How to Strip Wire (Without a Wire Stripper)

by Gjdj3 in Circuits > Tools

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How to Strip Wire (Without a Wire Stripper)

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This is a method of stripping wire that one of my friends showed me. I noticed that I use wire for a lot of projects and don't have a wire stripper. This way is useful if you don't have a wire stripper and you're either broke or too lazy to get one. It may seem like it takes a while to do, but once you get used to it it barely takes any time at all. This method is similar to the one by Weissensteinburg, but my friend said that this way may be better for the wire (less likely to damage it) but I'm not sure. Feedback is always appreciated!

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Materials

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A utility knife (see pictures)
Your wire
Good lighting
A marker
Scissors*

*Optional (Only needed if your sharp knife can't make it through the wire)

Wire Lengths

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Measure out the lengths of wire that you need and cut them. You can use your utility knife, or scissors if the utility knife doesn't make it through. I just used the knife. If you decide to cut using the knife, position your finger/thumb on top of the knife and use the tip of the blade to cut. It will work better that way.

Mark

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Using the marker, make a mark about half a cm from the end of the wire on each side. This isn't strictly neccesary but helps you to see where to cut, which is helpful if you have very small wires or bad lighting.

Scoring

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Now, begin scoring around the spot you marked. This is where the good lighting begins to become important to see your marks and where you cut. Score around the entire wire and try not to nick the actual wire. The whole key is finding the right amount of pressure. You have to make it so it cuts through but doesn't damage the actual wire. This is easy after a couple of tries. Here is the method I use.

Hold wire down

Apply pressure with knife

Keep pressure applied and turn wire

...Which now brings us to the next step.....

Tip Removal

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Now you should see a tiny bit of copper/what-ever-your-wire-is-made-of peeking through all the way around the wire, like in the picture. If you can see this all the way around, grab the end and pull it off. If not, keep cutting. Look at the pictures if this step is at all confusing.

Now just repeat for the other end, and the other wires.

There You Have It

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And there you have it, an easy way to strip wire without wire strippers. If you have any suggestions or problems, please tell me.