Powerwerx Powerpole Insertion, Removal & Extraction Tool

Normally I buy with Amazon Prime because I buy more than ham radio. I failed to check if this were sold on Amazon. I think $10 for the tool and $7 shipping is way too much and will make me check other places next time.

I don't own this tool. Yet. But it similar to other tools I have used in aerospace. I just finished my first build cable. I used a very small flat tip screw driver instead. It worked.  But I would not attest to the soundness of the quality.   I will purchasing this tool on my next order. 73

I'm looking forward to this tool for assembling small wire connectors.  But in response to Karl's review above, the best way to disassemble is to use an exacto knife and carefully slide the narrow shallow blade extension into the front, lifting the spring blade above the level of the fixed housing blade and then gently pushing in a tiny bit more.  Holding that with one hand, I then pull on the wire from the back and it normally slides out quite easily.  Just don't cut yourself; exacto knives are sharp!  Keep the blade mostly retracted and you shouldn't have any problem.

Now that I know how to use it, it's great. To extract a pin, push the extractor from the contact side, not the wire side, of the connector shell SIDEWAYS. The goal is to hook the extractor around the contact and then rotate the extractor so that it bends the contact away from the spring so that you rotate and if you're lucky, push the contact out of the shell at the same time. If that doesn't work, you still might be able to separate the contact from the spring enough to where you can push the pin in a separate effort.

Well what can I say...it does what it says.

SM6VYM Johnnie

This tool works as designed.  However, I have used a small 3mm slot type screwdriver and it works just as well.  Use it to depress the spring when inserting and lift the spring when removing.  I have found that it woks very well.

It may seem expensive for what it is when it arrives.  You will soon find how invaluable it can be.
I have recovered it's price in restoring scrapped powerpole ends that I had dumped in the bottom of my toolbox.  With that said, I have 9 solar powered radio sites where I've had to make 31 powerpole ends for each location.  Occasionally there has been an intermittent power failure.  With extensive troubleshooting I'd find an incomplete assembly of a connector (my fault).
With this little tool I have been able to go back and quickly double check my work, catching a few more of my errors, preventing a greater failure in the time of need.
This little tool makes it a quick and easy fix.

For smaller wires, this works much better than poking with small screwdrivers.  Just use the hooked ends as a pusher to reach past the wire and push on the end of the crimp until it seats.  For very small wires, the tool can cradle right around the wire for a great pushing angle.  Big fat wires (10ga, 12ga, etc.) are stiff enough to just use the wire to push the connector into the housing.  No tool necessary.

It's a tad expensive for what it actually is (a piece of folded spring steel slid into a yellow rubber cap), but it works well.

Where it falls a little short is disassembling connectors.  I can't blame the tool very much, since there really isn't a better shape that would get into the very tight space to release the spring.  It works adequately for this, but always requires a bit of tinkering to make it happen.  Probably as good as it gets for this, and definitely way better than nothing!