stranded wire vs solder wire?

[R.G.]

I did this as an exercise to see if it would be feasible to make a DIY thermal insulation stripper. It uses 3in. of 40ga nichrome C wire looped around two screws as a heater. The idea is for the wire wedge shown below to come together close enough at one side to slide the wire toward the smaller diameter screw and melt through the insulation.
...
I think this should work, but please let me know if anyone sees any fatal flaws.

Good idea, and it should work. My only worry is about the fragility of 40-ga nichrome wire. I figure I'd always be breaking it, especially when pulling the wire back out. You grasped the essence of a thermal stripper instantly - the magic is in the blade.

The good news is that Patco does sell the blades for its thermal strippers separately. See:
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/tools/wire-strippers-and-accessories/1245294?k=tco

The PTS-10 blade is $5. If I were doing a DIY stripper, I'd get a piece of wood, like maybe a bit of plywood, wide and long enough to be a stable base. Then I'd lay the Patco blade on the base in the center and mark the mounting hole locations. I would then drill holes through the wood to take - #4 or #6 ( M3 or M4) screws and recess the bottom side so the heads of screws would not be flush with the bottom.

Stick screws through from the back side, put ring terminals on the screws and screw down internally-threaded spacers of about 1/4" to 5/8" (6-8mm) high. Then the PT-10 blade goes on top and two more screws with spring washers complete the setup.

Electricity from a power supply goes through the ring terminals and heats the blade. In use, stick the wire into the V, twist 180 degrees (3.14159 radians is close enough) and pull the wire out. The distance between the blade and the base gives a consistent strip length.

[tyzjames]

I have used solid for a long time but after a while i realised that it has reliability issues. The wire seem to be able to detach itself more easily over time. I like to it holds its position though. I now use standard 22awg teflon wire. Feels very very solid, but bad thing is that its flexible.

teflon jacket is great if you are trying to spend some money. it takes a lot more heat to melt the teflon jacket. it is closer to being milspec than standard PVC jacket. it also resists some chemicals better than PVC but thats more for industrial, medical, military etc... we don't spray chemicals on the wires daily so it is not like that is even a concern.

Thats true. It is expensive, but it was on a huge discount at farnell  

A normal stranded wire will work fine, but past experiences so far is that the individual strands seem to break pretty easily, or probably thats just the quality of wires that are available to me in my country. But stranded over solid anytime now.

[Jdansti]

I did this as an exercise to see if it would be feasible to make a DIY thermal insulation stripper. It uses 3in. of 40ga nichrome C wire looped around two screws as a heater. The idea is for the wire wedge shown below to come together close enough at one side to slide the wire toward the smaller diameter screw and melt through the insulation.
...
I think this should work, but please let me know if anyone sees any fatal flaws.

Good idea, and it should work. My only worry is about the fragility of 40-ga nichrome wire. I figure I'd always be breaking it, especially when pulling the wire back out. You grasped the essence of a thermal stripper instantly - the magic is in the blade.

The good news is that Patco does sell the blades for its thermal strippers separately. See:
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/tools/wire-strippers-and-accessories/1245294?k=tco

The PTS-10 blade is $5. If I were doing a DIY stripper, I'd get a piece of wood, like maybe a bit of plywood, wide and long enough to be a stable base. Then I'd lay the Patco blade on the base in the center and mark the mounting hole locations. I would then drill holes through the wood to take - #4 or #6 ( M3 or M4) screws and recess the bottom side so the heads of screws would not be flush with the bottom.

Stick screws through from the back side, put ring terminals on the screws and screw down internally-threaded spacers of about 1/4" to 5/8" (6-8mm) high. Then the PT-10 blade goes on top and two more screws with spring washers complete the setup.

Electricity from a power supply goes through the ring terminals and heats the blade. In use, stick the wire into the V, twist 180 degrees (3.14159 radians is close enough) and pull the wire out. The distance between the blade and the base gives a consistent strip length.

That looks like the way to go. I didn't see a datasheet for any of Patco's blades, but it should be easy enough to measure the resistance and determine the power supply needs and whether an additional resistor would be necessary. Thanks!  I'll have to come up with a Digi-Key order now!

[PRR]

> make a DIY thermal insulation stripper.

Tested??

I'm wondering (too lazy to find my Patco) if 0.96 Watts is enough to stip wire. (Remember only a small part of that actually gets into the plastic. For 0.15" wire on 1.5" element, only 1/10th.)

And if #40 is strong enough. (I suppose similar structure is used in foam cutters, less dense plastic but much greater thickness.)

The Patco uses sheet metal. This gives a thin edge with greater strength.

I don't think it is NiChrome. Stainless Steel is my guess. Excellent strength. Negligible corrosion at temperature needed to soften plastic. NiChrome is wanted when you need to run above red-heat. Compact high-power heaters.

And of course, since AC or DC will work the same, the 3V tap on a 6V filament transformer may be more expedient than wasting most of 12V.

A soldering gun (or large iron) with a V-shape notch will strip most wire.

I find the Patco an excellent tool at a very reasonable price.

[petey twofinger]

i use a bic lighter to strip wire  . i have also used a votive candle when doing a large batch .  then i do have a few different types of wire strippers . the one handed type is nice , also the one PJP held up in his interview is my new favorite .

i think its safe to say for building pedals , stranded wire is what the majority of folks prefer to use because it may be more durable .

for breadboarding , solid core , hands down .

another point to consider is coming up with a color scheme and sticking to it , this may really help  for troubleshooting , speeding up the process .

i often sub dk green for black and orange for red .

i used to avoid pink and purple , just because ... i have now opened up and am no longer a colorphobe . pink and purple are " effect out" . where before i often used yellow , like it was scared , ang green going in as the input . till i ran short on red and black wire .