Can anyone tell me what they use to strip the wires inside a loco? I have a pair of high-quality aircraft wire strippers I used to use on jets and the teeth size range from 16 to 26 gauge.
They are SO small they look like they could be as thin as a human hair.
So please tell me what tool you use to strip those tiny wires.
Thanks.
Some will probably be aghast at this, but I have been known to use my fingernails - - - my right thumb and my right middle finger - - - to strip real thin wires. I just pull the wire through those two fingers, letting the fingernails do the work. It works like a charm.
Rich
It probably depends on the brand name more than anything else, but most decoder wire is 28 gauge. ESU LokSound decoders have wire that must be 32.
Like Richhotrain, I usually use a fingernail by pinching the wire between my thumb and middle finger because my wire strippers won’t grip wire that small…
I’m thinking 30 gauge. I use the smallest opening on my wire strippers (26 gauge) and hold it at an angle. Strip GENTLY as it is easy to tear the wire completely apart.
LION uses fingernails, diagonal cutters, or teeth. And that is a feat with LION teeth!
Mostly I use a diagonal cutter.
Remember in some situations you do not strip the insulation but just pressing the connector in place is enough to displace the insulation. Outside of the locomotive, I use punchdown blocks.
ROAR
I do what Rich does, thumb and forefinger and use my nail to strip the little fine decoder wires. Practice on some spare wire first - it’s sort of an aquired skill and the first times you may just cut right through the wire rather than strip the insulation.
I use shrink tube to insulate the joints afterwards, a lot less messy than tape. Just remember to slide on a piece of shrink tube BEFORE soldering the joints…don’t ask.
–Randy
LION KNOWS how to use shrink tube. … don’t ask!
Him bought a 200’ spool of the stuff from All Electronics for about the same price as a few short sticks at the shack or at a home store.
ROAR
Dude, seriously, you have issues. Do you actually think you’re a lion? Why do you refer to yourself in the third person? If this is all tongue in cheek, well I’m sorry but if you really think you’re a lion, you need help.
Randy, thank you and all the others who replied. I have used heat shrink with a pyro pen for decades on aircraft. Greatest stuff ever invented for wiring.
yes, he really thinks he’s a lion and yes, he usually refers to himself in the 3rd person. Don’t let it bother you, he’s actually a decent model railroader and offers some good advice (for the most part). [:D]
Paul, yea Lion is a little ate up, but sharp as a tack! After you get pass the 3rd person stuff he offers good advise. He is also a monk and has a nice Subway layout that makes mine look small. Think it has 300 feet of main line, DC and has a mechanical switch system that control’s the subway he built!
Lion [bow] you do great work!
Far as cutting the small wires, I use a cheap pair of wire cutters from Harbor Freight. Not perfect, but with a little time they work.
Ken
LOL
LION actually is a lion.
I know that it is extremely hard to believe that the jungle KIng of Beasts can actually write and can actually model trains. But, alas, it is true.
As far as speaking in the third person, that is the one limitation that lions have in interacting with humans. For some unknown reason, yet to be determined by science, lions are unable to speak in the first person.
[(-D][(-D][(-D]
ROAR
Rich
Hi,
While talking in the third person is “different”, the poster in question does have an OPERATING layout and is often a help on other poster’s questions and situations.
This is unlike some other “different” posters who only post on their own threads and do not have a layout and of course are never a help to others.
Oh, to answer the OP’s question, I too have used my fingernails, but often will start the cut with a delicate use of a surgical blade.
Some years ago I met another person who talked in the third person, but he was no Lion. He lived in New York city on the Sienfeld TV show.
His name was Jimmy and he, Jimmy was in love with Elanie. Poor Elaine. It took a while for her to realize that when he told Elaine that Jimmy loved her that she was talking to Jimmy.
It would be interesting to hear a conversation between the Lion and Jimmy.
But both the Lion and Jimmy are OK guys.
Bob
I am the original OP and, yeah, yeah, aimed squarely at me. I guess you were born with a layout already created and the knowledge and equipment to build others right? You never started out as a newbie you just “knew” it all huh?
I would be glad to help others if I had any advice to offer but seeing as I’m a newbie and still learning, gathering everything I need from paints to tools which takes a while, it might be a little difficult for someone such as myself to offer anything relevant to others.
God bless you, I hope you never have any problems or difficulties in your life.
Paul
Uh, he was NOT talking about you, not even remotely.
–Randy
Yea Paul, it was not directed at you. Most of us that been here awhile know who he was talking about.
Ken
LOL, your not the only one.
That’s odd Ken, I mean his words fit me to a tee. “Only posting in his own threads, not helping others…” Sure sounds like me. Why would he post a snide comment like that without mentioning a name? If he meant me then TELL me it was me, man up about it!
I come to the forum for ANSWERS because I’m NEW at this. If I had some EXPERIENCE then MAYBE I could be of some help to others. It would seem to me that unless you started in this hobby at the ripe old age of TWO then what you say here is meaningless. I guess a lot of people here forget that THEY WERE FREAKING NEW AT THIS HOBBY AT ONE TIME IN THEIR LIVES! I get the impression that unless you have a huge body of knowledge what you say is meaningless.
I don’t believe he was talking about you. While there are a few posters here that do get under peoples skin sometimes for the most part everyone can be helpful. I use my finger nails to strip wires, its fast and simple.