MAINFrame Customs Ratchet Crimper
This is our own custom ratchet crimper well known throughout the sleeving community as the best crimper, especially for the price!
What makes our ratchet crimper better than the others?
Our new version uses three different teeth so that it can also crimp our custom 16AWG wire as well as the typical 18AWG wire! This allows greater flexibility with the way you want your cables to be made. The front teeth are also milled to crimp Fan and DuPont terminals.
Many crimpers that are termed to crimp the typical Male, and Female ATX terminals crush, or fold the ATX wings resulting in bad crimps that pull out or even break. We have spent hours fine tuning our crimper so that does not happen. Achieve perfect heart shaped crimps that bite into the insulation resulting in strong crimps that last.
This tool is made for longevity, and should last a long time!
Don’t settle for more expensive crimpers when you don’t need to.
Still skeptical?
Simply read the many reviews by other sleevers just like you.
Miksa de Sorgo (verified owner) –
What I received was not what this website advertised. It has 3 different size gauges not the two and how the picture looks you can see the rounded milling. What I received was flat where the milling should be. It’s the same exact thing I paid $30 less for and now based on the return policy it appears I will have to pay to ship it back and to receive a new one. I understand covid has made running a business a little tough but sending out items that aren’t what you advertise is a bad freaking deal. I would be very cautious about buying this, I’m stuck with something that crimps worse than what I paid for basically a third of the price. Cant add photos because the sizes are too big, but my Amazon crumpet crimps much, much better. This thing crushes terminals. I’m beyond disappointed after watching YouTube I had to have this (I forget the YouTube persons persona). These were also advertised by that person to come with test crimps so we know it’s a good tool (he also claimed it was his custom crumpet). Appalling.
Miksa de Sorgo –
MAINFrameDave –
Hello,
Thank you for your order and my apologies for the issue.
The ones you received are our new version. They do not need to be milled as our previous versions were too small to accept 16AWG wire which is why we had to mill them. The new crimpers have been tested vigorously by us to ensure that it works flawlessly with our custom wire and terminals. We cannot say the crimper will work with any other terminals or wire which is why we highly recommend using ours. It is the same crimper as our previous version with just different teeth. We need to update this on our website still and for that I apologize. If you are having issues using the crimper with all of our supplies then please make sure you are following the proper steps in crimping the terminals and using the correct set in the teeth.
Thank you
Dave
MAINFrameDave –
offthewall (verified owner) –
I’ve crimped thousands of wires in my military career, but only a handful of molex (minifit) pins. I was never happy with the outcome, until I used this crimper. After studying Lutro0’s videos, my first through last crimp was perfect! Each time the crimper provided flawless double-crimps that looked beautiful and gave both the electrical and mechanical connection without error. The only thing I would have liked to see was a handle that was a little longer, for more leverage. The dies on the other hand were flawless.
offthewall –
kaziel17 (verified owner) –
Honestly I am very happy with this pipeline. Meets all my expectations and at the time of crushing has a very professional finish. Good job Mainframe Customs!
kaziel17 –
mcraemichael44 (verified owner) –
The price was a bit high but the quality was superb. Definitly worth the money spent! After two test crimps I had it down and all crimps afterwards came out 100% perfect.
mcraemichael44 –
Magoo624 (verified owner) –
These make the best sound when you use them. Oh, they also work well.
Magoo624 –
Adam Davis (verified owner) –
First time ever doing any sort of custom cables and this thing worked like a pro! Highly recommended!
Adam Davis –
Driftrunner (verified owner) –
A must have for any quantity of crimps. There is a small learning curve to get perfect crimps but after the first 6-8 they all turned out great. Comfortable handles reduced hand fatigue.
Driftrunner –
DemikoD (verified owner) –
Crimper was very easy to use and gave a perfect crimp every time. Used up about 12 male/female atx terminals before getting it right, but was smooth sailing after that!
DemikoD –
eTanium (verified owner) –
I purchased a cheap Ratchet crimper, off of Amazon, but it wasn’t crimping well at all. I tried to file it down, but I ended up making it worse.
Buying the MFC modified Ratchet Crimper was a great choice, and I wish I did it first thing. It worked out of the box.
