[BitTwiddler]

Wow,
I see my request got a nice diversity of excellent responses.

Like I said, I've done crimping before, mostly with push-in connector pins and coaxial connectors where using a ratcheting crimper tool ($200 and up) is mandatory. I didn't realize how inexpensive good ratcheting crimpers for insulated/non-insulated terminal are. For now I think we can make do with the heavy duty manual crimpers we have. I'll put a ratcheting tool on the future wish list however.
I was unaware that I've been putting my terminals in the tool upside-down as some of you have pointed out. I always thought that having that "valley" at the seam was a good thing. Never to old to learn huh?
I now realize that I'm going to need to spend some time sharing what I've learned here and have a "learn to crimp correctly" session as part of the training for the students.
I have mixed feeling about the need to solder the newly crimped terminals. While I enjoy soldering things together I'm not convinced soldering is required in this application. If I worked for NASA I'd probably feel differently.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to my request for information.
Dave