Damaging Conductors in Ribbon Cable

While test stripping separated individual strands of ribbon cable wire I notice it is easy to break off some individual conductor strands when attempting to remove a long section of insulation or if one tries to strip a second longish section of insulation in addition to an initial section. These broken strands pull away along with the section of insulation.

How bad is this? Is the wire completely useless if one or two conductor strands are missing? I'm nervous about botching the ends of the Y ribbon cable (we completed the x/z-ribbon without breaking conductors - phew!).

In preparation for stripping the fine wires I bought an adjustable wire stripper off eBay but it proved to be entirely useless (the plastic jaws don't grab the insulation at all). So I found a simple strippers at Home Depot that strips wire down to 26AWG and have been using it. It works but I wish I had a better stripper. I know they exist but are difficult to find locally and I don't want to try ordering another (I'm impatient )

I would appreciate any comments. Thank you.

I have a small pair of scissor-type strippers (metal plates that meet in a diamond shape) which has an adjustment screw to limit the closure.

I think I bought them 20+ years ago when we had Radio Shack stores here in the UK. I always test the stripping action on a piece of scrap wire when changing the gauge. It is too easy to set the hole too small and break a core wire when stripping.

Regards,
Neil Darlow

I use a Leatherman Squirt E4. It's no longer available but there is a Squirt ES4:



It's suitable for all the wires and needs no adjusting.

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MfG / Regards

Stefan

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Hi,

Is stripping ribbon cables a nightmare or what! LOL. I had a few wire strippers laying around but all of them ended up completely ripping the strands of one or two halfway in the process. Had to do it three times over until I decided to just use a very sharp pair of scissors to make tiny cuts along the circumference of the insulation. After that I could finally peel it of exposing the undamaged strands. Very tedious though, but it did the job. Strand by strand, praying along the way . I'd guess that one or two wires with a few missing strands would'nt do much harm but I wasn't sure too.

Hi,

The general use case for ribbon cable does not involve stripping, so I guess it might be awkward.

I find the most difficult part of hardwiring ribbon cable is the teasing apart of the individual cores. I actually use a pair of cutters to nip in between the cores before teasing them apart. This makes the separation easier and prevents unwanted tearing of the insulation.

The basic strippers I mentioned earlier do an admirable job when properly adjusted. The modern equivalent of what I have is probably the Tekton 3794 like these.

Regards,
Neil Darlow

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2013 06:41AM by neildarlow.

Hi Neil,

So your type of wire stripper sounds great to have around if it can do such small gauge wire. I'll see if I can get my hands on those, since they would come in handy for other projects. And yes, I second the use of a cutter or scissors to split to individual cores. Indeed much more gentle on the insulation.

I have at least 5 types of wire strippers but the type I find works best on ribbon cable, one strand at a time, is this style: [uk.rs-online.com] but a much older model.

They also work well on the PTFE wire I use on the extruder heater wires, which I pre strip because a lot of wire strippers don't work with PTFE. It is too slippery to grip with friction and too tough to tear. It has to be cut all the way round and all the way through like these strippers do. PVC wire can just be nicked and then torn and some types of wire stripper rely on this property.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2013 09:54AM by nophead.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Ok thanks Chris, that one doesn't seem to pricey.

I'm glad to be not the only one who found this problematic. Also it seems I have a tool like most of you are using: Klein Wire Stripper so that makes me happy. I can't be the 'poor workman who blames his tools'. LOL.

But I want to be much more confident stripping these tiny ribbon cable wires so will try a trick. I will boil a cup of water in the microwave and dip 15mm of the wire into it for some seconds before trying to strip 10mm. I'm hoping this will soften the wire and make it easier to tear. I don't really think the insulation is being cut cleanly to the conductors anyway so tearing the insulation is part of what is occuring. Perhaps if the insulation is softer it will grasp the conductors less firmly resulting in it being pulled off without carrying them along?

Hopefully this should have zero effect on the wire since the temp is so low and there is no flame or direct heat being applied to them.

The cable is rated for 105C so I don't know if boiling water will have much effect although it would on ordinary PVC because that has a low glass transition.

If you use the 28AWG hole of the wire strippers it should just cut the insulation without cutting the wires and it should just slide off.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

nophead Wrote:
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> If you use the 28AWG hole of the wire strippers it
> should just cut the insulation without cutting the
> wires and it should just slide off.

Rats, my stripper only goes to 26AWG. That's likely why I have trouble. Will try to find one locally before stripping the next wires.

nophead Wrote:
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> If you use the 28AWG hole of the wire strippers it
> should just cut the insulation without cutting the
> wires and it should just slide off.

Found a stripper (22-30AWG Precise Cutter/Stripper) that goes to 30AWG and indeed the 28AWG works wonderfully. The insulation is cut cleanly and comes right off. This will make stripping these tiny wires painless. The right tool for the job makes life much easier.

Absolutely, thanks for the tip.