DAE notice new guys keep using the wrong crimper for D-sub pins?

I was training a fresh hire last week and he grabbed the insulated terminal crimper for a DB9 connector instead of the ratcheting one, which ruined three pins before I caught it. It's a small thing but that loose connection can fail on a bumpy flight, and I've seen it ground planes twice in my 8 years at the shop. Am I the only one who still keeps an old stamped ratcheting crimper from 2007 in their toolbox just for these jobs?

2 comments

2 Comments

james9951mo ago

I mean, that old ratcheting one from '07 might need a calibration check by now.

blake4321mo ago

Calibration or not, that old crimper puts a perfect hex on a D-sub pin every time. New guys don't understand the feel of a good crimp, they just mash it until the tool stops. That loose pin from a wrong tool is what kills you on a 12 hour flight. Your shop running a dedicated D-sub station now?