Only thing missing was the test crimps attached to the tools for proof that it works as advertised, but no biggie. Not enough to take a star away for, as I was able to test my own crimp right away.
eTanium –
thetherington (verified owner) –
This thing is a work horse. I built an entire PSU cable set (16 awg) and the crimper worked flawless.
thetherington –
[email protected] (verified owner) –
This tool is supposed to come pre-milled but mine didn’t get fully milled on the small crimp end resulting in pinched pins that broke off.. I thankfully have a machine shop with a vertical mill to correct this issue. After this was fixed all the crimps were sexy and clean!
[email protected] –
Alan (verified owner) –
I have sleeved and re-crimped 3-4 power supplies now using this tool. It is built very well, and accommodates a wide range of gauges.
I would definitely recommend this tool to anyone looking for a quality crimper!
Alan –
Natalie (verified owner) –
I drop my crimper tool on hard ceramic floor, once is drop like this the nuts get lose the full crimper tool as the die too get damage.
I high recommend MFC Ratchet Crimper over MDPC-X , We know MDPC-X crimper is a great crimper tool but this one is much more better give a perfect bite the wire would not get lose and go easy on the connector.
Natalie –
retrosmith (verified owner) –
I honestly didn’t want to believe the hype on this thing.
“I have personally tested and dialed in the correct settings for all types of molex type terminals…”
” I even personally prefer it over the $200 – $300 Original Molex Ratcheting Crimper.”
“I have even went a step further and I mill these by hand so they will accept 16awg wire easier.”
All right, guys: I’m a believer. Finally broke down and bought one and the difference between this and the other crimpers I’ve used is night and day. One full extension set done so far without a single bad crimp. I couldn’t ask for better performance.
AWESOME tool, thanks guys!
retrosmith –
ultimahwhat (verified owner) –
Crimper works pretty well for me, once I got the hang of it. They say that they send the crimper to you at the lowest “pressure” setting. While this may work fine for people working with 16awg wire, I found that my crimps were “incomplete” using the 18awg oem wire. I increased the pressure by turning the gear wheel one click, and it worked a lot better. The youtube video gave some helpful pointers on how to use this thing, and once combined with my own experience, crimping ATX terminals got a lot better.
ultimahwhat –
dennis97519 (verified owner) –
Produces perfect crimps every time with the long-winged pins sold here. I could create nice crimps even on the first few ones I made. Also, seems like it is easier to position the cable if the pins are left on the strip when crimping. If you removed the pins beforehand, be careful when positioning the pins so the crimper does not crimp the locking piece on the pin. I didn’t really do any pre-crimps and it still comes out perfectly.
But it needs a separate die for the DuPont pins. Those require a hugging profile, not biting, else it doesn’t fit into the housing.
The plastic piece on the handle seems removable, so not exactly “loose” I believe…
dennis97519 –
Lady Fitzgerald (verified owner) –
I was very disappointed with the crimper I received. While the crimps it made looked nice, I found the crimper harder to use than my old, el cheapo Waldom crimpers, mostly because I had trouble seeing what I was doing. Also, the crimp on the conductor wasn’t tight enough (I could see that the wings were fully closed) and the wire could be pulled out of the pin. It’s possible I received a defective one since others have had better luck with it than I have. MAINFrame cheerfully let me return the crimper and quickly refunded my money, including shipping both ways, so I won’t hesitate to do business with them in the future.
Lady Fitzgerald –
fsixtyfour (verified owner) –
…good tool overall…would survive a fall from 20K feet probably……sometimes the auto-release does not work and have to use the manual release and that is hard to get to with big fingers…..
fsixtyfour –
RYANTAYLOR2015 (verified owner) –
First time sleeving project and I have to say, this is an easy to use tool. Excellent crimps and by the 5th crimp i felt like a pro. Was hesitant to buy crimpers instead of the premade cables, I am glad that I didn’t!
RYANTAYLOR2015 –
INFINITI_SYSTEM (verified owner) –
Can’t blame the tool for bad crimps, has to be user error. Already crimped a couple hundred with these bad boys and maybe 5-6 bad crimps. But those were my fault. A must have for first time sleevers.
INFINITI_SYSTEM –
rodemich (verified owner) –
I bought this because I had already bought a different pile of shit brand new that could not get one crimp right , this one has been crimp perfect from the start , now I can get it done fast and right , getting dam good at the heat shrink less ,now that I have a tool to move me forward, my only complaint is mainframe customs needs to be a full service pc shop , I say that because I HATE PERFORMANCE PC ok im don’t the ratchet is awesome
rodemich –
Fu3lC3ll (verified owner) –
Bought the LC Ratchet Crimper, Molex Extractor, and ATX Terminal Molex. This was to shorten the cables on a SilverStone cable set, specifically, the ATX, PCIE, and SATA cables.
