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Dusted off my pyro tools today - manages to terminate two ends and then the stripping tool started to play up.

It wont successfully strip the MI now and when it starts to it's an extremely close wrap and then breaks off. I've tried multiple times and it wont catch and then when forced it twists the cable and sticks..


Wondering if the blade needs replacing or adjusting?

Hopefully someone can help - thanks
 
Could be anything from a blunt blade, badly set blade, wrong setting for cable size Imp or Metric. bad method, need to be there to advise properly, in my opinion.
 
Could be anything from a blunt blade, badly set blade, wrong setting for cable size Imp or Metric. bad method, need to be there to advise properly, in my opinion.
Sorry this bloke may give you insomnia, but it is quite a good vid
 
Thanks for your feedback already - Could anyone advice on the correct "placement" upon installing the blade? How deep should it sit?
Enough to cut sheath shallow enough NOT to damage the conductors, simple really, why do you ask Liam? Contact BICC and ask where you can get hold of a copy of "The Electricians Mate" an excellent guide to everything MICC they used to supply it free. not sure about it now though, I gave my copy away when I packed up working, a mistake on my part.
 
I always found smearing the copper sheath with a little Vaseline worked wonders with the joystripper, also add a tiny spot on the threads of the pot to help it go on better.
The positioning of the blade on the joystripper is vital, a lot of trial and error, a tiny adjustment can make all the difference.
I remember some gland packs used to come with a little tub of Vaseline, then they seamed to stop it.
 
[QUOTE="Pete999, post: 1491462, member: Contact BICC and ask where you can get hold of a copy of "The Electricians Mate" an excellent guide to everything MICC they used to supply it free. [/QUOTE]

That could be a little tricky, BICC disappeared years ago.

Did they even reprint the electricians mate in metric? The copy I've got and all the ones I've seen are all imperial and feature the older style tools, not the modern tools like the one under discussion here.
 
[QUOTE="Pete999, post: 1491462, member: Contact BICC and ask where you can get hold of a copy of "The Electricians Mate" an excellent guide to everything MICC they used to supply it free.

That could be a little tricky, BICC disappeared years ago.

Did they even reprint the electricians mate in metric? The copy I've got and all the ones I've seen are all imperial and feature the older style tools, not the modern tools like the one under discussion here.[/QUOTE]
OK Pyrotenax or one of the other MICC producers then
 
I just found my copy.
The relevant pages are here:
If you want other info, please lmk.
 

Attachments

  • Using the Joistripper tool.pdf
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Thanks for your feedback already - Could anyone advice on the correct "placement" upon installing the blade? How deep should it sit?
A bit of practice...….with trial and error involved wouldn't go amiss, me thinks...….as long as there's a bit of spare cable available.
 
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Any of the tools with a flat blade like the Joistripper are fiddly to get the blade exactly right, you'll know when it is. It's worth tickling up the blade if it's losing the edge, repays the 5 minutes work needed. I use a regular oilstone.

The only reason I use a Joistripper is for the short throw of the handle. I find the wheel tools ZSU and ZSUS more consistent although again as soon as the wheel starts to get dull, there's no point fiddling about, it has to be changed.
 
Any of the tools with a flat blade like the Joistripper are fiddly to get the blade exactly right, you'll know when it is. It's worth tickling up the blade if it's losing the edge, repays the 5 minutes work needed. I use a regular oilstone.

The only reason I use a Joistripper is for the short throw of the handle. I find the wheel tools ZSU and ZSUS more consistent although again as soon as the wheel starts to get dull, there's no point fiddling about, it has to be changed.
Lucien, when do you reckon it was when the wheel blade tools first came into use? I remember using one in the mid to late seventies and, on one job, a Norweb foreman was amazed, never having seen one before. He got onto his bosses and got a load ordered.
A few years later, I found the Joistripper was what it's name implied, especially making off loads of long tailed pyros into control panels, mostly in industrial boiler houses.
Do you recall problems with pyro and three phase inductive supplies?
I remember supplies to motors where capacitors were fitted to prevent the pyros from blowing. In one instance, all the caps blew up, wrong ones supplied.
 
Pyro has a failure mode where a transient causes a flashover that develops into a power arc. So either VDRs or sometimes capacitors were fitted as surge arrestors on highly inductive circuits. I've used VDRs where large contactors were fed from light-duty cables. It was often just a precaution and not strictly needed.

As for the stripping tools, all the variants except the Joistripper existed when I was learning in the mid 80s, I'd have to look at the catalogues to work out the timeline. IIRC the three editions of the Electrician's Mate all list different tools.
 
Duplicate post
 
Duplicate post
Bit of thread necromancy; collection of MICC tools arrived today, looking to find replacement blades and how to change them; Joistripper seems easy enough, it's the ringer I can't figure how to change as it just appears rivetted.

Would be interested in that publication mentioned earlier

MIC / Pyro Cable help IMG_20210702_142805_578 - EletriciansForums.net
 
The wheel on the ringing tool doesn't really wear out, not least because it doesn't get used much, so shouldn't need changing. It's only useful where you can't get a regular stripping tool in or the cable is distorted or whatever makes it necessary to strip with side cutters or a fork. I have been known to use a Monument mini pipe cutter but obviously the point is not to cut through or make too much of an inward bevel but just to weaken the sheath so that the peeling stops in the right place with a square end.

When using a Joistripper or ZSU, just hold the sheath in a pair of pliers and as the tool body runs up against the side of the pliers it will strip the last turn square and clean. Plier position is 3/4 inch from end for ZSU and Joistripper, 1/2 inch for ZSUS.

Setting tbe blade position correctly in a Joistripper makes all the difference between zipping along and being useless. Replacement Joistripper blades code ZSJB but you can hone them on a stone if if you can support at the correct angle. Wheel stripper spare blades are ZSUB and ZSUSB, I've never even considered sharpening these!
 

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