what methods do you use to strip wires?

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?

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Reply to
rkremser
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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.

Reply to
Simoc

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.

Stripp> Looking for easy methods to strip the ends of wires for breadboarding or

Reply to
MYz160

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).

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Melodolic Spielberg
Reply to
Melodolic

I use something like:

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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:

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but I don't have one.

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Ben Jackson AD7GD

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Reply to
Ben Jackson

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Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

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I like the Miller and Klein strippers.
Reply to
John Fields

"rkremser" wrote in news:44c8f01f$0$21770$ snipped-for-privacy@free.teranews.com:

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

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Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm
Reply to
Puckdropper

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.

Reply to
Elephant

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

John

Reply to
John Larkin

In article , snipped-for-privacy@rkremser.endjunk.com (known to some as rkremser) scribed...

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. ;-)

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Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, KC7GR)
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Reply to
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee

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

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Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

Reply to
Bob Masta

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?

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Reply to
rkremser

IGNORE First post didn't appear in my news reader, sorry guys

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Reply to
rkremser

Exactly the same wire I choose for breadboards.

Jon

Reply to
Jonathan Kirwan

I know many people who does, but...

...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..

Reply to
Simoc

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

Reply to
Rich Grise

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.

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

Reply to
jasen

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

formatting link
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

Reply to
Bob Masta

What I do for breadboarding wire is take lengths of 22 gauge wire in assorted colors...cut them into various sizes with a pair of wire cutters..... then I just lay the wire down flat and take a sharp utility knife blade and roll it over the insulation where I want to strip it....then just pull off the little piece of insulation....you are left with a wire stripped on the ends that can be store until use. Just bend the ends down when you go to breadboard something.

........ yes...if you roll too hard with the razor blade you can nick the wire...... after a few wires you will get the feel of it and shouldnt be nicking wires...and if you do nick a wire or two... at breadboarding voltages and currents it really wont matter.

blade out of knife when rolling.....

I have a nice plastic tray with wires for breadboarding that range from

1/4 inch up to several inches.....its fast and easy I rarely reuse any wires as I have so many.....just toss the old ones in the trash bin.
Reply to
cornytheclown

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