Shared buy of Canare tools in Los Angeles? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Drain]

I and one or two friends are planning on re-cabling our HT setups sometime soon using Belden 1694A with Canare connectors. The plan is to more or less follow Chris White's recipe at:
http://www.bus.ucf.edu/cwhite/theater/DIYCable.htm
The biggest pain and $$$ is that you need to buy the Canare wire stripper and crimping die. I've hunted the web to find the dimensions of the Canare crimp dies in order to look for a cheaper replacement without any luck. Other strippers that I've found don't strip the cable to the "best" dimensions that Canare recommends.
Is anyone in the Los Angeles area interested in a collaborative buy of the Canare wire stripper and crimping die? The die is $85 and the stripper is either $61 for the 1694 stripper or $115 for a stripper that handles any coax cable.
To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm proposing here. I'm thinking along the lines of the "keeper" of the tools contributes the most $$$ and everyone else throws in a small amount of money in order to have access to the tools when they want. We could have a large cable making party or just pass the tools around at some reasonable schedule.
If anyone's interested, we can also split a full reel (1000') of 1694A cable which goes for $230. (Buying it by the foot costs $.50/foot)
If anyone in the LA area is interested, please let me know and we can talk about what sort of arrangement would be acceptable to everyone. I'd like to buy the tools sometime in Dec or Jan.
Ted

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

double post

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

I have made ton's of cables (Cat5, coax, tri-ax, twisted pair etc etc.), and rarely use strippers. So far, a sharp razor blade and patience has been able to strip anywire I have come across with ease. It takes a little more time, but it works perfectly and for virtually $0.

As for connectors, I just use the Dayton Locking RCA's and solder on with silver solder. The Locking screw and some heatshrink (if I need to widen the cable diameter) have never failed me.

 

[Ted Drain]

I'm a little to lazy/impatient to just use a razor blade. I did find a great, completely adjustable stripper that's $50. You can see it at:
http://www.abecotools.com/tool_detail.php?Id=18
On the other hand, I could just get 3 of the $10 radio shack strippers and setup each one with the correct depth and a length stop to match the ones the Canare tools use.
As far as RCA's go, I'd like to stick with the 75 ohm Canare's. Someone on the AVS forum told me they just used the basic RS crimper. It works "well enough" to get by. I'll probably go that route. If it doesn't work, I'll only be out about $8 for the crimp die.
Looks like I'll be buying everything myself since there hasn't been a mad rush to respond to this thread.
FYI: My first DIY project was a set of "Gomer" speaker cables. They sound great, look really cool, and were pretty easy to make using your jig technique. Thanks for the info!

 

[Anthony_Gomez]

Ted, glad you liked them
Actually, I'd like to update my previous comment. I did use that radioshack (infinately variable cheap one) for stripping cat5. But for the other cable, the razor
You might want to contact Vince (moderator). He did a bunch of canare cables. He might have some tools that you can rent/buy off of him. Just a thought.