Which cable stripping tool for scrap?

[HappyHippyDad]

@gaz101 's thread got me thinking about stripping all my scrap cables rather than taking them in for weighing with all the insulation on.

The cable I have is nearly all 1mm-6mm. I realise many of you feel it is not worth the time stripping the smaller cables but I would be quite happy spending a few hours doing it every so often on a quiet Sunday and wondered if there is a machine that strips down to 1mm twin and earth?

 

[Mike Johnson]

Ask the chaps in the travelling community they seem to do a lot of it.

 

[gaz101]

@gaz101 's thread got me thinking about stripping all my scrap cables rather than taking them in for weighing with all the insulation on.

The cable I have is nearly all 1mm-6mm. I realise many of you feel it is not worth the time stripping the smaller cables but I would be quite happy spending a few hours doing it every so often on a quiet Sunday and wondered if there is a machine that strips down to 1mm twin and earth?

The one in my photo goes down to .5mm singles

 

[HappyHippyDad]

The one in my photo goes down to .5mm singles

Could you give a link please Gaz, and the model/make?

 

[HappyHippyDad]

This one looks quite good View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UTENSILI-TOOLS-SHOP-Copper-Wire-Stripping-Machine/dp/B01LYRI5IC/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=wire+stripping+machine&qid=1590414440&s=diy&sr=1-8

It has good reviews and strips down to 1mm. Is this the best sort of stripper to be looking for?
I'm looking for a manual machine, not electric.
Any recommendations for a manual stripper which strips down to 1mm?
Please try and refrain from any jokes @Baddegg and @telectrix although I realise this will be difficult for you both

My only concern with the above machine is that is does not have little wheels either side of the blade that stop the cable escaping the blade. The following machine has the little wheels but I cannot find it for sale, also i expect it to be too expensive (just showing it for the example really)

CopperMine CT-302 Hand Crank & Drill Operated Copper Wire Stripping Machine

A manual copper wire stripping machine for wires ranging from 18AWG up to 1-1/2" in diameter. Hand crank or convert to drill operated for higher efficiency. Use with ease to process ROMEX, solid, or stranded copper wires and cables. Perfect portable machine for the shop, garage, work bench, or...

www.copperminetools.com

 

[telectrix]

back in the day, we gave the apprentice a sharp knife and a box of band-aids and told him to get on with it.

 

[Baddegg]

? oh god ummmmm.....

 

[richy3333]

@happyhippydad thats the one I have. Mine is bare metal. I got mine off eBay and it was about £50(ish). Works fine on larger cables but stuff like 1.5 is easier to strip by hand. SWA is easy to do but I find you are better off cutting it down into 30-50cm sections. The winding handle comes off and you can attach a drill to it.

 

[JD6400]

To be honest unless you are processing serious amounts it's not worth doing.
Even with the stripper I've got now anything under 6 mm t&e and 10 mm armoured is sorted and put in retrospective dumpy bags and weighed like that , untouched.
The single wheel stripper's are just a gimmick , as the cable hardly ever goes through straight and if you have more than one size to do it is a absolute ball ache adjusting it and dialling it in for each piece.
I have attached a couple of photos of the one I use at the moment and you may be able to see that it uses two sets of top and bottom spring loaded rollers and a cutting disc in the top for the first set and a cutting disc in the bottom for the second set.
Even with this set up it can be problematic with some cables.
You will also see a single wheel stipper which somebody gave me before I brought the current stripper , it got used for about 2 hrs and then got ditched in favour of the Stanley knife , the cut was very hit and miss and once it has gone through you do not really want to send cable through again as it tends to leave shards of copper.
In my experience you are looking at around £1800 + for a decent stripper and once you take in to account your time storage and waste desposal of the sheathing it can be a bit of a labour of love.

I keep toying with getting a shredder and building a cleaning plant which would save having to sort the different grades and sizes before you even get to cutting it into manageable lengths to strip.
But this would cost any where from £5 - 15 grand and the local scrap yard has mentioned that they are not so keen on paying top bright prices as it is not so easy to guarantee the grade of copper w
hen powdered.

 

[davesparks]

We've got one of this type which can be found on ebay around the £50 mark, turning it by hand is boring but you can attach a drill to it and get it going a bit quicker.
We bought it specifically for a few hundreds of metres of 70mm singles we had stripped out (12 x100TPN circuits all wired in 70mm and crammed into a 6x6 trunking)

It's pretty good for big batches of conductors that are all the same size as long as you straighten them.

I don't think it would be much quicker than using a knife for small solid core cables though.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I may take a chance with the amazon one and have a play with it.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Update...

I decided to go for the ultra cheap £20 ebay version rather than risk it on the £100 version.



The only real difference I could see was that the £100 version had a handle so it would be easier to feed the first bit in and also perhaps the 'pull' would be more steady so the blade is less likely to come out of the pvc insulation (not sure about that though).

I must say I was surprised! It worked... on 1mm!

It took 30 mins of having a play with it, learning where to position the blade and how far apart to have the wheels either side of it, but it worked. It created a small score all along the 1mm which I then just peeled off easily. It didn't jump out of the PVC once.

I only had a couple of metres of scrap to strip (as I've just taken 30kg to be weighed in ), so I cant say if this machine will be consistent, but for £20 I think it will be more than recouping it's cost the next time I have a weigh in.

Lets say I could do 5Kg in an hour. Cost of bright £4 p/Kg. £20 p/hour to sip a beer in the garden, listen to the radio and pull a piece of cable .

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Update on the £20 cable stripper in the above post.

It strips 6mm without any problems. It strips 2.5mm without problems.

I have since stripped a larger amount of 1mm than when I first tested the machine so I can give more of an insight into how effective it is...

It is fiddly and for each new bit of 1mm It takes a few failed attempts to get the machine (blade and holding wheels) correctly set up. Even then it sometimes didn't actually score the insulation, it seemed to rub a little off the side but this was still enough to be able to peel the insulation off.

I do hear what everyone is saying about 1mm not worth the time and effect to strip. I agree that for the amount of time it takes it will only relate to about £5 an hour. However, if you enjoy doing it and are at a loose end then why not.

 

[ruston]

Update on the £20 cable stripper in the above post.

It strips 6mm without any problems. It strips 2.5mm without problems.

I have since stripped a larger amount of 1mm than when I first tested the machine so I can give more of an insight into how effective it is...

It is fiddly and for each new bit of 1mm It takes a few failed attempts to get the machine (blade and holding wheels) correctly set up. Even then it sometimes didn't actually score the insulation, it seemed to rub a little off the side but this was still enough to be able to peel the insulation off.

I do hear what everyone is saying about 1mm not worth the time and effect to strip. I agree that for the amount of time it takes it will only relate to about £5 an hour. However, if you enjoy doing it and are at a loose end then why not.

Good for you . It is a sacrilege to waste the Earth's none recurring resources ,and you get paid for it too

 

[telectrix]

Update on the £20 cable stripper in the above post.

It strips 6mm without any problems. It strips 2.5mm without problems.

I have since stripped a larger amount of 1mm than when I first tested the machine so I can give more of an insight into how effective it is...

It is fiddly and for each new bit of 1mm It takes a few failed attempts to get the machine (blade and holding wheels) correctly set up. Even then it sometimes didn't actually score the insulation, it seemed to rub a little off the side but this was still enough to be able to peel the insulation off.

I do hear what everyone is saying about 1mm not worth the time and effect to strip. I agree that for the amount of time it takes it will only relate to about £5 an hour. However, if you enjoy doing it and are at a loose end then why not.

can we have a link to that £20 jobby?