpit. I do the actual swageing on the boat so I can make them to the precise length.

Iain
 
This is much what I intend- I shall have wire ,roll-swaged (or Norseman I suppose)with an 8mm studded shank to screw fit a locking pelican hook for the pushpit end- this to avoid multiple lashing turns currently in place.

I think the 8mm stud will not pass through the stanchion holes/collars, so a bare end at the pulpit is what I thought would be suitable at which I was to crimp a hard eye and fit to the pulpit with a shackle- as is the case now.

The only solution for this arrangement is either to remove all stanchions and send the lot off to a rigger or to get a rigger on site, or of course my idea of DIY.

I now think from comments made earlier that bending and crimping a 2 x 5mm wire around a thimble is going to be very difficult, so I'm just looking for an economical source of Norseman type terminals, with an eye.

I reckon these have to be assembled on site as it would be very hard to be millimetre precise to order lengths and rely on satisfactory results from a remote location rigging company
 
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