How do I strip ribbon cable?

[pruttelherrie]

Or use a laser: http://imajeenyus.com/electronics/20131024_laser_wire_stripping/index.shtml

[MetalGuy]

I've stripped ribbon cables many times. I usually solder one end to a PCB the other to a connector ( to connector pins that are supposed to be crimped). Although it's not fun this is by no means rocket science or nightmare.
No special equipment is required. I'm using a simple hobby knife and cutter pliers for stripping. Procedure is simple. Cut between the individual wires as close to the wire as possible. Round cut the insulation carefully to avoid cutting the wire itself. Use the pliers (or whatever stripping tool you have) to strip the wire.
There will be strips of ribbon plastic left between the wires. Bend them and cut them or just rip them off (depends on the cable type). Done.

[pinkjimiphoton]

i suspect the best way to do it may be to dunk the end in some acetone and let it work in some, then you could likely wipe the insulation off.

i shudder every time i have to deal with that crap. it ALWAYS breaks if not using connectors. thru hole? don't bother. it will fail and make ya nuts. use headers and sockets if you must, but imho, better off to use dedicated wire.

i buy it pretinned/prestripped on ali express for about 80 cents per 100 pieces about 2.6" long, which for my builds seems about the perfect length.  i buy it in red, yellow, blue, green, white and black, usually 1000 pieces at a time. in the end it makes stuff almost as uniform as ribbon, is cheaper, and works great.

ribbon cable is a SIGNIFICANT time waster commercially... the short time i was at black cat was made shorter having to deal with that shit... wiring up a couple switches could take an hour between all the stripping and shit, where as the precut wires i can wire a board with 20 leads or so off it in about 2-3 minutes.

if ya begin building commercially, you wanna save as much time as you can, and to me? i won't use that stuff ever again. every time i've used it has been a pain in the ass. jmo, ymmv