3D Printed Wire Stripper

I had a need for a wire stripper to strip a bunch of scrap wire. I bought one from Amazon but it ended up with the screws stripped and was hard to use. I wanted to make something simple that I could mount in a vice and use a utility knife to cut the wire as I pulled it through the holes for each size wire. This is a simple manual wire stripper for AWG wire sizing from 12 to 3/0. You clamp the wire stripper into a vice and then pull the wire through while holding a utility knife in the appropriate slot. It's simple and functions well and is compact in design.

AutoDesk Fusion, Bambu X1 Carbon or X1E, 3D PETG filament, utility knife, leather gloves, 3D PLA filament, Bambu Studio, scrap wire, bench vice

First I sketched out the idea on a piece of paper and made the sizes for the different size wires. I looked up the measurements for standard wire sizes.

I opened Fusion and began work on designing the wirestripper. I started my sketch on the Y plane and made a retangle 4" x 8" then extruded it .5". I used the wire size charge to create holes for each size wire. I then added text below each hole to indicate the wire size.

I exported the file to Bambu Studio and oriented the part so that it would require minimum support. I printed it with PLA first to check the measurements and functionality. I left all of the default settings the same for infill and quality. After I test the PLA version, I might add more infill to make it stronger to resist breaking when the wire is pulled through. The final version will be printed with PETG. I ran the print on my Bambu X1E printer. Total print time was 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Now that the first 3D print is done, it's time to test it out. You'll need a razor knife and a pair of thick gloves.

Clamp the wire stripper into a bench vice with the numbers facing you.

Insert the wire that you want to strip through the appropriate sized hole. I started with 12 gauge.

Using one hand with a glove insert the utility blade into the slot and hold down.

Use your other hand to pull the wire toward you.

This will leave a slice in the middle of the wire.

You can then just peel the wire back to strip it.

***BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE BLADE AND YOUR HANDS!