How to strip insulation off very thin wires

Try your fingers  only   ,    no strippers.

I use No-Niks strippers. You need a specific model for each wire gauge. I have one for 30 AWG (.014") and 22 AWG (.025"). They are best for stripping Kynar and Teflon coated wires. For softer insulation I have a Paladin Wire stripper. It handles all gauges up to around 12 depending on insulation material and thickness. You can get Asian imported copies but they are not as good as the original.

Pete

Hi Ed, 

 I use this wire stripper from Mirco Mark, it will strip that wire for you. 

Alex 

Ed, I t is very easy to do,heat a sodering iron then hold the wire down & pull the iron toward the end, the insulation will come off very easy,if you go  to the Evans  Design web site i think they have a video of this,thats where i got it from,hope this helps.

Hi Ed - when I had to do that I used a small piece of sandpaper (220 grit, I think) wrapped around the end of the wire and pulled it through a couple of times. You have to rotate the wire a bit after each stroke to get all of the insulation off. It's not really fun to do, but it does work.

I use the soldering iron also. It works great. But I keep a brass brush by my soldering station to clean off the tip after each "strip". Leaves no residue.

Roger

I bought a set of Klein wire strippers at Home Depot that will go down to 32 ga wire and the work great otherwise I just tin the wire with flux and solder and that will give me enough to work with.

Carefully

Ideal Stripmaster.  Available with a variety of cutters, each having several different size cutting slots.

I use my teeth!  It works perfectly for me on those really skinny wires.

- walt

A little harsh, no?

Thank you to everyone for the tips.

I think for now I will use the soldering iron.  But for the long term I would prefer to get a stripper such as those mentioned.

I am making some outside lights  for a commercial building using the info from a forum member using parts from plastruct.  I want to see what kind of illumination the nano LEDs  put out before trying to make 10 of them.

Thanks again,

Ed

A suggestion.  I once bought a stripper that looked just like the Ideal Stripmaster but made in China.  It would always nick the wire of gauge matching the label on the stripper hole.  The Ideal never has.  Google it and you can get the different model numbers for different wire gauges.

Finger nails work really well.

I tried using my finger nails to strip it but I guess I have defective nails.  I also ended up cutting everything.

Thanks,

Ed

ROGER1 posted:

A little harsh, no?

Not at all, unless you were just joking around.  It works really well on THIN wires for me.

Walt,

I hope you don't contact a filling with one of those wires. You'll get a real surprise.

Roger

Reminds me of old timer electricians checking for live 120vac with their spit wetted fingers tips. (no joke)

(I don't know if spellcheckers are in FFox, or hoopla, but this one is awful. When I can out spell a program 4-5 times a day, it's really bad. I write phonetically then correct myself. "Wetted" is a 2cnd grade word. The red line under it; a joke)

Heat is easy and cheap never nicks; very very important on small wire.

Last winter, I bought a single bulb from R. Shack a bit larger that a grain of wheat bulb, because they had run out of the GOW bulbs..AGAIN! [maybe they would actually sell electronic parts if they made an effort at restocking them weekly?]

  Anyhow this one always came with insulated wire, machine soldered on (and possibly even insulated after than process if made today).

The new wire was so delicate, it often broke before the insulation gave way. (using my nails could cut both too)

Heat stripping was my only option.

  Then I found you couldn't solder it. The heat melted the wire insulation far too easy. That,then caused the solder to run from the wire too. Flux couldn't cut the contaminant quickly enough. A useless part after being redesign by penny pinchers (<Spl chk again). I returned the bulb with no wire left. "But you ruined it". That was repeated back to the manager word for word, as my explanation of why I was an idiot, began... "Sorry, but you ruined it..." 

I think this type of wire is for use with micro- plugs that use a small flat plate/tab as a sprung, pressure connection.  

Anyhow, ..Good luck

geez, I think I'm a little smarter than to do that with a live wire!  At least I'm hoping that I am

Walt......it's not the live wire. Just a piece of metal hitting a filling will give you quite the electrical shock. Chew on a piece of aluminum foil and see what happens.

Roger

 I started hearing WJR radio after I stopped chewing it