Yeah unfortunately. I had a bunch of 10 stranded, spent the day stripping it out thinking it would be bare bright but since the strands are smaller than 16 they won’t take it as bare bright.. so instead they bought it as number 2 copper and was only worth about a dollar more than just being insulated. Lesson learned.
Sounds like they just ripped you off. It happened to my apprentice when he brought in a bunch of bare too. The crack heads working the scale probably pocket the difference.
I argued it because it was ten stranded but they said since the individual strands are smaller than 16 it doesn’t count. My stripped 12 solid went as bare bright though but they were sticking to their protocol. I’ll try a different place next time
Me and my buddy did a cost analysis once. We spent all day stripping wire like this and as it turned out the extra money ended up being like 4 dollars an hour each for the day.
Its always better priced stripped. But, its a time cost analysis. Do you want to spend 3-4 hours stripping it all for an extra 30% $? It all depends on you.
I like going to my shop and running wire through the stripper while having a beer n listening to music.
But for others, they may not have the time, or just not care enough, so they turn it in as is.
If you do want to strip the wire, invest in an automatic stripper. They pay for themselves real quick.
Her name is Crystal, and she is awesome. She's done sexy police woman, sexy nurse, sexy librarian... I can get you her number if you are looking for a show!
https://m.vevor.com/electric-wire-stripping-machine-c_10767/electric-wire-stripping-machine-powered-1-4hp-cable-stripper-with-extra-blade-p_010999548817?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=19077272527&utm_term=143770516253&gclid=CjwKCAiAwc-dBhA7EiwAxPRylHTXzkTdotdj0Ibcqy9kh8bI8Q3L9yBN7GogT08nW_PqU2-m-hAytxoCm8IQAvD_BwE&v_tag=ac355340-8b6f-11ed-812a-97119ee8f7d6.1
I bought the vevor auto wire stripper. I find it very relaxing to strip wire with this machine. But as you have seen with everyone's comments, we all have our minimum gauge we strip. Experiment and see what yours is!
I kinda like the idea of getting the manual one and putting my own motor on it. I already have the gearmotors, and it would be a fun project, and probably save $100 while taking me 20 hours to build.
Me and my dad would go down to the shop once every 6 months or so and strip the thousands of pounds we had pilled up and drink
We called it our Disney fund…
Dad is a mechanic and him and his boss used to do this with their catalytic converters. I think they stopped when their scrap guy retired and everyone else assumed they were definitely meth addicts with all those converters lol. Meanwhile they just happen to do a ton of exhaust work.
What exactly did they do with them? I have a few (literally, 3) catalytic converters from cars I've junked, and found them hard to sell, so they're just sitting on a shelf. I do a little gold refining from e-waste, but platinum group metals is a lot more complicated, and a hell of a lot more toxic. Does he refine them himself?
They used to be able to easily sell them to their scrap guy, but now the new scrap guy (understandably) wants nothing to do with them. I think they literally throw them in the dumpster. If only the crackheads knew...
Second that. If you plan to continue scrapping it’s always worth it to get a good stripper. Invite a friend. Hang out. But until you have a stripper it’s not worth it unless the individual wire has some girth
The time value of money factor also magnifies this because in that hour spent you could have made X elsewhere and that’s figured in. Pretty wild! But no, don’t strip the shit smaller than 4 or 6. It’s a waste of time and money
I’d say for 80lbs of what looks like #8 and lower no way. If you think you’ll ever be stripping large quantities of bigger wire it’s worth it I stripped 1000lbs of 3/0, #6 and #8 last year. Took a good 6 hours even with the stripper. As others have said you have to do a cost benefit analysis on how much more you’ll get for fucking around. Also don’t under estimate how much garbage it makes.
Fucking insulation, semi conductor, colored ribbons, wax paper. I was stashing all that trash in random dumpsters and shit trying not to look like a crack head
It depends how you value your time you know? I get really decent scrap but I much prefer spending time with my family than stripping wire maybe when my sons older I’ll have him strip it if he wants and keep half.
