Automatic wire stripper recommendation- specific requirements

[lots o tots]

 hello,
my hands are messed up so I can no longer use a manual style wire strippers.  automatic is now all I can do despite drawbacks. Here are the requirements

- wire gauge 18 to 30  gauge roughly (1 mm to 0.25mm)
- strip and cut in one operation.
-Certain types I can't do like "jokari" as that requires youto yank the wire which I can't do Anymore
- no heating tools, I will be dealing with all different sorts of wire and will definitely mess up in the future Re: Teflon
- not junk tool
-$100 or less  preferable but not a dealbreaker

 I was eyeing the " engineer brand" paw-01 but wondered if there's a better one
 thanks all!

[shabaz]

There are other threads concerning wire strippers and they provide a lot more detail than I can provide, include automatic ones. You might need a couple of wire strippers to cover that range very well.
I didn't understand the "strip and cut" requirement.
If it were me, I'd strongly consider the Stripmaster  tools, there is a Stripmaster Lite too, for a part of your required gauge range.
The Stripmaster tools do not need  as much force to operate compared to some other tools, and should last for many years, they are well-built tools and should be within your budget, give or take. I have possibly an excessive amount of wire strippers, and the Stripmaster Lite remains a strong favorite for me.
Note: Obviously a single wire stripper will not cover every wire type, and Teflon insulation is more specialist. You may well find you need additional wire strippers for particular wires.

[lots o tots]

I have read these threads. But I think those are mostly geared towards the best gear that people like rather than the best tool in a specific category. I haven't seen that much on automatic stuff probably because it's not as good

[TimFox]

I have two Stripmaster tools (different ranges of wire size) and am very happy with them.
I use a lot of Teflon insulated wire, both stranded and solid, and find it better to use the setting for one size smaller with Teflon (e.g. #22 setting for AWG 20 wire), but the nominal size for PVC.
My only issue with it is that the screws holding the working end together (with hex nuts and lock washers) tend to work loose and need to be checked, but they have never come completely unscrewed.

[tooki]

• wire gauge 18 to 30  gauge roughly (1 mm to 0.25mm)
• strip and cut in one operation.
• Certain types I can't do like "jokari" as that requires youto yank the wire which I can't do Anymore
• no heating tools, I will be dealing with all different sorts of wire and will definitely mess up in the future Re: Teflon
• not junk tool
• $100 or less  preferable but not a dealbreaker
• I was eyeing the " engineer brand" paw-01 but wondered if there's a better one

thanks all!

1. The thin end of this range is what will be troublesome. A lot of automatic strippers don’t go that small, and as a rule of thumb, automatic strippers’ performance can decrease a bit at the very extremes of the size range.

For what it’s worth, the Knipex MultiStrip 10 (which is my go-to stripper; I only use the others when this one can’t do it) is the gentlest on thin wires, IMHO. Yes, a Stripax can do them, but only after fiddling with the depth adjustment (so it’s not entirely automatic). The Knipex PreciStrip 16 tends to slightly bend very thin wires, and it also needs adjustment.

2. Strip and cut in one operation?!? I don’t think any handheld strippers do that. You cut your wire, then you strip it.

3. You’ll need to be specific about what you mean. Jokari makes many types of strippers, including manual and automatic ones. None of their automatic ones go down to the smallest sizes you need. They bottom out at 24AWG. The automatic ones certainly don’t need any “yanking”.

4. I don’t understand this objection. You can get thermal strippers with adjustable temperature so you can do both low-temp insulations like PVC, and high-temp ones like PTFE and Kapton.

Of course, thermal won’t work on silicone or fiberglass insulation.

5. Good!

6. $100 is doable.

7. I have some el-cheapo stripper of that style, and they’re ok. But definitely not optimized for thin wires.


What you haven’t talked about — and may not have given any thought too yet — are things like:
- minimum strip length (most automatic strippers can’t do less than about 1/8”, and many can’t even do that short!). This matters for modern crimp connectors, many of which need very short strip lengths.
- minimum wire length (since automatic strippers need to grip the wire for you, they have a minimum wire length). This varies from quite short (like Stripax and that Engineer) to around twice as long (things like Stripmaster and my Knipex). And it’s an absolute tradeoff: short grips like Stripax have to squeeze the insulation much harder, with more aggressive teeth, meaning more insulation damage. Longer jaws like the Knipex are gentler on the wire, but in turn need more distance to grip with.
- which wire types are most important? Both the wire gauges and the insulation (materials and thicknesses)
- what are the most important subsequent processing steps? (Crimping? Ferrules? Tinning?)

I have to use my Stripax for preparing cables for certain connectors (which require a 1/2” total length of outer jacket strip, so the wires sticking out the end are very short).

I have read these threads. But I think those are mostly geared towards the best gear that people like rather than the best tool in a specific category.

There is no such thing as an objective “best”. People prefer different tools for various reasons. If a lot of people like a tool, it’s probably good. But that doesn’t mean it will work for you and your situation. As I go into below, at work I have three different automatic wire strippers, plus various manual ones, because different situations require different tools.

