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What should you do when I can't afford a Twisted Stripper ?

H

humptybump

Well Known Member
I'm working on my panel and am struggling with the Teflon jacketed shielded twisted pair wire.

I have a nice pair of double-jaw wire strippers but they are not working well at all with the outer jacket of the twisted pair wire. I don't have a ton of these wired and may be a third they the panel but thought I'd search the forums and now ask for suggestions.
 
soldering iron

I used a cheap soldering iron from Lowes aviation dept that had a razor attachment with it. Cuts like a hot knife through butter. Saves lots of bad words.

Gary
 
I happen to have some recent experience with this....

What seems to work well for me is:

Take either a razor blade or an utility knife and run it all the way around the jacket. Then take the cable and bend it at the cut a few times at different radials. That should break the shell all the way around and it is easy to see what may not have been cut.

To get the jacket off, I just put it in my hands up in the fingers, grip and pull the whole thing off. Works for up to 4 inches of jacket.

I then push the shield up and use micro flush cutting diagonal cutters to clip the shield all the way around. I use solder sleeves to terminate the shield if it needs a drain, just heat shrink if not.

Works like a charm!
 
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I was already beaten to the razor blade for the shield.
 
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Walt: I'll send you my PayPal account. You can send me $1250 :)

Brian: I've been using your technique but anything more than about 2" of exterior sheath and it won't budge.
 
If I recall correctly ...

...there's an EAA Homebuilder's video on stripping shielded wire .... it shows clearly what Brantel outlined above. Basically light creases or cuts with a sharp knife and then bend the wire sharply at the point to break the white outer sleeve. that prevents cutting thru the shield or the conductor insulation.
 
One of the greatest little luxuries in homebuilding - the 100 pack of razor blades for less then ten bucks at Home Depot. Use a fresh one every time you need to strip shielded wire insulation!

Paul
 
Rather than bending the wire to split the insulation - run the blade lengthwise along the insulation from the cut to the end. Then simply peel the insulation off.

A cheap Cat-5 punch down tool usually has a blade to cut the jacket, these also work well on shielded twisted pair and co-ax insulation.
 
Doug said:
Rather than bending the wire to split the insulation - run the blade lengthwise along the insulation from the cut to the end. Then simply peel the insulation off.

A cheap Cat-5 punch down tool usually has a blade to cut the jacket, these also work well on shielded twisted pair and co-ax insulation.
Click to expand...

The shielded wire I use has spiral lumps in it longways from the wires inside the shield. This makes this process of cutting it longways a pain in the rear. It also makes those cable stripper tools hard to use and also easy to damage the shield and inner conductors.

The circle cut, bend and pull method has been the easiest and less damaging for me and I always migrate toward the easiest method...
 
Brantel said:
The shielded wire I use has spiral lumps in it longways from the wires inside the shield.
Click to expand...

Yup, this is just the type of wire the Twisted Stripper is designed to work on.

Well, I don't have to do this as my day job so I'll apply plenty of care and keep on the manual path.
 
humptybump said:
Yup, this is just the type of wire the Twisted Stripper is designed to work on.

Well, I don't have to do this as my day job so I'll apply plenty of care and keep on the manual path.
Click to expand...

I agree, if one did this for a living, the $1200+ tool might be worth it but for us that do it for a hobby, I will stick with the hard way....
 
Small scissors on pocket knife

Not my idea, I swiped the idea off someones web page, but the small scissors on my Swiss army knife worked great. Just leave the scissors open and spin the shielded cable in the V of the blades.
 
With a little practice you can peel the end of the outer insulation down in a spiral. Keep your pull close to the wire and down. I can peel about a foot a minute.
 
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