AC line crimper tool (1 Viewer)

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Tank5

Tank5

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I need to buy a crimper to make my ac lines. I see tools with a wide range in price. Anyone have any experience or suggestions for what I should buy? Do the cheep versions work as well as the expensive versions?
 
Following along. I always cut and fit my hoses, marked them if indexed and took to a shop to get crimped. It would be nice to have an affordable crimper that works well.
 
We have a Mastercool flaring kit with fittings for A/C lines. We also have a crimp kit for attaching the rubber to aluminum lines, I don’t recall the brand atm. The Mastercool kits are sweet, can do brake lines of all types, GM fuel lines and tranny lines with the right dies.

For real custom A/C work we end up tig welding as needed.

Cheers
 
I'm not aware of a low cost AC fitting crimping solution that works.

Hose crimping requires an exact crimp size, there's a small tolerance, like +/- .002" for the crimp size. There are two primary types of crimpers- Crimp to diameter and crimp to a stop. The cheap charlie crimpers use hard stops to set the size. They are open loop, no feedback, just a ram, pump and a valve really. The other type, the good kind, is crimp to diameter. These crimpers use a linear encoder on the ram to control die depth. You make a test crimp, apply your correction and then you get the exact same size crimp every time.

AC crimps are made using tooling called dimple dies (not the sheetmetal stuff). The manufacturer that makes the fittings specifies the exact size and shape of the crimp for their fittings.

Here's an example of the crimper we use for crimping hydraulic lines, squeezing ferrules, and we have done some AC lines with it a long time ago using custom dies I machined for it. This one in the Ebay listing actually comes with some form of dimple dies. Makes it 99% useless for most people without smooth dies.

www.ebay.com

Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
PIP said:
I'm not aware of a low cost AC fitting crimping solution that works.

Hose crimping requires an exact crimp size, there's a small tolerance, like +/- .002" for the crimp size. There are two primary types of crimpers- Crimp to diameter and crimp to a stop. The cheap charlie crimpers use hard stops to set the size. They are open loop, no feedback, just a ram, pump and a valve really. The other type, the good kind, is crimp to diameter. These crimpers use a linear encoder on the ram to control die depth. You make a test crimp, apply your correction and then you get the exact same size crimp every time.

AC crimps are made using tooling called dimple dies (not the sheetmetal stuff). The manufacturer that makes the fittings specifies the exact size and shape of the crimp for their fittings.

Here's an example of the crimper we use for crimping hydraulic lines, squeezing ferrules, and we have done some AC lines with it a long time ago using custom dies I machined for it. This one in the Ebay listing actually comes with some form of dimple dies. Makes it 99% useless for most people without smooth dies.

www.ebay.com

Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
I have made several sets of hoses with a crimper set made by MasterCool that runs about $150-$200. One set is nearing 100k miles of year long Florida AC use.

1B420F0C-AC96-443E-ACD5-657479955DC0.jpeg
 
PIP said:
I'm not aware of a low cost AC fitting crimping solution that works.

Hose crimping requires an exact crimp size, there's a small tolerance, like +/- .002" for the crimp size. There are two primary types of crimpers- Crimp to diameter and crimp to a stop. The cheap charlie crimpers use hard stops to set the size. They are open loop, no feedback, just a ram, pump and a valve really. The other type, the good kind, is crimp to diameter. These crimpers use a linear encoder on the ram to control die depth. You make a test crimp, apply your correction and then you get the exact same size crimp every time.

AC crimps are made using tooling called dimple dies (not the sheetmetal stuff). The manufacturer that makes the fittings specifies the exact size and shape of the crimp for their fittings.

Here's an example of the crimper we use for crimping hydraulic lines, squeezing ferrules, and we have done some AC lines with it a long time ago using custom dies I machined for it. This one in the Ebay listing actually comes with some form of dimple dies. Makes it 99% useless for most people without smooth dies.

www.ebay.com

Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Aeroquip Eaton FT1330 hydraulic hose crimper 3/16 to 1-1/4 W 3 crimping dies at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
This is probably great for a shop machine but overkill for my garage operation. I appreciate the insights.
 
I ended up ordering what is probably a knock off of the Mastercool crimper. It comes with 7 different crimper fittings. I might use it for two jobs before it starts collecting dust, so it is hard spend a lot on this tool. I will give it a good look and if it doesn’t look up to the job I will send it back and spend money on a mastercool branded crimper.

I will post up what I learn.
 
Crimpers like that one combine what is supposed to be a dozen or so independent segments into two halves.

It doesn't crimp the fitting like it's supposed to be crimped, but if it works then it's worth it I suppose.
 
aztoyman said:
Are there still reusable hose ends available? I know I used them years ago at the mines on heavy machinery.
Click to expand...

AC hoses seal differently from hydraulics. AC hoses are special material to be compatible with refrigerants and the special oils used in the systems. Because AC hoses don't have wires inside and the rubber is a different formula they will be damaged by normal style crimp or screw together fittings. That's why they developed and still use the dimple crimp system. The dimples are gentler on the hose material while still keeping it on the barb.
 
I realize hydraulic hoses are different than A/C hose. The mines typically had Weatherhead hose machines. They had specific fittings and crimp dies and plates for the fittings and hose used. They did have A/C fittings too. We had a Caterpillar system at the dealership.

But I thought I used Aeroquip style A/C fittings back when entire fleets of machines were being converted from R-12 to R 134A. Now that I think about it, I used reusable fittings when I built a system for my 52 Ford F3. I got them from Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

Aeroquip Air Conditioning Hose Ends - Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing

Find Aeroquip Air Conditioning Hose Ends and get Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing! Aeroquip air conditioning hose ends will give you a leakproof, reliable seal with far less hassle than typical connectors. These reusable, field-attachable fittings work with the Aeroquip EZ Clip...
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com
 
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Tank5 said:
I ended up ordering what is probably a knock off of the Mastercool crimper. It comes with 7 different crimper fittings. I might use it for two jobs before it starts collecting dust, so it is hard spend a lot on this tool. I will give it a good look and if it doesn’t look up to the job I will send it back and spend money on a mastercool branded crimper.

I will post up what I learn.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dennish, I appreciate that as I'm sure I can use it when the time comes. 😁

Does your kit do hydraulic lines too, probably not. Let me the see the link and I'll answer my own question.
 


I have to give them credit for making a low cost version of a very expensive tool. The resulting crimp they show is on the crude side though. They try to hide the displaced material at the middle of the crimp by the way they hold the crimped hose in the video, but you can see it's bulged there.
 
PIP said:


I have to give them credit for making a low cost version of a very expensive tool. The resulting crimp they show is on the crude side though. They try to hide the displaced material at the middle of the crimp by the way they hold the crimped hose in the video, but you can see it's bulged there.
Click to expand...

It looks like they barely tightened it too. Mine are wayyyy more compressed than that.
 
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