I haven't seen that much on automatic stuff probably because it's not as good

No stripper is ideal for all types of wire. There is ALWAYS a compromise.

(The closest thing to a “perfect” wire stripper is a rotary-blade stripping machine, commonly used for thin coaxial cable. But their $20k price definitely exceeds your budget by a little bit. And even those can’t do every type of wire; rotary doesn’t work for flat cables, which some handheld strippers can do. Perhaps laser stripping machines are the ultimate ones, but they’re even costlier…)
As I said in one of the recent threads, I have three different handheld automatic strippers at work, and none of them is ideal for everything.

I get the impression that automatic strippers aren’t as widespread in USA as in Europe, perhaps because of brand availability (which matters because nearly all self-adjusting automatic strippers are designed by European manufacturers) and perhaps because European tools get stupid markups in USA.

I’ll also point out that we can broadly divide automatic strippers into two categories:
1. The kind like Stripmaster that use blades with individual cavities for each wire size. These work great if they’re a close match to the conductor diameters of the wire you use. But they have to be a really close match to work well on difficult insulation like Teflon and Kapton. They need to be just a bee’s dick larger than the conductor itself. And if they’re even just a little too small, they’ll damage the conductor. This means that, due to variation in wire stranding and strand lay, different wires of the same gauge and same insulation material may perform differently, with some coming out beautifully and others coming out damaged. So IMHO these are great for production, where you have control over the wires you’re using and can choose blade sets that work perfectly with those specific wires, or vice versa. But they’re much less useful as all round tools, since you might need to fix something with a wire that doesn’t match the blades you have.

2. The kind that use two blades and self-adjust to the wire size. Most (like the regular Stripax, the Engineer you mention, the Knipex MultiStrip 10 and PreciStrip 16, etc) use two parallel flat (or nearly flat) blades, and essentially score the insulation on two sides and then rip the insulation apart. Others, like the Jokari and the Mini-Duro-Stripax, use two V-blades to try and cut/score the insulation closer to all around before ripping apart. The flat blades work fine for most insulation, but the V-blades are better for Teflon, Kapton, etc. However, because the V-blades necessarily cannot be exactly opposite each other, they produce a slightly offset cut end of the insulation.

I really prefer using the second type, where I don’t have to make sure I fit the wire into a specific cavity in the blade. I just grab the tool and squeeze. I have also found that with the Knipex MultiStrip and PreciStrip, I can often get “difficult” wire like Teflon to strip by first squeezing lightly, just enough for the blades to start to bite, and giving a quarter turn each way to score all the way around before giving a full squeeze to execute the strip. (This doesn’t work with Stripax, since it uses a flat blade that’s actually a lateral stack of blades.)

[lots o tots]

• wire gauge 18 to 30  gauge roughly (1 mm to 0.25mm)
• strip and cut in one operation.
• Certain types I can't do like "jokari" as that requires youto yank the wire which I can't do Anymore
• no heating tools, I will be dealing with all different sorts of wire and will definitely mess up in the future Re: Teflon
• not junk tool
• $100 or less  preferable but not a dealbreaker
• I was eyeing the " engineer brand" paw-01 but wondered if there's a better one

thanks all!

1. The thin end of this range is what will be troublesome. A lot of automatic strippers don’t go that small, and as a rule of thumb, automatic strippers’ performance can decrease a bit at the very extremes of the size range.

For what it’s worth, the Knipex MultiStrip 10 (which is my go-to stripper; I only use the others when this one can’t do it) is the gentlest on thin wires, IMHO. Yes, a Stripax can do them, but only after fiddling with the depth adjustment (so it’s not entirely automatic). The Knipex PreciStrip 16 tends to slightly bend very thin wires, and it also needs adjustment.

2. Strip and cut in one operation?!? I don’t think any handheld strippers do that. You cut your wire, then you strip it.

3. You’ll need to be specific about what you mean. Jokari makes many types of strippers, including manual and automatic ones. None of their automatic ones go down to the smallest sizes you need. They bottom out at 24AWG. The automatic ones certainly don’t need any “yanking”.

4. I don’t understand this objection. You can get thermal strippers with adjustable temperature so you can do both low-temp insulations like PVC, and high-temp ones like PTFE and Kapton.

Of course, thermal won’t work on silicone or fiberglass insulation.

5. Good!

6. $100 is doable.

7. I have some el-cheapo stripper of that style, and they’re ok. But definitely not optimized for thin wires.


What you haven’t talked about — and may not have given any thought too yet — are things like:
- minimum strip length (most automatic strippers can’t do less than about 1/8”, and many can’t even do that short!). This matters for modern crimp connectors, many of which need very short strip lengths.
- minimum wire length (since automatic strippers need to grip the wire for you, they have a minimum wire length). This varies from quite short (like Stripax and that Engineer) to around twice as long (things like Stripmaster and my Knipex). And it’s an absolute tradeoff: short grips like Stripax have to squeeze the insulation much harder, with more aggressive teeth, meaning more insulation damage. Longer jaws like the Knipex are gentler on the wire, but in turn need more distance to grip with.
- which wire types are most important? Both the wire gauges and the insulation (materials and thicknesses)
- what are the most important subsequent processing steps? (Crimping? Ferrules? Tinning?)

