Mini wire stripper or method?

[gavino200]

I'm looking for a good way to strip 30 gauge decoder wire in a tight space. I have a good wire stripper that can handle 30 gauge, but it's too big to use in a tight space.

 

I'm talking about, for example, when you have a wire in place and want to cut it to the perfect length to solder, with no excess wire. Often it's not possible to use a full size wire stripper in such tight space.

 

What I usually end up doing is stabilizing the wire with a small needle-nose pliers and use my finger nails to remove strip a small piece of wire. This works, but it's not super reliable. Occasionally the space is too tight for fingers.

 

Is there a tiny precision, 30 gauge wire stripper available somewhere?

 

Or do any of you have a better method that you could share?

[tossedman]

I've got some of these: http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=73559&cat=1,43456,43400,73556

Edit: Here's the link to the US store. http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/Page.aspx?p=73559&cat=1,43456,43400,73556

They work great on any size wire up to 14 gauge.

 

More options in this thread. http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/9899-fine-wire-strippers/

 

Cheers,

 

Todd

Edited February 27, 2017 by tossedman

[cteno4]

Gavin,

 

I love my jonard wire strippers for 30g wrapping wire and silicone wire. Works like a charm with 4 cutting blades that rotate in around the insulation when you squeeze! Even has a nice adjustable stop to strip wire ends to the same length. They are pricy, but the perfect tool for delicate wire by cutting insulation from 4 sides. I love them!

 

Only down side is that you need to pull the wire by hand so a short piece can be thought so you need to gently use some padded pliers to pull really short bits of wire.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Jonard-ST-500-Adjustable-Precision-Thickness/dp/B001ICLVN4/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1488163503&sr=1-1&keywords=Jonard%2B20-30&th=1

 

They also have a 26-36g one!

 

Jeff

[gavino200]

Gavin,

 

I love my jonard wire strippers for 30g wrapping wire and silicone wire. Works like a charm with 4 cutting blades that rotate in around the insulation when you squeeze! Even has a nice adjustable stop to strip wire ends to the same length. They are pricy, but the perfect tool for delicate wire by cutting insulation from 4 sides. I love them!

 

Only down side is that you need to pull the wire by hand so a short piece can be thought so you need to gently use some padded pliers to pull really short bits of wire.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Jonard-ST-500-Adjustable-Precision-Thickness/dp/B001ICLVN4/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1488163503&sr=1-1&keywords=Jonard%2B20-30&th=1

 

They also have a 26-36g one!

 

Jeff

 

Padded pliers. I completely NEED one of those. Who'd have thunk it. That's the main reason I'm dissatisfied with my current "method". The pliers are not to kind on the wires.

[cteno4]

Nylon jawed pliers!

 

https://smile.amazon.com/EuroTool-Tapered-Nylon-Jaw-Pliers/dp/B003Y7J7GO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1488168255&sr=8-6&keywords=nylon+pliers

 

https://www.widgetsupply.com/product/BBB73.html

 

Or just take a pair of fine needle nose pliers and put some heat shrink over a bit in from the tips and shrink it down. Works well.

 

Or even just a bit of masking tape works. I do this all the times on the Chanel locks to loosen she shower temp valve when it gets sticky!

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

Forgot to mention a handy pair of pliers are parallel jaw piers as well to grip some things.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Parallel-Pliers-Flat-Nose-Inches/dp/B009436GDO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488169104&sr=8-4&keywords=parallel+pliers

 

https://smile.amazon.com/HTH-PL360-Nylon-Parallel-Pliers-140mm/dp/B00XU21QT4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1488169104&sr=8-8&keywords=parallel+pliers

 

Jeff

[gavino200]

Thanks guys! Great info. I just made a few purchases :)