blade runner for cutting armoured cable

[tjsparks]

my advice is not worth the money after approx 6 cuts small blade goes blunt and basically all it is good for is removing outer insulation and making a good line to cut to for removing the armouring so not worth £25 in my opinion.

 

[dingodeano]

I have one these too only used it once on some 4mm 3core .
1st end did a good job. 2nd end outer sheath opened up and rollers slipped onto armour and i had no chance then. so the jury is still out for me. but if like you say goes blunt quick then you might see it on ebay

 

[Cremeegg]

Never found a problem using a Stanley knife for the outer and a junior hacksaw for the armour cutting half way through then snapping the individual armour strands off in threes or fours with a pair of pliers.

 

[ezekiel]

had trouble with hacksaw seemed like it wouldnt touch the armour on advise from another thread i snipped off the strands seemed a lot quicker to me

 

[jeepmadmike]

hacksaw, stanley knife and break all the armours off in one go, done it hundreds of times.

if its a bigger swa 70mm or so i use a angle grinder to "mark" the armour.

stripping the outer and snipping the armour off with side cutters sounds slow and i would consider it poor workmanship...

 

[Spark123]

Why use an angle grinder?? Seems like using a sledgehammer to crack nuts to me.
I have only ever used a hacksaw for SWA, even on the likes of 70mm.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

stripping the outer and snipping the armour off with side cutters sounds slow and i would consider it poor workmanship...

Plus good luck getting the plane of the cuts orthogonal to the axis of the cable...

had trouble with hacksaw seemed like it wouldnt touch the armour on advise from another thread i snipped off the strands seemed a lot quicker to me

You didn't by any chance remove the outer sheath first, did you, and then try to score through the armour strands?

 

[Spark123]

info on how to make off an SWA gland here:
http://www.diynot.com/wiki/electrics:swa-gland

 

[ColJack]

use one at work, love the thing..

it's all down to how you use it..

if you over tighten it then it squeezes the sheath and causes it to open up..

also don't expect it to score the armour enough to break off in just 3 or 4 revolutions.. takes 10-15 mimimum..

smaller sizes don't do so well with it, mimumum I use it on at work is 4mm 4 core..

when you've scored the armour enough, cut the outer sheath off below the score ( as in the end you are stripping ) then ring the outer where you will be removing it to terminate, then slide it up a little to keep the armour tight while you break the strands off, otherwise you bend the ends over..

 

[streetlighter]

Might invest in one as i use loads of SWA mainly 6,10 and 16 mm 3-core.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Is that the one where you could use bits of hacksaw blade instead of buying the "proper" (and no doubt vastly overpriced) blades?

 

[DESL]

Here's my penny worth on SWA

Measure off where you want to cut the outer armour.

Run a pipe cutter around cable so it puts a deep score in the armour (deep enough to be able to break strands.)

Slide off outer insulation to expose surplus armour & break off.

And finally lightly score outer insulation to suit termination in the gland.


I think the problem with the cable cutter staying orthognal could be resolved by cutting armour before stripping back outer insulation.

 

[jeepmadmike]

y do i use an angle grinder? simple, its the fastest and most simple method, with a good level of hand skill and being used to using the tool its easy to get a square and accurate cut, i love my dewalt battery grinder and the 1mm thick cutting discs for the job, i would not use a hacksaw its too slow.