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what methods do you use to strip wires?

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rkremser

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and pulling
but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24 gauge range. Are
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?
 
S

Simoc

Jan 1, 1970
0
I usually use your method, and most hobbyers do, as well as many
professionals. It's a good way, but if u have very lot of wires to
strip, the wire strippers can speed up working. If you don't have need
to strip very lot of wires, you don't probably need any stripping tool.
I don't know what is good brand, but just the basic el-cheapos are bad
as they tend to damage the metal wire inside, too.
 
M

MYz160

Jan 1, 1970
0
You can just buy a wire stripper/crimper mulit-purpose hand held tool.
They cost around 10 dollars and can cut wires right off, or strip wires
of most small gauges (with an adjustable knob) and you can even set
how far back the rubber housing is set back when you strip the wire.
They are bright orange and you should be able to find them at any
hardware store. The brand I bought is by Santus, its
Taiwanese/Chinese, because I live around there.

Stripping wires with wirecutters is quite difficult and time consuming,
especially with smaller wires. Buying a wire stripper/crimper just
makes sense if you do extensive electronics work. If you intend to use
these wires for breadboarding, I suggest you use single-core flex wire.
Its a bit like paperclips, but its a more flexible. This means you
can just plug them into the breadboard without having to twist the
wires.
 
M

Melodolic

Jan 1, 1970
0
rkremser said:
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding
or just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters
and pulling but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the
20-24 gauge range. Are the specific wire strippers worth the money?
suggestions on a good brand?

Not the cheapest, but I've found this type from RS okay: 662-721. It's a
plastic squeeze-together thing with a little dial to adjust for wire
diameter. It also has a sliding end-stop so you can set the length that's
stripped. Once set, you poke the wire into the hole in the end, press the
sides in, give it a little twist left and right, and pull. It can be fiddly
for really fine guage (finer than 30ga perhaps), but seems fine for thicker
sizes.

I find it can pull too hard if it's not set right - got to have the diameter
right if stripping something like a short broken wire that still has the
other end attached (or disappearing down a cable).

Good for doing lots of similar strips, like for your breadboard wires, and
things like making up cables. Normally, however, I just use wire cutters -
sharp, flush cut Lindstroms.


A method I've seen used for ultra-thin hookup wire (by someone who's rather
good at it) is to straighten out the bit of wire that you want to strip, and
lay it on the bench surface. Take a scalpel and use the edge of the blade to
roll the wire back and forth while gently pressing down so that the
insulation gets cut, taking care not to go through into the wire.

After years of cutting up bits of scrap wire, I went to Maplin recently and
bought a box of ready-made breadboard jumpers (along with several packets of
the flexible type with hard pins at the ends). The solid core jumpers are
all cut to lengths which match the pitch of the holes in the breadboard
(they're used straight and the stripped ends are bent at right angles).
 
B

Ben Jackson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use.

I use something like:

http://www.ehobbytools.com/index.html?target=p_32.html&lang=en-us

It ways 18-24ga but you can exceed that. I use one to strip 30ga Kynar
all the time. The way it works is the outer jaws and the stripping
teeth close together until the jaws hit the outside of the insulation.
Then the teeth close a bit more and as you continue to squeeze they
pull back and strip the wire.

I've also heard good things about this sort:

http://www.accuglassproducts.com/images/Products/100192.gif

but I don't have one.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and pulling
but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24 gauge range. Are
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?
 
P

Puckdropper

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding
or just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and
pulling but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24
gauge range. Are the specific wire strippers worth the money?
suggestions on a good brand?

I got a wire stripper that works pretty good for larger (12-18 ga.) wire,
but it doesn't do very well with the lighter stuff. For that, I use wire
cutters (diagonal side cutters) and a pair of pliers. The pliers are to
hold the insulation and wire while the cutters remove the insulation from
the part I want. I can't hold on to a 5" piece of 24 ga. wire.

I've also been known to use a dulled utility knife blade. When dull
enough they can cut the insulation and do minimal damage to the copper.

In some cases, I've used my fingernails... they work for some wires, but
can't really take the stress.

Puckdropper
 
E

Elephant

Jan 1, 1970
0
rkremser said:
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and pulling
but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24 gauge range. Are
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?


This may sound weird, but I've always used my teeth. Especially for the
smaller guage wire. I can feel exactly how much preasure to apply to
break the insulation, and then pull. And it's fast. And, after all
these years of stripping insulation like that, it hasn't damaged my
teeth at all. Weird, but true.
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
This may sound weird, but I've always used my teeth. Especially for the
smaller guage wire. I can feel exactly how much preasure to apply to
break the insulation, and then pull. And it's fast. And, after all
these years of stripping insulation like that, it hasn't damaged my
teeth at all. Weird, but true.

