Stripping Copper Cable

[wcndave]

I've got 60m of threaded stranded twisted speaker cable I'd like to strip.

I have tried using a knife blade to skim and then pull out the wire, however it catches the wire and that makes it go all knotty. That seems to be the technique most YT videos show, however they are all for scrappers and I want to use the copper.

Also as I pull it out, it becomes all untwisted, so to retwist takes ages, and if you have done 5m, you have to spin around the trailing 5m as well!

I tried wrapping that, so I have a small hanging spool to twist, however it's still painfully slow work. If I do 1m an hour, this is going to take me months!

Any great ideas out there for doing this fast?

 

[Adam9453]

I can't think of a good way to efficiently strip that length of cable.
However the re-twisting is easily done by putting one end in the drill and slowly letting it re-twist it for you.

 

[Dee J]

Fine stranded wire is not going to strip easily. As you've found already the insulation is tough and any blade piercing the insulation snags the fine strands. Maybe heat would help - not to burn the insulation but just to soften it enough to peel away (assuming its a thermoplastic). What application do you have that needs the bare stranded wire? Would it be better to scrap or sell what you have and buy what you need?

 

[wcndave]

I can't think of a good way to efficiently strip that length of cable.
However the re-twisting is easily done by putting one end in the drill and slowly letting it re-twist it for you.

Even along that kind of length? I can imagine it gets really twisted at one end, and not at the other.

Will give it a shot!

 

[Adam9453]

I can't think of a good way to efficiently strip that length of cable.
However the re-twisting is easily done by putting one end in the drill and slowly letting it re-twist it for you.

Even along that kind of length? I can imagine it gets really twisted at one end, and not at the other.

Will give it a shot!

You have to get the wire taut and with that length you would need to do it in sections.

 

[adidat]

You should be careful if your walking around in the dark near a bonfire. You could trip and drop the whole lot in it! It would be a massive tradegy and you would end up with 60m of clean copper ready for the scrap man!

Adidat

 

[blackrodd]

Find or make 2 cable drums.
Get the cable wound up and secured on a drum, Devise a locking method to lock the drums each end of a bench.
Knock up a temporary bench, Lay out the cable on the bench secured at the loose"end on drum number 2 and carefully run a good stanley knife down through the length, strip and wind it on the new drum,
Not quite as easy as that but the cable will be controlled.
HTH Rodders

 

[AJB Temple]

Does it need to be stranded. 50 m reels of bare copper cost under a tenner. Is it worth spending load so time on this?

 

[wcndave]

I thought about burning the plastic off, however would think that to get that mass burned, the copper would melt.

Regards knifing it, as it's twisted wire, would I not end up shredding the wire into small sections?

I could not find any bare copper that was not about 10x the price. It will need to flex in some places quite a bit, so I thought stranded better, perhaps I could have used stranded only where I need flexibility.

This is for getting rid of static on my plastic dust extraction ductwork, which includes lots of flexible 10cm piping...

Appreciate all the ideas, I guess some tests on small lengths might be a good idea!

 

[SurreyHills]

Burning it would be messy and smelly but you would be left with just the copper. This is what scrap merchants used to do. Not t sure how usable it would be after buying though.


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[WellsWood]

Well I'd have thought if it's half decent speaker cable your best bet would be to plonk it on ebay cut into sensible lengths. Then use the proceeds to buy the bare copper you need - must be more efficient surely?

 

[Spindle]

This is for getting rid of static on my plastic dust extraction ductwork, which includes lots of flexible 10cm piping...

Static charge 'attaches' to the outer surface of the object - connecting an earthed bonding braid to any surface will ground the whole surface - no need to have a long length of conductor just one per, electrically, isolated length.

Regards Mick

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Further to my last post - if you dust extraction consists of several electrically isolated components, you can either run several small lengths of conductor to earth or 'wire' the whole system by exposing and attaching a length of conductor at each element. No need to strip the insulation off of the entire length - just a few inches.

Regards Mick

 

[wcndave]

Static charge 'attaches' to the outer surface of the object - connecting an earthed bonding braid to any surface will ground the whole surface - no need to have a long length of conductor just one per, electrically, isolated length.

If I wrap around one end of the plastic ducting or hose, I still get shocks along the rest. The conductor has to be close enough for the static, which forms over the entire surface of the tube / pipe, to manage to jump to the earthing conductor. The further away it is, the bigger the charge must be, and the more likely it is to choose me to earth through.

I tried wrapping the first m of a 3m hose, and was getting big shocks at the end, and shocks that made me jump, right up to about 30 cm from the wrapping. I tried wrapping one of my lengths of hose all along the length, and I get no shocks at all, not even raised hairs.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Get a self taping screw / nut and bolt and a couple of washers - sandwich the conductor between the washers when you screw in the self tapper / bolt - it will earth.

If you continue to experience charge in the component I suggest you confirm the conductor earth

Regards Mick

 

[chippy1970]

I saw a gadget the other day somewhere for stripping cable. It fitted over the cable and you just pulled it along the cable and it sliced the sheathing. I think it was one of those kickstarter ideas maybe.

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[wcndave]

We've moved on from stripping wire, to why I want it ;-)

So, here's some (of many) cases that I have.

4m flexi hose, with ducting at the end, for a "gulper" vac for the floor, and also for lathe.
3m flexi hose running to P/T
1m flexi hose running to TS

All coming from ali blast gates, which are connected via black plastic tubing, to an underground waste pipe.

In order to prevent static shocks at the end of the 4, flexi hose, I have to wind wire all the way to the end. The "components" are not conductive.

I then have one of the wires (which are also connected to the jubilee clips, and to the spiral wire inside the flexi hose) connected to TS bed underneath.

This is all properly grounded and I have checked from the wound wire to the motor of a completely different machine.

For removable hose, where i can't "permanently earth it like that, I have crocodile clips at the end of the wire "run" which clip conveniently onto the machine in use, eg TS or BS etc...

 

[wcndave]

I saw a gadget the other day somewhere for stripping cable. It fitted over the cable and you just pulled it along the cable and it sliced the sheathing. I think it was one of those kickstarter ideas maybe.

I saw lots of youtube videos of jigs like that, however they worked better for thicker wire and solid core. Stranded wire tends to get a bit shredded by the process.

I've got some grip and strip cutters

Which work ok if I work my way along, however pulling small pieces of insulation along the length of the wire takes some wire with it, so I end up with a tapered wire... I might just do short lengths and solder them all together, could work out easier in the long run!

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

A hole in a block of wood a little larger than the cable, then either a sharpenened screw down through the block to stick into the hole or split the block and fix a blade in there some how. Pull the cable through the hole and the sharp point will put a nice slice down the length, takes a bit of messing about to get it set up but works well once going.
Surely a piece of solid copper would be better than stranded, strands won't break easier to keep in p!ace on flexible ducting?
Go to your local scrap yard and see what you can find.

 

[mindthatwhatouch]

It will take forever with those strippers.