Extracting the terminals was pretty easy using the Molex Extractor. A bit of practice, a little technique, and they were easy to pull out(…most of them. There is always that stubborn one!). I used straight jaw wiring hemostats to pull the terminal out. The metal on the extractor is thin, so you can’t get rough with it, and you don’t have to if you use it correctly! This tool worked fine for the 48 terminals I removed and I was happy to have it!
I was happy with the quality of the LC Ratchet Crimper. It felt solid. After watching the videos and a bit of practice I could crimp a decent looking terminal. HOWEVER, even though the crimp looked nice, on the 18GA SilverStone wire, the crimp would not lock the wire in. With a slight or medium pull, the wire would slip out of the crimp. This was not going to work. So what I ended up doing is crimping all of the wires and then finishing them off with solder.
The variable I believe is the custom milling. The milling, since it is done by hand, will vary from tool to tool. For my crimper, the 18-22 slot would not crimp the SilverStone 18GA wire sufficiently. I did try rotating up one notch, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. I did not try the 24-30 slot, although visually the milling looks incorrect and I believe it would not make an acceptable crimp. Perhaps I just got one with a bad mill. 🙁
Fu3lC3ll –
sp3dx (verified owner) –
On my third sleeving job I finally decided to ditch the old generic ratchet crimper that I had been using to pick up one of these and have ZERO regrets. Immediately improved the success rate and overall quality of my crimps.Night and day difference, without a doubt worth the extra money.
sp3dx –
spliznak (verified owner) –
Other than the release latch being a bit difficult no complaints. If you get a bad crimp with this crimper it is due to user error.
spliznak –
TheLittleDoctor (verified owner) –
There was a sliiiight learning curve with this, but once you understand whats up this crimper is a breeze to use and gets fantastic cripms every time. Here’s what I struggled with:
Ive watches at least 2 in depth videos on the crimping process (using this exact crimper) and what wasn’t obvious in any of them is that the tool has a “split” down the middle of the crimp shelf length wise. This is hard to explain but basically the tool has a tighter section on the inside of the shelf (for the small wings) , and a wider section on the inside of the shelf for the bigger wings. This means that if you mis-align the pin to be crimped on those shelves its going to crimp the big wings way harder than needed into the wire and basically mess the job up. I went through maybe 10 or so terminals before I figured this out, each one biting way too much into the wire and basically ruining it. Once I figured out the problem though this crimper delivered a perfect crimp. Every. Single. Time. Easy to hold, and after a few tries easy to feed the pins into.
One other thing that took me a few tried to figure out. To “pre-crimp” a pin you want to only go down 3 clicks and then “unlatch” the tool so you can feed the wire through. The unlatching is near damn impossible if you just push the lever without doing anything. What you want to do is apply liiight pressure on the handles as if you’re going to tighten it more and the level will easily unlock opening the tool up. This took a few tries as well
Overall super happy with this tool. Making my first sleeving experience a breeze.
TheLittleDoctor –
modguru (verified owner) –
So I got it in the mail after 13 days of shipping. The tool is great, but one of the handles is a little bit loose. I dont think this is with every unit. But the tool is great and easy to use.
modguru –
mstrine777 (verified owner) –
A “generic” crimper which costs more than others, but the modifications made make these worth the premium price. The guys selling these are great and deserve the extra cheddar.
mstrine777 –
sven.bovin (verified owner) –
Since the LC Ratchet Crimper was out of stock when I ordered my first sleeving supplies, I ordered a ratchet crimper from another vendor. Their crimper had received mostly positive reviews (with one in particular mentioning using it for creating custom computer cables). However, on the 18AWG wire I ordered, the crimps did not hold on tightly to the stripped wire and the large wings crushed the insulation, making it very difficult to push the pins into the connectors, and nearly impossible to depin the connectors afterwards (I almost always pulled the wires out of the pins, with the pin getting stuck in the connector). Bummer. Once I noticed the LC Ratchet Crimper was back in stock, I returned the other one (was within the 30 days trial period Conrad offers its customers, lucky me) and I order the LC one.
