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Geoffrey S. Mendelson

wrote:
It's an RJ11 "plier" crimper. Seems designed for four pins.

White plastic. THe handle has some sort of template for smaller connectors

Maybe my old workaround was to get connectors with only 4 pins?

There are several kinds of plugs. They are listed by the number of pins
and places for pins.

The small ones for headphones are called 4P4C (4 pins, 4 connectors).

The usual ones, also called RJ-11 are 4P6C, 4 pins, 6 connectors. The
center 4 are used, the outer 2 are not. This is the standard for telephone
lines as the center 2 are tip and ring, and the next 2 out (one one
each side) are tip and ring for a second phone line, or a third wire for
ringer, and a fourth for ground, and in the 1960's low voltage AC
for dial lights (back when they were bulbs).

The next step up is the 6P6C, where all 6 connectors in the plug are
filled. They are rare and are not normally used for telephones, so it
it possible that you have a 4P6C crimper and are trying to crimp
6P6C plugs in it.

From my experience the cheap white crimp tools sold in home repair
stores etc, are not very good and require a steady but slow hand or you
will squeeze too hard and break them.

Geoff.

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379