stripping fat wires

When I built boats we just carefully rolled the wire over the blade of a razor knife. Use just enough pressure to cut through the jacket without damaging the copper, then just pull and twist the jacket off. Do it right and you will end up with a tightly twisted wire end - perfect for crimping.

One of my home how-to books on wiring recommends stripping thick wires kind of like you'd whittle a stick. That helps avoid any deep cuts into the wire.

My problem is those darn tiny wires, like on the MAC servos. My wire strippers make a mess of those. Anybody find a good set of wire strippers that goes down that small?

Klein

Yes - for small wires - go to Home and Aviation Depot and pick up a set of Klein strippers. They have a set that will do 14 - 20, and 22 - 32. Or something like that... one has red and blue handle, one has yellow and blue. I forget the exact wire sizes, but I bought both and use them pretty much exclusively. They handle the MAC wires fine. 26 ga, I believe.

Think Thermal!

When I attended microminiature repair school in the Navy we used thermal wire strippers for everything. They work very well. The ones we used were megabucks but I think you can find less expensive ones. Just try searching the net for "Thermal Wire Strippers." As I said, the good ones are big time expensive but they work great - no nicks, no cuts, no errors!

Your teeth

Copper is harder than plaque.

I use two tools a lot in my trade. The first stripper for small wires is the one with the spring handles and only onegroove for the wire to fit in. You learn how much to squeeze the handles so just the insulation is cut and pulled off. I do not use the strippers with the different gage holes for the wires. After you get used to them the single groove type are pretty quick and easy. The tool for thicker wires is the Klein curved jaw wire cutter. Use it just like the smaller tool to just cut through the insulation, spin it around the wire a couple of times and pop the insulation off. Has lots of leverage to for cutting thicker wire too.

Mike