Stripper - a tool for stripping wires, which are and how to use

In the work of an electrician, one of the most frequent operations during electrical installation is stripping and connecting wires. In such seemingly simple actions, there are a number of nuances. Yes, and it is not recommended to remove the insulation from the wires with a knife, because if you do not have developed skills, you will damage the conductive wires. And this will lead to problems in posting in the future. Read about stripping tools in this article.

How to remove insulation or why you need a stripper

Fans will answer that you can remove the insulation with a conventional knife. You can do it this way, but there is a small problem. When stripping insulation from a soft wire with multi-wire cores, especially with cross-sectional conductors up to 1.5 sq. mm many make a mistake - cut the veins.

As a result, the contact area decreases and the cross section due to the fact that the number of veins decreases.

When stripping insulation from wires with monolithic or single-wire cores, another problem arises - the cores are notched. This can lead to the fracture of the vein at the incision site. This is especially easy to do on aluminum wires.

When removing the outer sheath from the cable, something similar to what is shown in the photo may occur, the insulation of one or two cores is notched.This also occurs with the longitudinal cut of the outer shell.

The second most popular among amateurs among the methods of removing the sheath from the core is an incision and pulling with side cutters or a cutting edge with pliers.

This is even more dangerous when stripping stranded wires, which is shown in the figure below. Nevertheless, Knipex produces special side cutters with recesses on the blade to remove insulation without damaging conductive conductors with a cross section of 1.5 and 2.5 square meters. mm

If you use a knife - which one?

Especially for electrical work there is an electrician's knife with a heel.

Its peculiarity is in the special shape of the blade and perpendicular to the soldered heel, which allows you to save the casing of the veins when removing the general encircling casing.

In order to remove the insulation with it, you need to take the wire with the end towards you, insert the knife with your heel blade away from you and draw along the cable. The blade is sharpened on both sides. The side that is directed to the user is needed to cut the shell in a circular motion.

There is another type of knives for stripping insulation. Here, the cable is clamped with a bracket on top, and a knife cuts through its sheath or, as it is also called, a canine. It is used mainly for the longitudinal cutting of the cable, but a transverse circular cut is possible for him.

In the back you can see the adjustment wheel, with which you can set the depth of cut of the shell.

Some models are combined with an ordinary knife, which is convenient to use.

Their advantage is low cost and design - it is adapted for clamping the cable.

Types of Strippers

I could not find a generally accepted classification of strippers, so we conditionally divide them into several groups.

• Hand held miniature;

• Large river with handles like pliers or nippers;

• Lever

Miniature strippers are usually made either in the form of clothespins with spring-loaded jaws in which there is one or more holes, or in the form of a closing case with holes for different wire diameters.

An example of drop-down strippers is the Jokari 30155 Super Stripper N15.

 

This is a multifunctional device in which there is:

• Knife for longitudinal cutting of the outer shell;

• Knife for transverse or circular incision of insulation;

• Holes with knives for wires of different sections (0.2 - 4 sq. Mm);

• A retractable universal knife with which you can strip the wire "the old fashioned way" by cutting off the unnecessary part of the insulation.

But Jokari is not the only manufacturer of such strippers, for example, a similar one from Knipex, a well-known electrician tools company.

These are universal multifunctional tools.

The next type is simple strippers with levers that look like scissors or pliers on the outside.

At their end are knives with a wedge-shaped neckline for stripping insulation. This tool has an adjusting stop screw, with which you set the cross-sectional area of ​​the core.

Their main disadvantage is the need to configure when working with wires of different sections. That is, if you clean a group of identical wires, there is no problem. It is necessary to select the optimal compression ratio on the first wire, and work, but if the wires of several sections each time you need to twist this screw.

This is dangerous because by mistake it is possible to strip a thicker wire, while the jaws can be adjusted to a small cross section - and you will damage the conductive core, again this is especially unpleasant when working with multi-wire conductors. The advantage of such a tool is simplicity, versatility and low cost.

A more perfect type of cheap strippers are universal insulation strippers with holes for conductors on the blades, an example of which you see below.

They are also universal, but you can make a mistake by inserting the wire into the wrong hole.

Finally, automatic lever strippers in most cases are devoid of these drawbacks. In them, the cross section of the wire is determined automatically. The cutting part is spring loaded and is driven by gripping the handles.

Many of these models have a length limiter, which allows you to remove insulation from all wires to a specified length.

Their characteristic feature is good functionality and the ability to remove the outer shell. Typically, cleaners of this design are more expensive than analogues, cheaper models include the ones shown below.

This is a universal tool, but from personal experience I will say that they are better suited for working with multi-wire wires of small cross sections. On the blades there are also 3-5 recesses for the veins, and the lever design maintains their integrity. Such a stripper is an easy and excellent solution for an auto electrician, for example.

Another option for stripping thin wires (up to 4 sq. Mm mainly) is a stripper, which resembles a gun for installing rivets.

Its main difference is the restriction on the length to be cleaned. But the ends are cleaned with one click and the first time (unless of course the knives are sharp, and the device is of high quality). Although you can get a vein and bend it so that its end does not rest against the limiter in the lips.

Additional functions

Now it is difficult to find a device that would perform only one task. Yes, and if an electrician carries out wiring at a height, for example, when wiring the lighting in a stretch ceiling, he will just be uncomfortable to take the entire tool box with him.

Therefore, most strippers are equipped with at least wire cutters.

Also, many models are equipped with a crimper, in simple words - crimp for terminal blocks and terminals. With their help, it is possible to compress tips like NShVI, and standard terminals like "father-mother", which will be especially useful for auto electricians.

Such a crimp, although it will not be a full replacement for a good lever crimper, but if you need a universal tool for periodic unprofessional use - this is ideal.

There are also universal pliers for cleaning insulation and crimping a number of terminals.

Cleaning the TV and Internet cable

There is also a special stripper for cleaning the television cable.It differs from the usual one in that it has two knives at a certain distance convenient for the subsequent installation of the F-connector.