FAQ about wire stripping
We answer frequently asked questions about cable processing.
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Our application videos clearly demonstrate how to use JOKARI wire stripping tools correctly. These can be found in the JOKARI download area.
When stripping the task is to remove the insulation of an electrical conductor so that it is possible to get an electrical connection. This is possible, for example, with wire strippers, cable strippers and cable knives.
Traditionally, a pair of pliers consists of a pair of grips, which are pivoting around a centered bolt. The one side of the tool form the handles, the other the working head. The working head of wire stripper contains a lever construction, which in one move of the user‘s hand presses cutting knives onto the cable sheathing and pulls the sheathing off from the conductors inside. A distinction is made between pliers with manual adjustment to the wire cross-section, pliers with automatic adjustment, and those with single or multiple pairs of blades for predefined cross-sections.
Further information on wire stripping pliers can be found here.
AS-Interface cable is an Industrial cable with internationally standardized square, step-shaped design and dimensions, made from a very tough PUR or TPE sheating around 2 insulated conductors. It is used in field bus communication, mainly as Actuator / Sensor system based on EN 50295 and IEC62026-2. For safe stripping, the wire stripper AS-Interface Pro stripping (Art. no. 20075) is required.
AWG means „American Wire Gauge“ and is being used mainly in the USA. Like the metric cross section AWG defines the frontal area of the individual wires of conductors. AWG numbers become smaller, the larger the diameters are. The differ- ences between solid and twisted wires in AWG are larger than in millimeter units, and AWG sizes do not exactly match european metric wires. Therefore our AWG indications are only as near as possible to the basic metric figures.
Further information on cable and wire sizes can be found on JO!STORY, the JOKARI blog.
Coaxial Cables are consisting of a pair of concentric positioned conductors. The inner conductor can be either solid or stranded. It is covered by a dielectric insulation material, around which the second conductor in form of an aluminium foil or mesh protects the inner conductor against parasitic induction. This shielding is covered by a second insulation sheath. Coax cables are used for a distortion-free transfer of high frequency bandwidth transfer signals , e. g. in cable-TV or ethernet systems. The SECURA Coaxi No. 1 (Art. no. 30600) strips both, the outer sheathing and shielding as well as the dielectric insulation to prepare a professional connection to coax plugs and connectors.
JOKARI Cable Strippers provide two half-pipe plastic bodies, which are linked on one long side with hinges. Stripping blades will either be on one or both ends of the cable stripper depending upon the pattern and style. After opening a closing catch, the body opens alongside, and the cable can be inserted by placing the knives at the position, where the insulation has to be cut. Closing the body applies a slight pressure to the knives cutting into the sheathing. After the blades have cut the outer sheathing, simply rotate the body of the cable stripper a quarter turn to the left and right. This prepares the sheathing to be broken and to be pulled off.
Cable stripping is the removal of insulation from the outer sheath of a cable. Round and Flat Cable consist of some insulated conductor wires, which are coated by a plastic or rubber sheathing. To get the conductors ready for an electrical connection, the sheathing has to be taken off the cable end to expose the conductors. For precise results, we recommend our JOKARI wire stripping tools.
ESD stands for Electro Static Discharge. ESD is the internationally accepted generic term for complex topic "Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic discharge." Numerous production departments of the electronics industry must be protected against electrostatic influences. Among other things, the use of special tools is required, the special plastic can derive generated static electricity. JOKARI provides therfore all the ESD Plus Micro Wire Stripper.
According to DIN VDE 0295 / IEC 60228 we distinguish mainly four different conductor classes:
Conductor, solid, Class 1
Made of a single, solid wire, usually copper, which is insulated by a plastic insulation layer. A set of 2 or more conductors form a sheathed multicore cable. Used e. g. in building installation and other surroundings, where a strong and compara- tively rigid cable construction is required.
Conductor, stranded, Class 2
Used for fixed installation purposes, it consists of a number of thinner wires, which are stranded to a string, which is more flexible than a solid conductor.
Conductor, flexible, Class 5
Assembled from a greater number of individual, finer wires, the conductor respectively the final cable are used, whereever the cable needs to be much more flexible, but also a good stability is needed, e. g. to connect fixed equipment like ma- chines, larger household equipment etc to mains.
Conductor, very flexible, Class 6
Built from still finer wires, this conductor type is being used for cables, installed at all movable electrical equipment, e. g. from TV to hair blowers.
In our blog post “Conductor classes for cables and wires” we address this question in more detail.
An original JOKARI knife is a cable cutter invented and patented by JOKARI company founder Josef Krampe in 1966. It consists of a plastic handle, a cable holder, and a blade for cutting the cable sheath with a circular cut. The cable cutter is continually being developed and stands out from the numerous imitations due to its durability (TIN-coated blades), ergonomics, and quality. Further information on cable cutters can be found here.
The cable diameter is the outside diameter of a pipe. The size of a cable is about the maximum diameter, measured on the outside insulation, determined (unit: mm).
The size of a conductor is defined by the frontal cross section of the metallic part of the wire, without insulation. Contrary to a solid wire, the cross section of stranded wires is the addition of the individual cross sections of all the fine wires forming the stranded string. As this string also contains some spaces between the fine wires, a stranded wire may be up to 20% larger in diameter than a solid wire with same cross section. In Europe the cross section usually is indicated by „mm2“.
In our blog post “Sizes of cables and wires” we address this question in more detail.
Sensor Cable is being used greatly in manufacturing systems engineering. It can be found in the robotics and logistics indus- tries. The operating conditions are often difficult, as the cables are being exposed to dirt, humidity, aggressive materials, hot or cold temperatures and extensive movements. Due to these extremes, the demands to the cable sheathing und conductor insulation materials are extreme as well. Often, particularly resistant insulation materials such as PUR, halogen-free PUR or TPE must be used, which can only be processed by specially designed stripping tools, such as the wire stripper Sensor Special (Art. no. 20300).
The correct stripping length is an important ingredient for the perfect contact and is dictated by the nature of the proposed connection. Manufacturers of, for example, terminals, cable lugs or ferrules mention it on the appropriate packaging. In many JOKARI wire strippers you can set the desired stripping length.