All I know, is it was a major pain trying to do these tiny, delicate pins with pliers an tweezers. Kept dropping them, mangling them, and usually glad my handy work would be hidden in the housing. I've only done one 16 pin LCD cable with the tool, both ends, and not one bad crimp, none of the previous issues. Not saying its the best tool on the market, would know, its the first one I've used. Was never big on making custom cables, but this tool takes a lot of the pain away. As mentioned before, there are several ways to avoid using special tools, and it will probably show (like most of mine), but what ever works. Was just hoping to spare you the aggravation I endured, share the experience...