Loaner DMC Crimper Kit

[Pdtofly]

Recently someone gave me a DMC kit that has a lot of the bells and whistles needed to make up wiring harnesses. Some I already have and some I don’t, so I have a few of everything that you would need to make up both Garmin and SkyView connectors.

What I am wondering if there is a need for a kit that can be loaned out, and moved about the system when someone is ready to wire up their panel.

It will include a DMC AFM8 crimper, the positioners needed for both the normal pins and Garmin HD pins. Wire strippers, and wire cutters, and a DMC crimper to put on BNC connectors for RG400, and anything else you think might need to go in the kit, all in a protective box.

You will need to supply your own pins, pin insertion and extraction tools.

I will have a few restrictions, like a nice deposit to protect my investment, which will be returned fully when the kit is returned complete, and with no damage to anything in the box in a reasonable time so others might use it. Another one is shipping both ways is on the borrower.

Anyone who know how good the DMC stuff is, you will understand the deposit, but you will get it all back if it is returned just like you received it. This is better than going out and buying it all yourself just to use it for a week or two.

There is a few other things that would have to be worked out before I make the kit up, and start loaning it out.

Let me know if this is something that might be needed.

Brian

[Tankerpilot75]

I think this is a great idea and a very nice way to help out RV panel builders or modifiers.

[Mile High Relic]

I think it is a very generous offer, but a week or two seems like a pretty optimistic time estimate to me. Maybe it is a builder versus buyer redoing a panel thing, but are there people really completing their wiring in a week or two?

I'm replacing a panel on a purchased RV6 and I've been using various non-Daniels crimpers almost daily for a couple months, including the red dsub crimper Stein sells.

A local RV6 owner was kind enough to lend me his Daniels dsub crimper too though, as it was a necessity for the Garmin config module pins. The red crimper failed hard on on those 28 AWG wires.

I'm sure you'd have a lot of interest, but I wonder about how long the kit would be out on average.

[scsmith]

I think this is a great idea.

It would be especially helpful if it included some guidance that is understandable about what positioner to use with what setting to crimp which pins.

I find the whole thing bewildering. Then I ask myself that if some 19 yr old USAF enlisted kid trained to do avionics wiring can do it, so why can't I? Trying to figure out the look-up table for which mil-spec of pin to tell me which positioner and setting just makes me crazy.

If a builder gets all the wiring routed into harnesses that just need the connectors put on the ends, I would think a week would do it. But then, "Oh shoot, I forgot about this doohicky or that" and would need some extra re-work.