In the process of performing various electrical work, it is imperative to remove the insulation from the part of the wire that is introduced into the connector of various designs. Taking into account the fact that the stationary part of the wiring in the absolute majority of cases is carried out "locally", this operation have to be performed quite often and, accordingly, the presence of a fast high-quality stripping technology will save a lot of time.
Next, we consider five simple options for performing this procedure using available tools and various specialized tools.
1.Knife
The insulation is cut with a sharpened knife towards the end of the wire in a movement similar to that used for sharpening pencils. These cuts must be made twice on opposite sides of the wire.
The second option: the insulation is cut along the axis, turned to the side and the excess part is cut off, Figure 1. You can use a special knife for this.
The most accurate stripping is achieved by cutting the insulation in a circular motion with the knife perpendicular to the axis of the wire to be stripped, after which it is pulled off with the movement of the blade towards the end of the wire or simply removed fingers.
The method is applicable to both wires and the whole cable, from which the protective sheath is removed.
2.Lighter
A method that should be used only as a last resort, incl. due to the extremely unaesthetic appearance of the stripped wire and the risk of burns. The insulation at the required length is heated in a flame until it softens, after which it is pulled off the core with your fingers, Figure 2. Quite popular among radio amateurs when working with a thin MGTF wire.
3.Placing pliers
There are two options when working with pliers. In the first case, the insulation is cut as deeply as possible with the sharp edges of the loosely compressed jaws, as shown in Figure 3, and then pulled off the wire. Taking into account the weakening of the mechanical strength of the insulation, the break turns out to be quite neat and goes along the notch area.
In the second option, the insulation is slightly removed from the wire, the free end is clamped with jaws and pulled off the wire. It is advisable to do this with a sharp movement, which somewhat improves the quality of stripping.
4 wire stripping pliers
The first type of specialized tool is made in the form of pliers, on the jaws of which there are several round holes with sharp edges, Figure 4. Holes are marked by wire diameter in mm or AWG units. To strip the wire, it is enough to insert the wire into a hole suitable for the core gauge, squeeze the handles and pull the tool away from you in the axial direction.
Note that such a tool is often used by fiber optic cable installers to remove protective tubes from fibers.
5.Specialized stripping tool
The tool of this type, one of the versions of which is shown in Figure 5, implements a fairly simple kinematic scheme that allows you to work with one movement. The wire to be stripped is laid in the working body, which, when the handle is squeezed, first fixes the wire tightly, and then, after cutting the insulation, pulls it off in the axial direction.
Some examples of such tools have a regulator that allows you to handle wires of different diameters and to perform stripping at different lengths.
Conclusion
From the point of view of labor productivity, all options, with the possible exception of heating, are approximately the same. The choice of a specific one is strictly individual and universal recipes cannot be given here. We note only one thing, that in the case of really frequent installation of wiring, it is better to purchase specialized tools that generally allow you to get a higher quality compared to a conventional knife and pliers.