What type of pliers should an electrician prioritize when choosing a model? Is it better to buy a cutting one? Or perhaps a stripper? Or is the best option a crimper?
Which of these models is the most important?
Let’s suppose you’ve already started working in the field and have the basic tools that most people are familiar with, like measuring equipment, Phillips screwdrivers, and universal pliers. Now, for the next step in your electrician career, you need to buy an additional tool to be your second pair of pliers. Which of those three models should you prioritize?
This article is based on an excellent video by Leônidas Borges for the Crimper do Brasil channel. Check out the full video below:
We know that each type of pliers has specific characteristics. For example, cutting pliers were designed especially for cutting, making them ideal for this purpose. Their main advantage is precise cutting, allowing you to cut close to the tip of the pliers. This is useful, for example, when cutting a cable in a distribution panel. In comparison, universal pliers can’t reach tighter spaces.
On the other hand, strippers, following the same logic, are excellent for stripping wires. And if an electrician needs to crimp a terminal, the best available option is a crimper.
However, there’s the multi-purpose pliers
Also known as Maintenance Pliers, this tool combines the key advantages of each of the previously mentioned models. At the tip of these pliers, you can make more precise cuts than with traditional cutting pliers, the ones with diagonal cutting edges.
Moreover, multi-purpose pliers have a specific area for stripping various types of conductors. And if that’s not enough, they are also excellent for crimping terminals, both insulated and non-insulated. Thus, with just one tool, you can perform the functions of three. Multi-purpose pliers are also efficient at cutting screws without damaging the threads, as universal pliers often do.
Want to know where to get multi-purpose pliers? Just click on the link below!