I’ve crimped 15 or 20 trials with my first crimper, with a near zero success rate. With the LC crimper, I screwed up only three crimps in a dozen or so attempts: one because I did not properly remove the pin from the strip it was attached to (bending it in the process), one due to a deformed large wing (I should not have attempted to crimp with that pin) and one due to gross stupidity on my side (never ever pre-crimp too much 🙂 ). The crimps perfectly hold the wire on the small wings while the large ones bite into the insulation without crushing it. Inserting the pins into the sockets is easy (no force required, except at the point where the locking wings need to bend in a bit) and I can depin my sockets correctly.
The LC crimper admittedly costs more than the generic one I originally bought, but you do get what you pay for. Shipping, while not cheap, was very reasonable for 1st class mail, and delivery time was unexpectedly short.
sven.bovin –
mriccee (verified owner) –
After wanting to mod the U1 PSU in a Digital Storm Bolt 1 I recently purchased, I researched what tools I needed to get the job done easily and efficiently. After searching Google, I was directed towards Lutro0’s excellent guide on Overclock.net.
The positive feedback for these crimpers made buying them a no brainer. Suffice to say, after testing the crimpers they perform a solid and tidy crimp when used correctly. I’m very happy with this purchase and it will make the task of modding the PSU much easier.
I must also say a big thanks to David for helping me out regarding shipping these to the UK. The shipping cost was very reasonable and the package arrived in just over 1 week with no hassles regarding customs.
mriccee –
Matthew (verified owner) –
This tool is by far the best crimp tool I’ve use. The pressure is set just right and the crimps are not damaged at all. The ratchet feature makes the whole process so easy. Every crimp is consistent and perfect. 5/5
Matthew –
Bill (verified owner) –
Fantastic tool. The tool itself is a little stiff to start with but after awhile they loosen up. The crimps stay perfect all the time. Believe the other reviews “the price IS right.
Bill –
modstock –
These guys will do the right thing by you for that I do recommend.
modstock –
Justin (verified owner) –
“Best Crimpers”! I tried to save some money and bought some cheap ones and they were terrible. They didn’t crimp right, they over lapped and caused me to have to redo work multiple times. Save yourself time and money and just spend the few extra dollars and buy Lutro’s. They are worth every penny and will allow you to enjoy sleeving rather than giving up. They work perfect with Lutro’s 16 awg wire and give a perfect crimp every time.
Justin –
cdl1701 (verified owner) –
if you want a perfect crimp every time these are the crimpers you want. Price may seem like a lot but believe me they are worth every penny. Do yourself a favor and spend the little extra to get the best.
cdl1701 –
Will X (verified owner) –
These crimpers are fantastic! Perfect crimp every time. Easy to use and reliable!
Will X –
Alexandru (verified owner) –
This is as good of a crimp as you’ll get with a ratchet crimper. Because the punch and anvil approach in a rotary motion, rather than straight, you’ll get a bit of uneven pressure on the tabs. That may be enough to rip insulation tabs that are too long before the crimp is completed. You’ll have to be a lot more careful to use terminals designed for the correct wire gauge.
This crimper does manage to crimp 16AWG wire, despite the marking on the die saying “18-22 AWG”.
Dupont terminals: Forget about it. The LC crimper does not compress the insulation crimp in the proper shape to make it fit in the plastic connector.
Overall, this is a great crimper when used for its intended purpose. It produces excellent crimps when used with the correct terminals, which is a point I can’t stress enough: know the wire gauge for which the terminal is designed. However, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution to custom cabling. It’s great for power cabling and fan cabling.
Alexandru –
[email protected] (verified owner) –
Once again, wish I would have bought these the first time instead of trying to save a few bucks and going with the cheap stuff. Since I got these, I have had no issue crimping anything and it looks good when I’m done. If you are a novice sleever like myself, please let this be your first stop when purchasing materials for your jobs. I have wasted a lot of time and money going the cheaper, alternative sites with their sub-par products. Every penny I have spent here has been worth it and this item will be the best 50 bucks you spend if you plan on making sleeving a hobby. Do yourself a favor, get a set.
[email protected] –
DrStrangebooty (verified owner) –
BEAUTIFUL crimp jobs, these are well worth the few extra bucks than I was planning on spending elsewhere.
DrStrangebooty –
Mike16 (verified owner) –
These crimpers really are the perfect tool for doing custom cabling or custom extensions. I have tried many different crimpers and the ONLY crimpers I have used that will crimp 16 AWG beautifully and consistently are these LC crimpers. The crimp is perfect and the price is right!
Mike16 –