I have to use my Stripax for preparing cables for certain connectors (which require a 1/2” total length of outer jacket strip, so the wires sticking out the end are very short).

I have read these threads. But I think those are mostly geared towards the best gear that people like rather than the best tool in a specific category.

There is no such thing as an objective “best”. People prefer different tools for various reasons. If a lot of people like a tool, it’s probably good. But that doesn’t mean it will work for you and your situation. As I go into below, at work I have three different automatic wire strippers, plus various manual ones, because different situations require different tools.

I haven't seen that much on automatic stuff probably because it's not as good

No stripper is ideal for all types of wire. There is ALWAYS a compromise.

(The closest thing to a “perfect” wire stripper is a rotary-blade stripping machine, commonly used for thin coaxial cable. But their $20k price definitely exceeds your budget by a little bit. And even those can’t do every type of wire; rotary doesn’t work for flat cables, which some handheld strippers can do. Perhaps laser stripping machines are the ultimate ones, but they’re even costlier…)
As I said in one of the recent threads, I have three different handheld automatic strippers at work, and none of them is ideal for everything.

I get the impression that automatic strippers aren’t as widespread in USA as in Europe, perhaps because of brand availability (which matters because nearly all self-adjusting automatic strippers are designed by European manufacturers) and perhaps because European tools get stupid markups in USA.

I’ll also point out that we can broadly divide automatic strippers into two categories:
1. The kind like Stripmaster that use blades with individual cavities for each wire size. These work great if they’re a close match to the conductor diameters of the wire you use. But they have to be a really close match to work well on difficult insulation like Teflon and Kapton. They need to be just a bee’s dick larger than the conductor itself. And if they’re even just a little too small, they’ll damage the conductor. This means that, due to variation in wire stranding and strand lay, different wires of the same gauge and same insulation material may perform differently, with some coming out beautifully and others coming out damaged. So IMHO these are great for production, where you have control over the wires you’re using and can choose blade sets that work perfectly with those specific wires, or vice versa. But they’re much less useful as all round tools, since you might need to fix something with a wire that doesn’t match the blades you have.

2. The kind that use two blades and self-adjust to the wire size. Most (like the regular Stripax, the Engineer you mention, the Knipex MultiStrip 10 and PreciStrip 16, etc) use two parallel flat (or nearly flat) blades, and essentially score the insulation on two sides and then rip the insulation apart. Others, like the Jokari and the Mini-Duro-Stripax, use two V-blades to try and cut/score the insulation closer to all around before ripping apart. The flat blades work fine for most insulation, but the V-blades are better for Teflon, Kapton, etc. However, because the V-blades necessarily cannot be exactly opposite each other, they produce a slightly offset cut end of the insulation.

I really prefer using the second type, where I don’t have to make sure I fit the wire into a specific cavity in the blade. I just grab the tool and squeeze. I have also found that with the Knipex MultiStrip and PreciStrip, I can often get “difficult” wire like Teflon to strip by first squeezing lightly, just enough for the blades to start to bite, and giving a quarter turn each way to score all the way around before giving a full squeeze to execute the strip. (This doesn’t work with Stripax, since it uses a flat blade that’s actually a lateral stack of blades.)

 this is very informative. I really like the distinction between the two different types have never really seen that anywhere else. I misspoke before when I said cut and strip at the same time. I think my mind was in two different places. Yes wire stripping, not cutting.

[tooki]

Come to think of it, perhaps what you meant was that cutting through the insulation and then pulling off the slug.

Anyhow, some more FYIs:
- automatic strippers are designed to be operated in a decisive, quick, complete squeeze-and-release cycle. I’ve seen some people struggle with them because they squeeze too slowly — the blades just kinda skim across the insulation rather than cutting it. (A number of YouTubers testing them make this mistake.) And if you release the handle prematurely, you may damage the wire after it’s stripped. (That is especially critical with the Stripmaster type, which WILL crush your nice bare strands if you release too soon and/or too slowly.)
- in the “group 2” strippers, which rely on tearing the insulation apart, for most insulation types, temperature matters a bit! If PVC, for example, is very cold, the blades may not penetrate enough to work; if it’s too hot, it can be gummy enough to just stretch rather than tear off (which requires it to kinda fracture). I suspect this is why some people have trouble with them. I can imagine that an electrician or lineman working outdoors in the winter in Norway might encounter issues that I don’t run into in my room-temperature workshop.

[2N3055]

Pressmaster Embla works really well with very thin wires if you use blades for teflon. And also does not crush isolation much and have adjustment.