Crimping large cable lugs without a crimper

carl mciver wrote: My favorite thing is to score

I've always been taught to never score around the circumference of wire with a knife, by hand. When I strip wire with a knife, I do it similar to sharpening a pencil, but I use a skinning knife and not a utility knife. My preferred skinning knife is this one.

Th only time it's OK to ring a wire, is when you are stripping semiconductor off of poly and you use a tool called a banana stripper. Here is a page of cable preparation tools.

Don

I love stuff like this. This is the same as the doctor who proved that ulcers are caused by bacteria, by infecting himself deliberately and then curing it with antibiotics.

Or Manx's propensity to showing racers that their carbs bowls were frothing on the track, by unhooking the carb bowl from the body (this was when they were two piece btw) and suspending them from the frame with one of his shoelaces. Smoothed the bike right out, always.

Working in a research environment has lead me to understand that the best *aha* moment often is accompanied by an educated guess followed immediately with a practical test, using whatever materials and tools are at hand. I worked with a guy named John Chi who was famous for doing that sort of thing, he would say "I think that rf is getting into the cryostat" and would wrap the thing in alumium foil and festoon it with battery clips to hold it all on tight, and the the real signal would show up as the interference went away.

One guy like that is worth about a hundred others who only know how to do powerpoint presentations. Give me the masking tape and aluminum foil fellow any time to figure the stuff out. Only then do I ask for the swiss modelmaker.... Jim

So what's wrong with cutting circumferentially? As Carl implies, you don't have to cut right through the insulation. Just cut it enough that a bit of flexing will snap the insulation. As far as I can see it's the neatest way, and I haven't experienced ill effects.

Chris

As long as you're careful to not nick the conductor there's nothing wrong. But most electricians are in a hurry and would cut into the conductor when doing that. Thus they're taught to do it the other way.

I noticed that the local electric guys use a linoleum knife for there stripping and do it like sharpening a pencil.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Nope - it was something else - searched and still can't find it.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Ned Simm> >

4" radius.

Might be - Suspect it had to be a gas tight fit. The copper was really pure to be so supple.

Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

4" radius.

carries current!

According to Don Murray :

Those look nice -- but rather specialized to given gauge wire. I have one which I particularly like which has a spring-loaded V cradle for the wire with insulation, and a penetrating knife blade with an adjustable depth stop, which will cut all the way through the insulation (or ideally -- almost all the way though, but not quite), and then a press of a button will rotate the knife blade to parallel to the wire's axis, so when you pull it off the end, it also slits the insulation down to the end, making it easier to peel off. It also works well on multi-conductor cables, such as you would use for feeding the three-phase motor on your lathe or mill.

Enjoy, DoN.

According to xray :

Correct. Those are pretty much standardized now.

Yep. It depends on how much you collect at hamfests and other such places. I'll give the sizes which I know (based on the rating of the AMP crimpers for them).

26-22 Yellow (quite rare, and I'm not positive of this range) 22-16 Red 16-14 Blue

12-10 Yellow

8 Red 6 Blue

4 Yellow

2 Red 1-0 Blue

2-0 Yellow

3-0 Red 4-0 Blue

As you can see, there is a cycle of three colors -- just enough so you can tell by eye when it is the next size up or down and obviously does not fit.

Note that the AMP crimpers up to the 12-10 size tend to have the ends of the handles painted the color to match the dies built into them. (Often they have been used so long that the colors are still present only inside the handles. :-)

Anyway -- the crimpers for the blue (16-14) terminals have one handle blue, and the other green -- though I have never seen green insulated terminals in that size range.

Yep -- when I went back to add the colors in I put them in the wrong place. Thanks for spotting that.

As I said above -- the AMP crimpers for (small) red are stamped

22-16 -- the only one which I know of for sure to have an overlap (with the red). Though I *think* that the tiny yellow does overlap with the red (at 22 Ga), but I don't feel like going down to the shop to check at this hour.

And -- in the big hydraulic driven crimpers (#8 and larger), there is a drilled dot on each half of the dies filled with the matching color paint to the insulation of the terminals. And those emboss the gauge in the insulation when the crimping is done, so the inspection staff can verify that the right crimper was used. In the smaller sizes, the dies emboss either one or two dots on each side of the crimp for size verification, as the gauge number would be too small to easily read.

Enjoy, DoN.

I've also used ones like that, and some of that style after you've ringed the wire, instead of turning the blade a full 90 degrees to be parallel to the wire, you can just turn it 10 or 15 degrees, spin the tool around the wire, cutting a spiral to the end of the wire, which peels off like a pigtail. Much easier on larger wire.

Don

| >> with a knife, by hand. When I strip wire with a knife, I do it similar | >> to sharpening a pencil, but I use a skinning knife and not a utility | >> knife. My preferred skinning knife is this one. | >>

| >>

| >>

| >> Th only time it's OK to ring a wire, is when you are stripping | >> semiconductor off of poly and you use a tool called a banana stripper. | >> Here is a page of cable preparation tools. | >>

| >>

| >>

| >> Don | >

| >So what's wrong with cutting circumferentially? As Carl implies, you | >don't have to cut right through the insulation. Just cut it enough that | >a bit of flexing will snap the insulation. As far as I can see it's the | >neatest way, and I haven't experienced ill effects.

I did say score, and didn't say cut. With a sharp knife you will always be able to use the same pressure to score the same amount. With a dull knife you never know what you'll get. Had this arguement a number of times, with folks who ought to know better. I've used the insulation cutting tools. Problem is, when you're dealing with tight fitting insulation, you still have to score it longways, and can't always tell for sure if you're stripping it exactly the right length or aren't spiraling the cut around the wire, a major annoyance for me. I also rarely strip the same kind of wire on a regular basis (usually on an emergent sort of thing) that I won't even attempt to try and keep all the strippers and settings on hand for all the types I would do, when a single pocketknife does the job (actually, I really like the Stanley 10-049 with the 11-041 blade, not the one it comes with. So sharp it was scary, and it locks open.)

| As long as you're careful to not nick the conductor there's nothing | wrong. But most electricians are in a hurry and would cut into the | conductor when doing that. Thus they're taught to do it the other way. | | I noticed that the local electric guys use a linoleum knife for | there stripping and do it like sharpening a pencil.

The keys are sharp blade and the angle must be the right one to cut into the insulation but not allow the edge to cut into the strands. I think the linoleum knives have a single sided edge, unlike most knives, correct? That might be part of the reason they use it.

| Wayne Cook | Shamrock, TX |

That and the curved hook blade makes it easier to get around the wire.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX