Tricks of the Trade - knowledge for every day life

[exe]

1mm pitch ribbon cable crimps nicely into RJ45 and RJ11 connectors - handy if you need some short, very flexible ethernet cables.

I wonder about impedance matching. I didn't try this with ethernet, but I tried to replace a broken usb mouse wire with a few separate wires. It worked very badly. I guess it depends on the length and speed.

[Psi]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

[SilverSolder]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

This one could do with a video, lol 

[eti]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

This is very common yeah. I learnt this early on, else one finds one’s cable shrinking inch by inch with every failed attempt ^_^

[Psi]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

This one could do with a video, lol 

Sadly I can't hold my phone, the cutters and the wire with only two hands.
Too much effort to get out a tripod.

[tooki]

Always *twist* a stranded wire and then solder saturate it into a solid end (and then clean off any flux) and then cut it flush and clean at the tip, before screwing into a terminal block. If possible use captive terminal types, the ones with the ridged moving flat clamp which rides up and down with the screw and applies even pressure across the wire end, otherwise excess tightening causes screw-shaped pits in the wire end, and if it’s not been soldered as above, you get little copper strand ends falling out everywhere, which not only means short circuit risk but means the cross-sectional amperage rating of the end has decreased.

Putting tinned stranded wire into a screw terminal is an absolute no-no, since solder cold-flows, loosening the connection over time. See also the attached PDF from Phoenix Contact.

The correct thing to use is ferrules.

It is OK to put tinned stranded wire into spring-clamp terminals because any cold flow is automatically compensated by the spring force.

[tooki]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for!

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers.

[themadhippy]

You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what

knifes are for.

[tooki]

Yeah you can use a knife, but why make life harder than it needs to be?

[IDEngineer]

You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what
teeth are for. {grin}

[tooki]

Yeah you can use your teeth, but why make life harder than it needs to be? Use someone else’s teeth!

[themadhippy]

That’s what teeth are for.

Dont be so stupid,you risk doing serious damage to your bottle openers.

[IDEngineer]

{grin}

[tooki]

{grin}

Not visible in the ASCII art: the number of missing or broken teeth in said grin! 

[Zoli]

...
You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for!

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers.

I see your discreet advertisement 
https://www.schleuniger.com/en/products/

[Psi]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for!

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers.

Yes, but you wont always have access to one.
It's good to know how to do things without them.

[AndyBeez]

Learn the art of stone knapping. It's a skill that's been in the hunter-engineer's skillset for the last 50,000 years. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with 007 and you need to strip that cable sheath to save the world? No problemo if you know how to nap your own stone age wire strippers.

[Nominal Animal]

{grin}

Not visible in the ASCII art: the number of missing or broken teeth in said grin! 

[eti]

Only buy tools you NEED, not because "oooh shiny shiny". Sounds obvious, but I have contacts with compulsive shopping addictions - the tools they buy, they will NEVER use (and they ain't any kind of engineer!)

[IdahoMan]

Only buy tools you NEED, not because "oooh shiny shiny". Sounds obvious, but I have contacts with compulsive shopping addictions - the tools they buy, they will NEVER use (and they ain't any kind of engineer!)

Uuuumm..may have to disagree with you on this. (Estate/Garage-sale Prospector here  )

For instance, I found a large crimping thing that was cheap and interesting. Turns out it is a stove-pipe crimping tool. Could come in handy!

I still wonder if I should have bought that 1950s era, hand-held Scintillator I saw during one of the sales. You'd see them in old sci-fi B movies like The Brain from Plant Arous. Lol.

[Berni]

Only buy tools you NEED, not because "oooh shiny shiny". Sounds obvious, but I have contacts with compulsive shopping addictions - the tools they buy, they will NEVER use (and they ain't any kind of engineer!)

Tell that to the old test equipment hoarders.

Do i need yet another multimeter? Not really, but that one is going really cheep on ebay!

[tooki]

...
You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for!

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers.

I see your discreet advertisement 
https://www.schleuniger.com/en/products/

Well, this is more like that I had in mind!
https://jonard.com/cst-tools-round-cable-strippers


We have a Schleuniger micro-coax stripper at work, and it’s a godsend. But since it probably cost as much as a small car, Im not sure it can be called a life hack. 

[tooki]

When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for!

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers.

Yes, but you wont always have access to one.
It's good to know how to do things without them.

Fair point. I’m definitely someone who likes doing things with the proper tool, since using the wrong tool often damages both workpiece and tool. But I do recognize that having a specialized tool for everything isn’t always possible.

That reminds me of a great line from a great comedy: “I’m gonna make the full-flavored risotto using my own set of appliances, called skills and a kitchen.”

[Slartibartfast]

Always *twist* a stranded wire and then solder saturate it into a solid end (and then clean off any flux) and then cut it flush and clean at the tip, before screwing into a terminal block. If possible use captive terminal types, the ones with the ridged moving flat clamp which rides up and down with the screw and applies even pressure across the wire end, otherwise excess tightening causes screw-shaped pits in the wire end, and if it’s not been soldered as above, you get little copper strand ends falling out everywhere, which not only means short circuit risk but means the cross-sectional amperage rating of the end has decreased.

This is a very bad idea if that wire is supposed to sit in that terminal block for a long time. Tin slowly flows under stress, which means that the initally tight connection slowly loosens over time until it falls out. This is the same reason why soldered connections are not acceptable in house wiring. There, as well as with the terminal block, wire ferrules are the way to go.

[SmallCog]

Always *twist* a stranded wire and then solder saturate it into a solid end (and then clean off any flux) and then cut it flush and clean at the tip, before screwing into a terminal block. If possible use captive terminal types, the ones with the ridged moving flat clamp which rides up and down with the screw and applies even pressure across the wire end, otherwise excess tightening causes screw-shaped pits in the wire end, and if it’s not been soldered as above, you get little copper strand ends falling out everywhere, which not only means short circuit risk but means the cross-sectional amperage rating of the end has decreased.

This is a very bad idea if that wire is supposed to sit in that terminal block for a long time. Tin slowly flows under stress, which means that the initally tight connection slowly loosens over time until it falls out. This is the same reason why soldered connections are not acceptable in house wiring. There, as well as with the terminal block, wire ferrules are the way to go.

This has caused us no end of issues at work.

A former employee was fond of doing this and years later we're still discovering faults traced back to soldered wires that are now loose in terminal blocks.

Use a bootlace or similar ferrule.