Right. Teeth work better than wire strippers. Doesn't nick the wire,
either.

John
 
D

Dr. Anton T. Squeegee

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and pulling
but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24 gauge range. Are
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?

I usually use Ideal's 'T-Stripper' series for most such work.
Inexpensive, durable, and readily available from Lowe's, Graybar, or
most other industrial places.

If I happen to be working with Teflon or Kapton-insulated stuff,
I'll sometimes use a thermal stripper. Not as easy to find, and requires
some skill to operate, but well worth it to avoid physical damage to,
say, the braid or center conductor on small coaxial cable.

Happy stripping. ;-)
 
B

Bob Masta

Jan 1, 1970
0
Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or
just general use. Typically I have been just using wirecutters and pulling
but there has to be a better way. Most likely in the 20-24 gauge range. Are
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?

I have 2 kinds of strippers that I use regularly: 1) The simple
(cheap) kind has notched jaws with a rotary wheel that adjusts the
spacing for different gages. Used like you use your wirecutters,
but pre-adjusted so you don't have to worry about how hard you
grip it.

2) The fancier, pricier kind for one-hand operation has a pair of
stripper jaws with several marked notches for different gages,
plus a pair of gripper jaws that come down first to clamp the
wire. You just insert the wire between the open gripper jaws
so it passes under the proper notch in the stripper jaws and
protrudes by the amount you want to remove, then grip the
handle and it does the whole job.

In practice, the fancy one is faster, but not by a lot. And
it only handles a few wire gages without swapping jaw sets.
Its big advantage comes on those occasions where you
can't get your hands in to grab both ends of the wire as
the cheap strippers require.

As for breadboard wire, I've always used cut-offs from
multi-conductor telephone cable, like they use in PBX
installations or on the actual lines on the poles. This
is just the right size for breadboards and there are
lots of colors and color-combos (red with black stripe,
white with green stripe, etc). The best part is you get
a lifetime supply for free when the installers leave a
few feet of cable cutoffs behind.

Best regards.


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator
 
J

Jonathan Kirwan

Jan 1, 1970
0
<snip>
As for breadboard wire, I've always used cut-offs from
multi-conductor telephone cable, like they use in PBX
installations or on the actual lines on the poles. This
is just the right size for breadboards and there are
lots of colors and color-combos (red with black stripe,
white with green stripe, etc). The best part is you get
a lifetime supply for free when the installers leave a
few feet of cable cutoffs behind.

Exactly the same wire I choose for breadboards.

Jon
 
S

Simoc

Jan 1, 1970
0
Elephant said:
This may sound weird, but I've always used my teeth.

I know many people who does, but...
And, after all
these years of stripping insulation like that, it hasn't damaged my
teeth at all. Weird, but true.

....some of them have said that it has caused stubbing pain appearing in
the "cutting points" when eating/drinking hot, cold, or sweet :-( So it
may work, but I wouldn't recommend..
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
Exactly the same wire I choose for breadboards.

but separating those pairs can be tedious, especially if you've
happened on a 12-foot chunk. :)

But I do like the jacket ripper. :)

Cheers!
Rich
 
J

jasen

Jan 1, 1970
0
but separating those pairs can be tedious, especially if you've
happened on a 12-foot chunk. :)

as A kid I happened on a few of those must have totalled over 20M of 25-pair
cable as I calculated I had over a kilometre of the stuff at one stage
it got used for all surts of stuff.

the easiest way I found to separate a pair was to tie one wire to a door
Handle cup your hand around it and pull the other wire back down it.
But I do like the jacket ripper. :)

yeah that's a handy feature.

but I kept some of the jacket intact and used it for spaghetti tubing and
other uses.

Bye.
Jasen
 
B

Bob Masta

Jan 1, 1970
0
but separating those pairs can be tedious, especially if you've
happened on a 12-foot chunk. :)

But I do like the jacket ripper. :)

The wires seem to stick to the sheath, either by
design or as a result of age or heat or something.

For breadboard use, I just cut off a short piece
of the entire cable, maybe 6-10 inches long.
Then you can grab one or a couple of wire
eds with pliers and yank them free. which tends
to loosen up the rest. Twisting the cable
sometimes helps as well. Or you can peel
back a small portion of the sheath to get at
the bundle, and twist that. Basically, everything
gets *much* easier with short sections.

Best regards,


Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator
 
G

Gunther Mannigel

Jan 1, 1970
0
rkremser said:
the specific wire strippers worth the money? suggestions on a good brand?

I have a stripax. Works like a charm.

cheers
Gunther
 
R

redbelly

Jan 1, 1970
0
I use a pair of Klein's for 18-26 AWG. Available at Lowe's (maybe at
Home Depot too), cost somewhere between 12 and 15 $ U.S., IIRC.
Definately worth it.

Mark
 
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