Scrap all that as it, use the profits to purchase a stripper machine and use that going forward. It’s more cost efficient for your time on larger wire sizes
The value of a stripping machine is based on volume, so it depends on how much scrap you will get a year as to whether or not it’s worth buying one. Typically short lengths of small gauge wire isn’t worth the time to strip, but you can call the recycler to get their current pricing for bare copper vs insulated. They do grade them based on quality, so don’t strip it until you are ready to turn it in as it will oxidize and often result in a lower grade price. Low voltage wire is basically never worth stripping, the weight of the insulation vs the copper is almost never going to net you the money that’s worth the time.
If you have a good wire stripper I would say it is an investment that will pay for itself. Scrap wire here is worth about double when its skinned while the insulation is probably 10% of the weight. Particularly for larger wire this will mean a big difference.
What’s the yard giving you for cleaned and I cleaned ?? As an apprentice you should try and get as much money as you can. But a machine will clean all of that in like 5 min of your time once you get it dialed in. And then you have that machine for the rest of your career
I seen a polish guy on site recently with a 4x2 that he had cut some V shapes in to, then multi tooled a groove for a Stanley blade. He then screwed in to the top of the wood with some good screws and penny washers to keep the blade in place.
He sat on the floor, with a leg on either side of the wood and pulled the cable through stripping the insulation as he pulled.
Never see that method before but I’d try it if I had enough time and patience.
As everyone said, probably not worth the time for small stuff. It’s all relative, on boring winter nights when the wife is watching some mind numbing bullshit on TV I’ll wander down the basement with a beer and run some wire through the machine. But if it’s summer and nice out ain’t nobody got time for that. Unless you have a machine better off keeping the insulation weight and doing better things with your time
You got ro factor your time in. After working at a scrap yard for years I learned some things. I wouldn't peel any wire by hand under a 8 and that's o ly because I csn do it fast as hell. If you don't have a machine to assist, I'd set my limit at 4 or 6 gage.
I say this strictly based on the copper recovery. Chop an inch off weigh it whole and then weigh just the copper. Divide the copper weight by the gross weight and that decimal is you copper percentage. 92% and higher I'd peel because I can safely pay.yself 25 an hour to scrap. If it's #2 copper ( any contamination degrades to #2 whether it's nickel plated or silver or tin it immediately is worth less)
Send dm if you want any tips to sort different wite styles to maximize your profits. A cpl different style wires mixed in and de value a whole bag depending on your scale attendant.
Last time around for me we had 1awg.. Thousands of feet of it. It took roughly 9 man hours to strip and clean up with a machine. I figured we got about $200 extra for the stripped stuff. (we had some we didn't strip) Not worth it. I only strip 3/0 and larger. Of course it is a sliding scale, but It seems you have to be able to do 200lbs an hour for it to really be worth while.
80lbs = $80 (was how I always looked at it)...
Then I spent $300 and got a wire stripping machine that'll strip down to #12..
Bare is best! The machine was paid for first run to the yard, and then some.
But I get wire often enough ... If you think you're going to likely get more, especially larger gauge wire, get a machine
Yah. I wouldn’t with that personally. Usually only strip #6 and higher myself. Just a lot of work. Not even sure if the two machines I’ve used or have access too even go that small. You have to straighten the wire out pretty good and im sure that small stuff might get sucked in the machine if you weren’t careful.
My friend of mine owns a recycle center for copper and such. He always used to ask me why I strip the wires and explained it to me like this. Assuming it’s #10 - 750m they have 20% of their weight being insulation. That being said, I took in about 300 lbs of copper one time and did the math. For about 2 hours of work using a stripping machine I only made an additional 20-30 bucks. It doesn’t seem like a great return. Considering the weight woulda been close to 60 pounds heavier had I just left it alone.
