The Importance of Wire Cutters, Strippers, Pliers, and Crimpers

When establishing, repairing, or adjusting an electrical system, there may be times in which you need to cut, strip, or make changes to wiring. When making any adjustment to a wire or cable component, it is crucial that you understand the difference between various common tool types for the means of carrying out a job correctly and safely. Generally, the primary tools that one may use include wire strippers, cutters, crimpers, and pliers.

Wire Strippers

When contact between conductors needs to be established, a wire stripper is a tool that enables one to carefully remove insulation. Generally, wire strippers may be manual or automatic in use, both often featuring opposing blades and a central notch to place the wire. By rotating the tool around the wire, the insulation may be removed without causing damage to the internal conductor. To ensure that wires are correctly cut and undamaged, wire strippers should be chosen based on their sizing.

Wire Cutters

In some instances, one may wish to cut through the conductor, often for the means of resizing wire or cable components. Wire cutters can be used for a number of materials, typically being reserved for brass, aluminum, copper, iron, and steel. To best protect yourself when operating on wires that pose a risk of shock or electrocution, wire cutters with insulated handles are best. Similar to strippers, wire cutters come in numerous types to accommodate different needs, and tapered head cutters, diagonal flush cutters, and automatic wire cutter strippers are all standard variations.

Wire Pliers

Pliers are commonly used tools for electrical operations, featuring tool heads that appear similar to scissors, though jaws are provided in the place of blades. When squeezed, the jaws will clamp down onto an object and allow for a tight grip. Pliers will differ in use based on their type, long nose, cutting, electronic, bent nose, and flat-nose pliers all serving as standard options. When operating in tight spaces, the long nose plier is useful for squeezing into hard-to-reach areas with ease. In some instances, one may actually want to cut through objects, and cutting pliers have edges capable of slicing through nails, screws, and thick wires. For cutting electronic components, electronic pliers are beneficial with their narrow jaws. Bent nose pliers are another tool type that benefit tight spaces, their angled tip allowing for work to be conducted around a corner. The final type is the flat-nose plier, and they feature flat and rectangular jaws that may grip wires for bending.

Wire Crimpers

In order to attach a wire or cable to a connector, a tool known as a crimper may be used. Featuring an appearance similar to pliers, wire crimpers deform pieces to join metal and other ductile materials together. Ratchet crimpers are a commonly used type, only releasing working pieces once a set pressure threshold is met. To accommodate components of varying sizes, ratchet crimpers will often have interchangeable dies. Crimpers are often irreplaceable in terms of finding alternative tool types, thus having one on hand is quite useful for carrying out such processes.

When conducting any electrical operation, one should ensure that they have the correct tools they need on hand to carry out procedures with ease. At Just Connectors, we provide wire strippers, wire cutters, pliers, and wire crimpers for various military and civilian applications. Explore our vast offerings as you see fit, and our team is always on standby 24/7x365 to assist customers throughout the purchasing processes as necessary. If you have any questions about our offered services or are ready to initiate the procurement process, send us an email or call us by phone and see how we can fulfill all your operational needs as your strategic sourcing partner.  

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1. nicholas smith
2. Posted on September 1, 2021
electronic components

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