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KU0DM
07-18-2013, 08:37 PM
Any tricks for cutting through the plastic between the braid and center conductor? It always feels like pulling teeth even with the sharpest of knives.

NQ6U
07-18-2013, 09:14 PM
I just use a utility knife with a brand new blade. Take care not to nick the center conductor.

WØTKX
07-18-2013, 09:19 PM
Or a coax stripper made for it. I use LMR-400 at work, and the RF Industries stripper is excellent. Really fast, and clean.

DX Engineering has one too, a little different design. Yea, they are about $40 to $50, which kind of sucks.

10074

If you do it with a really sharp blade, and not a stripper, bend the coax a bit after cutting into the outer jacket. This will avoid nicking the braid. Same for the center insulator. Bend it so the cut is on the outside of the bend, and it will split. Work your way around the wire, about a third at a time.

Take care not to cut all the way thru to the wires underneath. This works for any insulated wire.

K7SGJ
07-18-2013, 09:24 PM
Or a coax stripper made for it. I use LMR-400 at work, and the RF Industries stripper is excellent. Really fast, and clean.

DX Engineering has one too, a little different design. Yea, they are about $40 to $50, which kind of sucks.

10074

I use cutters pretty much like that as well. I have 2 and 3 stage units for just about every size of coax. They do make life easy.

WØTKX
07-18-2013, 09:28 PM
There are cheaper ones, but after a point, I'll use a knife instead of a cheapie.

K7SGJ
07-18-2013, 09:33 PM
Three are cheaper ones, but after a point, I'll use a knife instead of a cheapie.

+ 76 Maxwells.

With the cheaper ones, I can almost guarantee that at least 100% of the time, there will be a few strands of the shield microscopically wrapped around the center conductor.

K0RGR
07-19-2013, 02:16 PM
I use a sharp pipe cutter - it works very well on LMR400. I start by removing outer jacket, braid and inner dielectric far enough to fit the center pin of the connector, then I strip off the outer jacket far enough that it will still screw part way onto the threads in the connector. As someone pointed out, a large pipe cutter doesn't work that well on smaller coax, but there are smaller pipe cutters out there, too.

WØTKX
07-19-2013, 08:32 PM
I have used a pipe cutter as well. It works!

W2NAP
07-20-2013, 12:10 AM
blah LMR-400 junk IMO get yourself some 1/2 heliax.

WØTKX
07-20-2013, 01:10 PM
Elitist VHF Ham Pig!

NQ6U
07-20-2013, 01:17 PM
Elitist VHF Ham Pig!

Elitist?? No way.

VHF is for people who can't do HF.

WX7P
07-20-2013, 04:00 PM
Or a coax stripper made for it. I use LMR-400 at work, and the RF Industries stripper is excellent. Really fast, and clean.

Yea, they are about $40 to $50, which kind of sucks.

10074



Depends on how much stripping you want to do.


(on edit) eeeewwww. Grody. Grody to the max.