Crimp Tubes

Crimp tubes, or crimp beads as they are often called, are sections of tubing (typically seamless) that are intended to be used when finishing beading wire, like Accu-Flex® professional-quality beading wire. The end of the beading wire is passed through a crimp; through a loop on your clasp, or other finding like a soldered jumpring; passed back through the crimp and then drawn taut. Crimping pliers are then used to crimp the bead to secure it. These pliers are expressly designed for use with crimp beads, utilizing a 2-step process for creating a very secure finish to your design. The crimp is compressed in the rear section of crimping pliers which forms the crimp into a crescent moon shape as well as compresses the crimp over and between the wires captured inside; then in the second step the crimp is rounded with the front notch of the pliers to round the crescent-shaped tube into a "bead."

Crimp tubes are measured length by outside diameter (OD), i.e. 3x2mm means 3mm long by 2mm across. You will also see the inside diameter (ID) measurement noted which indicates the inside space of the crimp and how much room there is for your stringing material. In most cases, a larger ID indicates a larger opening, where the smaller the opening indicates a thicker crimp wall and a stronger crimp hold, i.e. 2x2mm sterling silver crimp with a 1mm ID has a thicker wall than a 2x2mm crimp with a 1.3mm ID. You want your crimp to succeed so choose the right size but also the thickest metal possible.

Generally speaking, a 1mm OD crimp tube of any length is great for use with finer strands of beading wire (.007 to .014), 2mm OD crimps are ideal for .019 and the 3mm OD crimps for the heavier .024 beading wire. This general rule is based on passing the beading wire through the crimp bead two times.

Wire:

This scenario allows enough room for the crimp to compress over and between the wires captured inside and hold them in place, rather than filling the crimp to a point where one length of wire can slip against the other and subsequently out of the crimp.

There are designs where multiple strands of beading wire are gathered and secured in one crimp. To accomplish this, it is recommended to choose the crimp tube that best accommodates the diameter of the beading wire multiplied by the amount of strands in your design.

There are designs which call for using the crimp on a single strand of beading wire. For these instances, select a crimp with a smaller OD and smaller ID so it won't slip and move around. The crimps in this design were compressed using chain-nose pliers and are intended to be flat rather than rounded. This technique secures the beads on the wire, highlights the crimp and takes advantage of the flash.

For those designs where you want to disguise crimped crimp beads, choose crimp covers in the metal and size that suits your design - 3mm crimp covers work well at covering most 1x1mm-2x3mm crimps. However, if your design has 4mm metal beads in it then you may prefer to use 4mm crimp covers.

Another use for the almighty crimp tube (thicker wall)--is as a tube rivet. For instructions on how to use crimp tubes in this way, click here.