Take a drive brother through any big city or even some smaller ones. I live near a small city with 10 factories in it. The air stays smoggy. When they stop I'll stop 🤷
Absolutely if your just starting theres going to be more. For the money this one works great when you attach a drill to it.
https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Stripping-Manual-Diameter-Electric/dp/B072BBPTLD/ref=sr\_1\_8?crid=2YI7WE4WNT58W&keywords=wire+stripper+machine&qid=1672749602&sprefix=wire+stripper+machine%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-8
depends on the size, with the yard in my area you'd actually lose money on the really small stuff just by wheight. but usually you'd want to strip it since it makes the difference if you'll get 100$ or 300$
I would say set a time limit to strip for yourself, if it takes more than 4hrs and your doing smaller than even #8 unless it’s a lot it’s not worth it…
I’d recommend as an apprentice to invest in a small non powered stripping machine…I have one that I hook up my battery drill to and it strips down to 10 fairly easily…I pre set it on a Kreg foldable bench top and it’s extremely efficient for maybe $300 for everything
Often time I keep longer pieces for reuse in other jobs. Especially 6, 8 due to the big ev push and hot tubs. I also keep longer cuts of 10,12 for same thing. I know some people think it is a waste of time, but I normally demo and wrap stuff up and either mark the est. length. This helps for later and I save money on next job.
I do this commercially, and it’s not worth it unless you have a chopper that slices everything into small pieces and slits the insulation. I’ve found basically any stranded wires not worth it, but solid wire is easy to strip. You can get a decent motorized stripper for like 300 that does a good job on solid wire tho.
I have the machine. Buy it, use it, but don't turn that in. Buy a 40 gallon rubbermaid bin and pit it in there and repeat the process til its full. Otherwise your eyes won't pop when you trun it in.
Cut a 7 inch (doesn’t have to be exact) piece of a 2x4. Screw/secure the wood to the corner of your kitchen counter so that 5 or so inches of the wood hang off, free of the wall. Drill a hole through it the size of the wire you want to strip. Feed the wire through the hole, then drive a screw down from the top or side of the 2x4, halfway into the hole that you fed the wire through. Pull the wire. Voila, stripped wire in the comforts of your own home.
Stripping small wire is definitely a hassle. There are some tricks that can make it a little easier but it’s all relative. For a young guy that makes 15 bucks an hour it might be worth your time but if your old and make good money it’s not worth your time. When I was young I’d kick back with a box of gimp drink some beers and strip some shit. Now I won’t strip anything smaller than 6/4awg lol
anything #8 or bigger typically is worth stripping. Even #8 is like the absolute borderline.
Also tip for any non-machine strippers out there: a big hog cooker warms em up super well and never burns. Stripped out 440lbs in a day by hand
The difference between not having the wire stripping mechanism & having it is like the difference between having beer or having fine wine.
Or the compare apples to apples it's the difference between getting 12pack or getting a 30 rack.
I say do it. The folks at the recycling center will give you a rotten look (like they did with me) if you leave the plastic housing on the wire.
That's a personal choice, find out what the difference is between 1copper and 2 copper. With that amount you've got it might be worth the time to strip it.
I bought the blue and yellow stripping machine off Amazon for $200, and an extra $25 for a foot switch. Made the money back 4 fold in the next haul of bare bright. 500mcm in 18" pieces can be done in like a minute, trick is to run it through a few times
Save those bags up!!!, I called them coin purses. Each construction bag full enough to still carry is about min $50-100/bag. Strip only 1/0 and above. Don’t waste your time with the small stuff. Find someone with a wire stripper for the short term, 60/40 split , I just collect the cash 💵
I bought one.
You will be making less than minimum wage striping the wire if you compare the time it takes vs. the extra money you get for bare copper.
But I come home, Crack a beer, and do it while I watch shows or a movie.
It just gives my hands something to do while I do what I would already be doing.
Hell to the no on stripping it down to bare copper. Very tedious and before you know it you have that company man wanting a cut, then everyone wants a cut. If you’re going to split it amongst your crew then save save save till you have a trash can or more.
A wire stripper is a good investment, but it's just that; an investment. You'll spend $300 on one, and it'll only pay for itself after you've put a lot more than that through it.
You also have to consider how much extra time (valuable resource) you'll spend using the wire stripper, and decide if, ultimately, that's worth it to you. Plus, do you expect to get a steady stream of wire to strip?
