why does teflon insulated wires need a very expensive wire stripper?

[jarthel]

thanks for the reply.

[KISS]

These work fine. http://www.web-tronics.com/idtwist.html. You need to select the tool for stranded or solid wire and the AWG range.

When you get to very fine gauge like 32 AWG then you need expensive mechanical strippers or thermal wire strippers.

Usually what happens with a cheap pair of strippers is that the wire isn't nicked all around pefore pulling the insulation off so you end up deforming the insulation and trying to extrude the insulation through the strippers rather than removng the insulation.. Teflon requires sharp tools and is very slippery.

Machining it isn't easy either. A dull tool will grab it and pull it out of the chuck and destroy it in the process extremely easy when using a lathe.

[rcavictim]

I think the problem in this area with teflon insulation is that unlike more common plastic wire insulation like PVC that once the stripper tool gets most of the cross sectional area at the desired cut the rest pulls and breaks cleanly, the teflon seems to resist fracture. I don`t use any special stripper for my teflon wire but sometimes use flush cutting side cutters to trip off the mangled carcass after the stripper frequently fails to do its job completely.

[Conrad Hoffman]

I use Teflon wire almost exclusively, and standard strippers. You need the ones with a series of fixed size holes (Ideal Industries, 45-125 or whatever the modern version is, aka, T-Stripper), and they have to be *sharp*. If they're sharp, you should be able to easily cut through 90% of the insulation, then snap the piece off. A slow pull won't do it. Once you have sharp strippers, don't abuse them, and don't let anyone else use 'em!

[EUVL]

Unlike most other plastic insulation materials, teflon creeps (flows) easily. Thus they do not break cleanly if not cue through 100%. In doing so, one risk damaging the conducting wiring beneath (at least the surface of).

At work we use exclusively teflon wiring in a production environment for UHV applications and we use a special tool which heats up a pair of tongs with sharp edges to over 1000 deg C and the teflon would just melt, while the copper wiring underneath remains intact.

Not a solution for hobby, I know.


Patrick

[XEAGLEKEEPER]

At work we use exclusively teflon wiring in a production environment for UHV applications and we use a special tool which heats up a pair of tongs with sharp edges to over 1000 deg C and the teflon would just melt, while the copper wiring underneath remains intact.

The military uses teflon coated wire extensively.We used electric strippers similar to these.

Dave

[OzMikeH]

I presume you mean the style that has a different round hole for each wire guage, you squeeze the handle and two blades meet with a round hole the size of the wire, the tool also grips the wire and on squeezing the handles tighter the blades pull away from the gripper part. I used to work in a small general aviatiooon workshop, we had one set between several techs so we got good at using a scalpel.

The Teflon style blades for this tool have a more complicated blade shape, instead of a cone shape when closed they have two cylinders, slightly different sizes, between these is a narrower very small sharp blade that is very, very close to the wire guage.
the cylinder shapes keep the wire dead center, this stops the wires from being nicked. the teflon blades are about twice the price of the whole tool with standard blades.

Without this tool just use a very sharp scalpel, you need a fair bit of practice. For a quick and dirty method I whittle one side of the teflon off, then bend the insulation to the side and cut it off.
it leaves a ragged end but doesnt nick the wire.
If you nick the wire start again, it will probably break on the nick one day.

[Apex Jr]

I'm told the Swedish or German Wire stripers will work fine
on teflon wire. I sell a lot of the wire and these stripers
work fine..

The Expensive ones like the Teledyne Wire Stripers work for
the mil-spec houses that put connectors on these wires or
assembly houses that work all the time with these wires.
For the DIY person the other GOOD strippers will work as
well....

BTW: I have one of those Teledyne Pro wire strippers that
sell for over 300.00 USED for $125.00


Steve @ Apex Jr