On Thu, 13 Apr 2017, Paul wrote:

John Doe wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:

http://www.irwin.com/tools/pliers-ad...wrenches/self-
adjusting-wire-stripper

https://www.amazon.com/IRWIN-VISE-GR...ting-Stripper-
2078300/dp/B000OQ21CA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492117062&sr=8-3
&keywords=Self-Adjusting+Wire+Stripper

Tried it on some regular power cord wire. Wonderful. I so
wish I had this decades ago. Then again, it wasn't available
decades ago. Not that I do that much, but it would have been
so much nicer. Wire stripping has always been a hassle. I do
not like losing a strand or two of stranded wire. Apparently
this tool does not damage the wire.

Automatic wire strippers have existed for a long time.

We had a pair at work.

Only problem with them was:

1) Price. They charged "industrial" prices for them.
2) Probably didn't work quite as well as the one you got.

They look like a good idea, which is why I've had a set for almost 40
years, getting it for Christmas one year.

But they don't work out the same way.

You get used to using cutters to strip off insulation, getting the depth
right, and it's relatively easy.

You do have to fuss with automatic wire strippers, to get the wire into
the right hole (though some use some other method like a plastic razor
blad or something so you don't have to fit the wire into the hole).

But the biggest issue is they don't work where they might best be used.
If you have a short piece of wire, it's hard to hold the wire and then the
cutters to get the insulation off. But if the wire is too short, the tool
hasn't got enough space to hold the wire, either.

I thought they'd be great if you needed to strip a piece of wire already soldered into a
circuit, where again you may not get a tight grip on the wire, and the
soldered joint isn't strong enough to hold as you strip. But the auto
wire strippers are big, and use up a lot of space in operation, and that
limits their use in tight chassis.

So after a period of using them, I exiled them to the back of the tool
drawer, a neat idea that doesn't work out so well in everyday use.

I suppose if I was stripping a lot of wire of the same length, they might
be useful.

Michael


I played with ours at work, but
felt no attraction to them. They were a novelty item in the tool chest.

I did most of my work with this style.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...Stripper-Wire/

Everyone has probably seen this kind, and these suck.
It takes a good deal of practice to keep the wire
nicking to a minimum. I used these for some number of
years as a hobbyist, before I got my first T-5 style
stripper. The non-automated ones still take practice,
but the ones in the following picture make the practice
brutal. I expect a lot of people, this is all they had
on sale at the hardware store.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ma...9937p.html#srp

And there are all sorts of insulation types, each with
their own foibles. Not every wire stripping job is easy.

Paul