On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:38:06 GMT, Jim Flanagan
wrote:

Guys..
Does anyone have any better method for stripping small, enameled
wire, other than using sandpaper or an exacto knife (scrapping)?
There used to be a chemical stripper called 'Xvar', years ago.
This stuff worked great. Nasty stuff as you can imagine and has
been EPA'd years ago. Is there anything comparable, today?

Also, a retired technician that I once knew had a pair of ingenious
'stripper pliers' that he had acquired back in the '60s that did
a fabulous job. These pliers had special jaws that would scrape the
enamel off without nicking the wire. They worked GREAT. Supposedly,
this tool originated from a mfg in Germany. I have never seen this tool
since. Anyone have a lead on something similar?

Thanks and take care.
-jim
WB5KYE

I had occasion recently to wind a couple coils. Checked my stash and
found two different kinds of 30 ga enameled wire. I thought I'd try
tinning the ends of the wires without stripping. One of the wires
soldered very easily in a few seconds so must have been
heat/self-stripping. The second sample didn't solder as easily, but I
kept the wire in ball of molten solder for 10's of seconds and
eventually the enamel melted off and formed sludge on the surface of the
solder ball. Cleaned the corrupted solder off the iron tip and the wire
tinned up ok.

Not sure if the second one was normal enamel or just a slower version of
self-strippable wire. Might be worth trying to just melt the enamel off
in a ball of solder like I did.