Electro Wire Stripper

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By Matt Richardson
Posted 2012/01/30 @ 3:30 pm
Category 3D Printing, Electronics

As soon as I saw this, I thought, “why didn’t I think of that!?” Thingiverse user Brian Beebe designed an Electro Wire Stripper, a wire stripper that indicates when you’ve cut through the insulation. As soon as each blade comes into contact with the wire, it closes the circuit to turn on the LED, letting you know you’re ready to strip. The design files are available for download and 3D printing, you supply the plastic and components. How well does it work? According to Brian, it’s one of the best wire strippers he’s ever used. [via MakerBot]

BY Matt Richardson

Matt Richardson is a Brooklyn-based creative technologist, contributing editor for MAKE magazine, and co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi. He's also the owner of Awesome Button Studios, a technology consultancy. Highlights from his work include the Descriptive Camera (a camera which outputs a text description instead of a photo) and The Enough Already (a DIY celebrity-silencing device). Matt's work has been featured at The Nevada Museum of Art, The Rome International Photography Festival, Milan Design Week and has garnered attention from The New York Times, Wired, and New York Magazine.

mattrichardson.com

In the Maker Shed

15 Responses to Electro Wire Stripper

salman sheikh on January 30th, 2012 at 6:51 pm said:

i uploaded the file to one 3-D printing co and its like $143 just for the 2 pieces..I could get a much nicer stripper for a fraction of that..cool but no good unless you already own a printer…

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- discutons on January 30th, 2012 at 7:36 pm said:
  
  Or you could drill a few holes in a piece of wood …
  
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  Tim on January 31st, 2012 at 5:02 am said:
  
  That’s exactly what I was thinking. People get so caught up in the 3D printer, CNC or laser cutter concepts that they lose sight of what the thing is that they are making. In this case it’s just something to hook the circuit and razor blades to. If you really wanted it to be fancy you might try a printed circuit board.
  
  However, as Paul says, if the blades come in contact with the metal, you’ve cut too far. I have around 40 years of experience stripping wires. The right way to do it is to stop with the blade most of the way through the insulation. If you nick (touch) the wire you’ve done it wrong and ruined the wire.
  
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Paul Howard on January 30th, 2012 at 10:37 pm said:

I might be a bit anal here, but if you make contact with the metal conductors (with whatever you are stripping with), then you have gone too far.

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Nick Stanton (@NickStanton) on January 31st, 2012 at 1:30 am said:

It looks lethal. You may have to factor in the Band-Aid costs too.

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John Pattillo on January 31st, 2012 at 5:56 pm said:

I think you could make one of these from regular wire strippers if you put some kind of insulating washer at the pivot point of the strippers.

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RoBoBaLLS on February 1st, 2012 at 2:31 pm said:

Echo:
“why didn’t I think of that!?”

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Linus Bravenius on February 6th, 2012 at 12:28 pm said:

I made my own which sandwiches a pair of model knife blades between two 50x130x2mm pieces of plastic. It uses m3 screws and two nuts as spacers in between the two pieces of plastic, the blades are held by two screws each and hot glue is used to fix the components in between. With some macgyvering I got the blades very stable, the space between the sandwiched boards makes it incredibly safe, only way I could cut myself is if I forcibly stuck my finger in there.

Also the red light DOES indicate when you’ve gone too far, if you pull when it lights the blades grip into the copper wire making it very hard to pull, the correct method is to back up a tiny bit, twist 90 degrees and it comes off effortlessly.

If anyone’s interested in pictures, e-mail me at chipset31@gmail.com

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