Which Stripmaster wire Stripper?

[Rick_A]

There are 3 high quality Ideal Stripmaster wire strippers with similar specs. I don't know which is best for Tefzel wire. Mdl 45-174 is for Type EE 1000V Teflon, Mdl 45-177 is for Type E 600V Teflon and 45-171 is for "Teflon and other hard to strip insulations". They are all the same price. Any one know which would be the best choise?

[az_gila]

Rick.. the difference seems to be the size of the counterbore, which is just behind the actual cutting surface and centers the wire inside the cutter using the outer diameter of the insulation.

The three different types of strippers you mention have different counterbore diameters.

Details of the cutters here on the Ideal tools web site....

http://www.idealindustries.com/IDEAL...om+Stripmaster

16 guage MIL-W-22759/16 wire has an outer diameter of 0.077 to 0.081 inch

This would make the 45-177 tool the most applicable for use on the standard aircraft wire, since it has a 0.081 counterbore. The other two have larger counterbores...

Also makes sense since the MIL-W-22759/16 wire also has a 600 volt rating, like the Type E teflon insulated wire mentioned in the tool catalogs.

gil in Tucson

PS I have one, or it's close equivalent, and it's great to use, clean cuts and no nicking of the wire strands

[Rick_A]

I did not understand the differences - thanks for the explaination, but it confirms what I found doing additional research. I saw a couple of references to model 45-187, which uses the same blade set (L5560) as the 45-177. The best price I found is at mytoolstore.com.