That Klein ethernet crimper I doubted paid off after 50 terminations

I was always a pass-through crimp guy, thought the standard RJ45 dies were old news. Then a senior guy on a big campus job near Raleigh swore by the Klein VDV226-110. Borrowed his for a day and did 48 terminations with zero fails. That tool paid for itself in the first 3 hours honestly. Anyone else made a switch they were stubborn about?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomasshah1mo ago

Man I was the exact same way with pass-through connectors till I got burned on a big job where the customer spec'd standard plugs only. Had to re-learn the old school method real quick. What really sold me on those Klein crimpers is the ratcheting action gives you consistent pressure every time, not just on the first 10 terminations but the last 10 too. Plus that built in cutter and stripper saves so much back-and-forth to the toolbox. Did you notice how much cleaner the gold pins seat versus a cheap die? That alone made me throw out my old crimpers.

evan_burns951mo agoMost Upvoted

Have you ever tested what happens to signal integrity when you mix pass-through and standard plugs on the same run? @thomasshah I ran into a weird issue once where the copper dust from pass-through connectors actually caused intermittent shorts in the patch panel when I was punching down 24 ports in a row. The Klein crimpers helped because the ratcheting action kept the pressure even, but I still had to blow out the connectors with compressed air before testing. Makes me wonder if the gold pin seating you're seeing is really about the tool or just the plug quality.