Wire Strippers
© Brooke Clarke 2013
As part of making products that use wire there's a need for wire strippers. Up till now that involved stripping plastic insulation from solid or stranded wires using manual powered hand tools. But as part of working on the Joule Thief circuit where a toroid core needs to have windings added using enamel coated magnet wire a new type of stripper is needed.
Wire Strippers
When working with Super Flex wire where the strands are very fine using the pliers type wire strip tool can nick the strands and even cut them. I found it impossible to strip 14 AWG Super Flex without nicking. BUT when the wire is put into the jaws for 12 AWG instead of for 14 AWG they work very well. Not a mark of any kind. This is a much lower cost solution than buying a thermal wire stripper.
Teledyne TWC-1 Thermal Wire Stripper. There are a couple of blades at the tip each of which is heated by an electrical current. The plug is a box with a relative temperature control. They should be capable of stripping the common low temperature PVC insulation as well as the higher temperature Silicon and Teflon insulation. These may or may not be needed if the old fashion cheap pliers type strippers work in production. The thermal strippers will not nick or cut strands which will happen if you use the pliers type strippers in the normal way.
There is a movable stop that can be used for a strip length guide. The line cord and numerous burn spots where the tips have touched it.
3 Dec 2007 - looking at the photos of the crimping done in the last couple of days shows what may be nicks of strands. Will need to use a microscope to confirm. It that's the case then this tool will become mandatory for stripping.You can use a All-In-One pliers (shown at left) type wire stripper, crimping tool to capture the wire and/or solder the wire. It may be that if the wire used is small compared to the inside diameter of the terminal that crimping will flatten the terminal and make it too wide to fit into the housing.
The crimping dies don't do as good a job on closed barrel terminals as the more rugged types, see below.
The screw cutters come in handy now and then. When using these be sure to install the screw with the head into the threads. That way after cutting you unscrew the good part and that chases the threads so the end comes out good.
The stripper cutting dies are marked with the wire AWG # and when stripping solid or normal stranded wire you usually don't nick or cut any wires. But when working with finer strands where the wire bundle diameter is always larger than for solid wire every time you will nick or cut strands if you match the die AWG # to the AWG # of the wire you are stripping.
BUT, if you use the die for the next larger size wire it works without any nicks (at least so far, Nov 2007, that's the case).
The big problem is that when you need to do dozens of wires, like to manufacture a product, your fingers get sore and the wire you are stripping gets bent. So these are fine for occasional use, but not for production.Adjustable Wire Stripper - Don't bother with these.
These are for stripping the wire that you're going to crimp. rated for 0.2 - 3 mm (0.008" - 0.118"). Although the box says "adjustable" I think they mean you can place the wire each time to get a given strip length (the jaws are marked in inches on one side and mm on the other side.
Electronic Goldmine G16358
I like these for small wire that the other strippers will not do.
But when trying to use them on a larger wire (maybe 18 AWG) they broke.
There are a lot of plastic parts that are stressed.
might be patent 5713249 Wire Stripper
Self-Adjusting Wire Stripper Neiko K.Y.P. 01924A Made in Taiwan
Knockoff of KLEIN Tools 11061 (Amazon), Irwin (Home Depot) 8 in. Self-Adjusting Wire Stripper
Marked for use with 10 to 24 AWG wire (0.2 to 6.0 mm).
The red plastic stop can be pushed back and forth to adjust the strip length.
There a small metal knurled knob adjusts the drag. Play with it to see.
Also has wire cutter and crimping dies.
The stripped piece of insulation tends to stick in the jaws and it's a PITA to remove those.
But the best for small diameter wire where the below stripper's smallest notch is too big.
These get used the most. The only problem is that for some wire the smallest notch is too big and so
the insulation is scraped on the outside but not removed. For those small wires the Neiko above works.
This one also can be used with a notch smaller than is normally used to cut some of the strands. This is handy when making connectors and the wire is too big to fit the solder cup on the back of each connector'
pin.
One of the handle covers has come off.
Paladin PA1113 & PA2113Replacement Blade Set, Stripax Pro
Just got these after reading a number of very good reviews.
The blades are a stack of metal plates where each plate is very thin allowing stripping a number of wires at the same time, like for an RJ-11 or RJ-45 cable.
It's marked for wire sizes ranging from 0.08 to 8 mm ( 28 to 10 AWG) so if it work might replace all the others.
The body is black plastic and so it might not have the problem of the pieces of removed insulation sticking to the tool.
More later....
This stripper is AC line powered (and has been converted to 110 VAC from 220 VAC). It's specifically designed for stripping magnet wire. It came as a used unit with a stand including mechanical remote On button press lever (with hold to make a floor mounted mechanical switch). Also included are an Allen wrench and pin spanner for adjusting the wire size.
1. Pivot pin for one of the blades. Weight to the right
flies out as motor turns closing blades.
2. Alan pinch screw to lock wire size setting.
3. Pin drive wheel to adjust wire size.
Alan wrench for wire size setting.
Pin drive wrench to set wire size.
24 AWG enamel wire that's been stripped.
Press all the way in and after motor on, pull out.
Power Pole connectors, wire crimping, "12 Volts"
Connectors
Pocket Tools
PRC68, Alphanumeric
Index of Web pages, Contact,
Products for Sale
Page Created 2013