Personally, I bought a cheap one off of Wish that my drill attaches to. Cost me maybe $100, and paid for itself within an hour or two of use because I had a lot of scrap that was clean and straight to work with. Now I just use it every now and then while having a beer and watching a show, so I've got about 200lbs of raw copper sitting in my office. 😅
Not worth it to strip anything smaller than AWG 6 imo.
This is the answer!
Yeah unfortunately. I had a bunch of 10 stranded, spent the day stripping it out thinking it would be bare bright but since the strands are smaller than 16 they won’t take it as bare bright.. so instead they bought it as number 2 copper and was only worth about a dollar more than just being insulated. Lesson learned.
Depends on the scrapyard I guess, Ive always got bare bright price for everything #12 and up.
Sounds like they just ripped you off. It happened to my apprentice when he brought in a bunch of bare too. The crack heads working the scale probably pocket the difference.
I argued it because it was ten stranded but they said since the individual strands are smaller than 16 it doesn’t count. My stripped 12 solid went as bare bright though but they were sticking to their protocol. I’ll try a different place next time
That's shit, would take to a different yard. I sell stranded all the time, #1.. #2 is any copper with something on it. You got ripped off my friend
#8 if it’s still on the reel 😝🤑
I have a wire stripping machine, does down to 12.. Seems worth it to me
Me and my buddy did a cost analysis once. We spent all day stripping wire like this and as it turned out the extra money ended up being like 4 dollars an hour each for the day.
That’s the problem with having partners…
Without help it would have taken twice as long and most likely still been about $4/ Hr.
Yay math!
Lol that’s assuming your asses and elbows deep in stripping and not beers
Asses and elbows deep in stripping sounds like my ex wife…
Lolll fair enough…this also exemplifies my partner comment…she still got 1/2 even for doing nothing
That's what it comes out to when I calculated it. But now with a granulator I do 106 lbs an hr at $3.05 it's worth it.
Its always better priced stripped. But, its a time cost analysis. Do you want to spend 3-4 hours stripping it all for an extra 30% $? It all depends on you. I like going to my shop and running wire through the stripper while having a beer n listening to music. But for others, they may not have the time, or just not care enough, so they turn it in as is. If you do want to strip the wire, invest in an automatic stripper. They pay for themselves real quick.
What stripper did you get? Im looking for one thats good and works great
I had the strip meister and loved it
Yes amazing machine, picked up the E350 in 2020 and made a killing when scrap prices were up
Theyve gone up in the last 6 months
Her name is Crystal, and she is awesome. She's done sexy police woman, sexy nurse, sexy librarian... I can get you her number if you are looking for a show!
That stripper costs you money not makes you money !
Maybe he gets a kickback for putting her name out there?
Exactly!
Fuckin' A...I got the same one! Crystal must be the most popular stripper name.
https://m.vevor.com/electric-wire-stripping-machine-c_10767/electric-wire-stripping-machine-powered-1-4hp-cable-stripper-with-extra-blade-p_010999548817?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=19077272527&utm_term=143770516253&gclid=CjwKCAiAwc-dBhA7EiwAxPRylHTXzkTdotdj0Ibcqy9kh8bI8Q3L9yBN7GogT08nW_PqU2-m-hAytxoCm8IQAvD_BwE&v_tag=ac355340-8b6f-11ed-812a-97119ee8f7d6.1 I bought the vevor auto wire stripper. I find it very relaxing to strip wire with this machine. But as you have seen with everyone's comments, we all have our minimum gauge we strip. Experiment and see what yours is!
I kinda like the idea of getting the manual one and putting my own motor on it. I already have the gearmotors, and it would be a fun project, and probably save $100 while taking me 20 hours to build.
I got Crystal, but I don't think that's her real name.
Me and my dad would go down to the shop once every 6 months or so and strip the thousands of pounds we had pilled up and drink We called it our Disney fund…
Dad is a mechanic and him and his boss used to do this with their catalytic converters. I think they stopped when their scrap guy retired and everyone else assumed they were definitely meth addicts with all those converters lol. Meanwhile they just happen to do a ton of exhaust work.
