stripping cable insulation

[securespark]

+ H²O + NaCl

Sweat & Tears?

Yup!

 

[Space cat]

what I find a PITA though is round flex, the conductors tend to twist inside and the inner insulation and outer insulation are virtually identical in hardness, I find this makes it very difficul to get the outer sheath off without damaging the innner. Any tips?

Grip the flex between thumb and forefinger then hook the middle finger over to pull it into a tight bend. Cut carefully down through the outer sheath until it splits to reveal one or more cores. Turn it round about 60° and repeat. Once the first cores are visible it's easy to work out where to cut deeper and where to go easy. The clever bit is not to cut all the way to the cores but to let the last bit snap. In most cases the sheath will slide off the cores. If it doesn't, I repeat the whole process but nearer the end of the cable.

Nobody taught me how to do this. I just worked it out by trial and error as a spotty teenager. I was more than a little surprized to see an electrician do almost exactly the same thing twenty years later. I can't even believe I'm writing this here. I feel like I'm teaching a million grannies to suck eggs!

 

[empip]

Ye olde 'Wire splicing and soldering' notes.

They say strip as if sharpening a pencil ...

http://www.markhellerelectric.com/solder.pdf

 

[Softus]

what I find a PITA though is round flex, the conductors tend to twist inside and the inner insulation and outer insulation are virtually identical in hardness, I find this makes it very difficul to get the outer sheath off without damaging the innner. Any tips?

Score all round at the point you want to remove the sheath, and pull it off using a twisting motion.

If your hands/fingers aren't strong enough, then try one of these: