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Wire Stripper recommendation

eclipse85k10

eclipse85k10

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I've been wanting some of those click it self Adjusting Wire strippers for a long time. I do a lot of wiring between home and the work trucks. I've heard from guys that it all depends on the pair if they work well versus the standard pull to strip kind. Which brand do you guys recommend?
 
i have 2 of these, they work pretty good but sometimes you have to flick them or manual remove the stripped coating out of it or they wont clamp down. then again the older one is about 15 years old now.

gardner-bender-wire-strippers-gs-394-64_1000.jpg
 
I have the klein katapult auto strippers. I use then at home on automotive however, I dont like how they cut wire otherwise I'd bring them to work.
 
I use a Bic lighter and my fingers..:crazy:..
Some wires with fine strands always lose some when you use stripper pliers..
 
OK, you folks are going to think "well, it was bound to happen, poor old guy has finally lost it".
And if you buy one of these, and hold it in your hand, you are going to be certain of it. It just feels cheap and looks stupid.
But, remember, among other things, I'm an electronics engineer and tech. And sometimes I have to strip a lot of wire. I used one of these on a job that took over a week and involved stripping well over a thousand wires. It never failed.

Now, its not perfect, the wire cutter is awkward and hard to use. Plus its limited to what it will cut. But if the wire is within its range, it makes a nice clean cut.
And the length of strip adjustment is not good. I pretty much ignore it and just insert the wire the depth I want it stripped. But, its "normal" strip is just about perfect for putting on wire terminals, or inserting them into terminal blocks, which is what I did with the thousand plus wires.
It may not last long term, its mostly plastic and the parts are not replaceable. But its so darn fast, easy and accurate, its worth it.
There are other makes of this, probably some of them cheaper. I know the one out in my truck is not this brand and it does well. But this one is what is close at hand when writing this.

I bought it at Amazon, because of Prime and because it was easy.
https://www.amazon.com/OTC-4467-Aut...ild=1&keywords=otc+4467&qid=1602947677&sr=8-1

And here it is at Summit. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/OTC-4467

EDIT: I forgot something. Have you ever bought an home type electrical part with the wires already on it? Usually the ends of the wires are stripped, but the insulation is still on them with just a gap showing. When you are ready to use it, you just pull the little sleeve of insulation off.
This tool has a length limit beyond which it will not pull the insulation all the way off. Which I like. By setting it to strip just a little longer, you get the effect of it leaving the sleeve on. One guy who was using mine complained about having to pull the little bit off after he stripped it. I reset the length, and told him that was a feature, not a bug...........
Many times, when I am pulling a lot of wires, and don't have enough room in the box to strip easily even with this tool, I will pull the wires, strip them leaving the sleeve on. Then, when I get them in place in the tight space, I can just slip off the sleeves, and get nice tight strands. If I fully stripped them before hand, they would be frayed and sticking everywhere from putting them in place.
 
Last edited:
Fordum said:
OK, you folks are going to think "well, it was bound to happen, poor old guy has finally lost it".
And if you buy one of these, and hold it in your hand, you are going to be certain of it. It just feels cheap and looks stupid.
But, remember, among other things, I'm an electronics engineer and tech. And sometimes I have to strip a lot of wire. I used one of these on a job that took over a week and involved stripping well over a thousand wires. It never failed.

Now, its not perfect, the wire cutter is awkward and hard to use. Plus its limited to what it will cut. But if the wire is within its range, it makes a nice clean cut.
And the length of strip adjustment is not good. I pretty much ignore it and just insert the wire the depth I want it stripped. But, its "normal" strip is just about perfect for putting on wire terminals, or inserting them into terminal blocks, which is what I did with the thousand plus wires.
It may not last long term, its mostly plastic and the parts are not replaceable. But its so darn fast, easy and accurate, its worth it.
There are other makes of this, probably some of them cheaper. I know the one out in my truck is not this brand and it does well. But this one is what is close at hand when writing this.

I bought it at Amazon, because of Prime and because it was easy.
https://www.amazon.com/OTC-4467-Aut...ild=1&keywords=otc+4467&qid=1602947677&sr=8-1

And here it is at Summit. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/OTC-4467

EDIT: I forgot something. Have you ever bought an home type electrical part with the wires already on it? Usually the ends of the wires are stripped, but the insulation is still on them with just a gap showing. When you are ready to use it, you just pull the little sleeve of insulation off.
This tool has a length limit beyond which it will not pull the insulation all the way off. Which I like. By setting it to strip just a little longer, you get the effect of it leaving the sleeve on. One guy who was using mine complained about having to pull the little bit off after he stripped it. I reset the length, and told him that was a feature, not a bug...........
Many times, when I am pulling a lot of wires, and don't have enough room in the box to strip easily even with this tool, I will pull the wires, strip them leaving the sleeve on. Then, when I get them in place in the tight space, I can just slip off the sleeves, and get nice tight strands. If I fully stripped them before hand, they would be frayed and sticking everywhere from putting them in place.
Click to expand...

Yes I know exactly what your talking about with the pre-stripped wires with the sleeve still on. That would be a handy feature. When I'm working on lighting wiring on the work trucks it's always in an tight space so I'll strip all the wires first and then my end up getting frayed before connecting . I have surely been poked mutliple times by heavier gauge strands.

Thanks for the recommendation and those OTC strippers might be what I'm looking for.
 
It will leave the sleeve on "automatically" if you are stripping a longer amount than the stripper travels, but if you don't want to strip it that far, you can just stop squeezing the handles before the sleeve slips off.
Unlike most of the strippers, the stripping part moves at the same rate as the handles.
With some of the others, the stripper kinda "springs" apart when the cut is made, but this does not. I have left the sleeve on with shorter strips, it just takes a little practice.
I suppose if you were doing a lot of the same strips, you could drill the handle and put an adjustable stop in there. But its just as easy to just stop stripping.
On some website, I saw a different brand that looked just like these for a little less money.
 
I’ve been using Ideal Stripmasters for 30 years. As long as the dies are sharp and properly sized they are great. I’ve got 3 specific sets.
 
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