What Is a Pneumatic Hog Ringer?

A pneumatic hog ringer is a crimping tool used to compress C-rings (hog rings), which are C-shaped metal fasteners used across multiple industries to latch fencing, wire, fabric, gabions, and other materials together. These versatile clamping tools are also referred to as pneumatic C-tools and pneumatic hog ring pliers.

In this blog post, we’ll review common use cases for hog ringers, their benefits, and safety considerations.

Use Cases/Applications

Pneumatic hog ringers are capable of crimping large numbers of C-rings quickly and efficiently. The air-driven tool is loaded with a rack of collated C-rings, so there’s no need to load each ring singularly as you have to with hand pliers. Manual C-ring pliers are best suited for small, non-industrial, do-it-yourself projects where far fewer rings need to be installed.

Air-powered hog ring tools are used for heavy-duty, high-volume assemblage applications, including:

• Sealing Sausage & Other Meat Tubing
• Assembling Leather & Vinyl Seat Upholstery
• Affixing Bird Netting
• Joining Chain Link Fencing
• Closing Large Cloth, Mesh, & Plastic Bags
• Manufacturing Mattresses
• Constructing Wire Cages

Hog ring pliers can be used for all the same purposes as the pneumatic type, just on a slower, smaller scale. The manual pliers must be loaded with and only crimp one C-ring at a time. They’re not intended for use on busy commercial production lines.

Benefits

Pneumatic hog ringers provide several advantages relative to manual pliers, including:

1. They can accommodate multiple sizes and styles of C-rings.
2. With pneumatic hog ringers, reloading the crimper after each C-ring is installed is unnecessary.
3. They are much easier for operators to use as no manual squeezing is required.
4. Hog ringers are suitable for large projects where thousands of C-rings need to be installed.
5. They are far more powerful than human hands, meaning they’re well-suited for heavy-duty fastening.

Plus, they are easy to maintain—just clean and lightly lubricate them after each use.

Safety Tips

Air-driven C-ring crimpers are strong, fast, and impartial. They can cause severe personal injury when used inattentively or incorrectly. So, there are important safety measures to implement when using a pneumatic hog ringer. These include:

1. Don’t touch the jaw of the crimper, especially when you’re loading it with hog ring racks.
2. Disconnect the crimper from the air supply before loading or servicing it.
3. Wear safety glasses and protective gloves whenever using the tool.
4. Do not actuate the ringer when loading a rack of rings into it.
5. Don’t exceed 100 PSI (7 Bar) of pressure.
6. Never point it at yourself or anybody else.
7. Don’t use single, loose C-rings in the tool.
8. Always use a quick-disconnect fitting.
9. Don’t use it in confined spaces.

Additionally, you should only use clean, dry, compressed air in the pneumatic hog ringer—never combustible gasses that could spark, ignite, or explode.

Where to Find Pneumatic Hog Ringers

King Steel Fasteners is a global supplier of high-quality, American-made fasteners and related tools, including manual and pneumatic hog ringers. Our specialty fasteners and tools are suitable for countless applications across multiple industries. 

Visit our website to browse our wide selection of C-rings and other products, or contact us today to get help selecting the right tool. Let us help you increase efficiency, quality, and versatility so you can power through challenging projects faster!