Stranded Wire Strippers vs Solid Wire Strippers

[George7941]

The post on 'Best home wire stripper' prompted me to investigate wire strippers further and I found that there is a difference between solid wire strippers and stranded wire strippers

http://www.kleintools.com/ToolCatalog/PDFs/04_Striprs_Cuttrs_Crimp.pdf
Klein has the 11045 stripper for solid wires and 11049 stripper for stranded wires. I wondered why notches in a wire stripper sized for a 14ga solid wire will not work for a 14ga stranded wire. I considered two possibilities. Perhaps stranded wires need slightly larger stripping notches since, being stranded, the diameter is slightly larger than the dia of solid wire. Or, perhaps, the stranded wire will deform slightly under the pressure from the stripper blades and the notches on a stranded wire stripper are slightly flattened (oval in shape)to account for the deformation.

But then there is the Klein 1011 which is rated for both solid and stranded wire. This seems to negate my two previous hypotheses. Now I am puzzled as to the difference between solid and stranded wire strippers.

 

[doitmyself]

George,

I think that your assumption about the stranded 14 gauge being bigger that the solid 14 gauge is correct. If you look at one of the dual strippers up close, you will see that a specific hole is labeled 14ga. for solid, and the SAME hole is labeled 12ga. for solid.

Can't find a good enough picture to show you. I suppose having two separate cutters might make it harder to make mistakes.

BINGO, here we go:

 

[Bob Woods]

I picked up a pair of automatic strippers that work good and I don't have to search for the right hole, its has two flat blades that do the striping.

http://store.xmfanstore.com/wirestripper.html

 

[SecondMonkey]

I often go one size bigger than what I'm stripping, and give it a good pull, usually works without ever touching the copper. Honestly I have no idea if my strippers are for stranded or solid wire, but I've been using them for like a decade with both without any issues.

 

[George7941]

Thanks, doitmyself, for clearing up the issue. I must say, it is a big jump from 12ga to 10ga, dunno if stranded 12ga is as thick as solid 10ga.

Bob Woods, those strippers do nick the copper a little bit and might be ok for casual use but weakening of the wire by nicking is intolerable for serious work.

 

[doitmyself]

Good thing nobody pays attention to my posts here, because my text is wrong! Thank goodness for pictures.

"you will see that a specific hole is labeled 14ga. for solid, and the SAME hole is labeled 12ga. for solid."

How about: you will see that a specific hole is labeled 14ga. for STRANDED, and the SAME hole is labeled 12ga. for solid.

 

[George7941]

i missed the error because your picture was very good and worth a thousand words. I was concentrating on the one hole, at the end, marked 10 solid/12 stranded.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: George7941
I was concentrating on the one hole, at the end,


This is begging for a humorous comment, but I will leave it to the imagination for fear of being banned.

 

[kkreit01]

all this talk about strippers lately...