Common Cabling Tools - Wire Strippers

The variety of cable strippers represented in this section is a function of the many types of cable you can work with, various costs of the cable strippers, and versatility of the tools.

Twisted-Pair Strippers

Strippers for UTP, ScTP, and STP cables are used to remove the outer jacket and have to accommodate the wide variation in the geometry of UTP cables. Unlike coax, which is usually consistently smooth and round, twisted-pair cables can have irregular surfaces due to the jacket shrinking down around the pairs. Additionally, the jacket thickness can differ greatly depending on brand and flame rating. The trick is to aid removal of the jacket without nicking or otherwise damaging the insulation on the conductors underneath.

The wire stripper in Figure 1 uses an adjustable blade so that you can fix the depth, matching it to the brand of cable you are working with. Some types use spring tension to help keep the blade at the proper cutting depth.

Figure 1: A wire stripper

In both cases, the goal is to score (lightly cut) the jacket without penetrating it completely. Then, you flex the cable to break the jacket along the scored line. This ensures that the wire insulation is nick-free. In some models, the tool can also be used to score or slit the jacket lengthwise in the event you need to expose a significant length of conductors.

Note

When working with UTP, ScTP, or STP cables, you will rarely need to strip the insulation from the conductors. Termination of these cable types on patch panels, cross-connections, and most wall plates employs the use of insulation displacement connectors (IDCs) that make contact with the conductor by slicing through the insulation. In case you need to strip the insulation from a twisted-pair cable, keep a pair of common electrician's strippers handy. Just make sure it can handle the finer-gauge wires such as 22, 24, and 26 AWG that are commonly used with LAN wiring.

Coaxial Wire Strippers

Coaxial cable strippers are designed with two or three depth settings. These settings correspond to the different layers of material in the cable. Coaxial cables are pretty standardized in terms of central-conductor diameter, thickness of the insulating and shielding layers, and thickness of the outer jacket, making this an effective approach.

In the inexpensive (but effective for the do-it-yourself folks) model shown in Figure 2, the depth settings are fixed. The wire stripper in Figure 2 can be used to strip coaxial cables (RG-59 and RG-6) to prepare them for F-type connectors.

Figure 2: Inexpensive coaxial wire strippers

To strip the cable, you insert it in a series of openings that allows the blade to penetrate to different layers of the cable. At every step, you rotate the tool around the cable and then pull the tool toward the end of the cable, removing material down to where the blade has penetrated. To avoid nicking the conductor, the blade is notched at the position used to remove material.

One problem with the model shown in Figure 2 is that you end up working pretty hard to accomplish the task. For its low price, the extra work may be a good trade-off if stripping coax isn't a day-in, day-out necessity. However, if you are going to be working with coaxial cables on a routine basis, you should consider some heftier equipment. Figure 3 shows a model that accomplishes the task in a more mechanically advantageous way (that means it's easier on your hands). In addition, it offers the advantage of adjustable blades so that you can optimize the cutting thickness for the exact brand of cable you're working with.

Figure 3: Heavy-duty coaxial wire strippers

Coaxial strippers are commonly marked with settings that assist you in removing the right amount of material at each layer from the end of the cable so it will fit correctly in an F- or BNC-type connector.

Fiber-Optic Cable Strippers

Fiber-optic cables require very specialized tools. Fortunately, the dimensions of fiber coatings, claddings, and buffers are standardized and manufactured to precise tolerances. This allows tool manufacturers to provide tools such as the one shown in Figure 4 that will remove material to the exact thickness of a particular layer without damage to the underlying layer. Typically, these look like a conventional multigauge wire stripper with a series of notches to provide the proper depth of penetration.

Figure 4: A fiber-optic cable stripper