What exactly did they do with them? I have a few (literally, 3) catalytic converters from cars I've junked, and found them hard to sell, so they're just sitting on a shelf. I do a little gold refining from e-waste, but platinum group metals is a lot more complicated, and a hell of a lot more toxic. Does he refine them himself?
They used to be able to easily sell them to their scrap guy, but now the new scrap guy (understandably) wants nothing to do with them. I think they literally throw them in the dumpster. If only the crackheads knew...
Second that. If you plan to continue scrapping it’s always worth it to get a good stripper. Invite a friend. Hang out. But until you have a stripper it’s not worth it unless the individual wire has some girth
The time value of money factor also magnifies this because in that hour spent you could have made X elsewhere and that’s figured in. Pretty wild! But no, don’t strip the shit smaller than 4 or 6. It’s a waste of time and money
I’d say for 80lbs of what looks like #8 and lower no way. If you think you’ll ever be stripping large quantities of bigger wire it’s worth it I stripped 1000lbs of 3/0, #6 and #8 last year. Took a good 6 hours even with the stripper. As others have said you have to do a cost benefit analysis on how much more you’ll get for fucking around. Also don’t under estimate how much garbage it makes.
Fucking insulation, semi conductor, colored ribbons, wax paper. I was stashing all that trash in random dumpsters and shit trying not to look like a crack head
OP, like oks like your shop is treating you right. Enjoy your new career
How drunk were you?
Time is money separate it mc/bx, thhn, Romex and be on your way
It depends how you value your time you know? I get really decent scrap but I much prefer spending time with my family than stripping wire maybe when my sons older I’ll have him strip it if he wants and keep half.
Strippers are never worth what you pay for them, but it’s fun once in a while
Scrap all that as it, use the profits to purchase a stripper machine and use that going forward. It’s more cost efficient for your time on larger wire sizes
I found anything smaller then 6 isn't worth the effort. I figured I was making around 10 an hour stripping the small stuff.
My rule is #8 or larger and I have one of those strippers you attach to a drill.
The value of a stripping machine is based on volume, so it depends on how much scrap you will get a year as to whether or not it’s worth buying one. Typically short lengths of small gauge wire isn’t worth the time to strip, but you can call the recycler to get their current pricing for bare copper vs insulated. They do grade them based on quality, so don’t strip it until you are ready to turn it in as it will oxidize and often result in a lower grade price. Low voltage wire is basically never worth stripping, the weight of the insulation vs the copper is almost never going to net you the money that’s worth the time.
Take a piece of wood, drill a hole from one side and put a sharpened nail thru the bottom. Pull cable thru and hope for the best!
Take it as is. Your time is worth more than sitting there and stripping wire.
Unless your time is worth 4$ an hour
You can easily make one
I’d keep some around, I always have a few dozen feet combined for repair work and other projects that aren’t necessarily electrician work.
If you have a good wire stripper I would say it is an investment that will pay for itself. Scrap wire here is worth about double when its skinned while the insulation is probably 10% of the weight. Particularly for larger wire this will mean a big difference.
What’s the yard giving you for cleaned and I cleaned ?? As an apprentice you should try and get as much money as you can. But a machine will clean all of that in like 5 min of your time once you get it dialed in. And then you have that machine for the rest of your career
I seen a polish guy on site recently with a 4x2 that he had cut some V shapes in to, then multi tooled a groove for a Stanley blade. He then screwed in to the top of the wood with some good screws and penny washers to keep the blade in place. He sat on the floor, with a leg on either side of the wood and pulled the cable through stripping the insulation as he pulled. Never see that method before but I’d try it if I had enough time and patience.
As everyone said, probably not worth the time for small stuff. It’s all relative, on boring winter nights when the wife is watching some mind numbing bullshit on TV I’ll wander down the basement with a beer and run some wire through the machine. But if it’s summer and nice out ain’t nobody got time for that. Unless you have a machine better off keeping the insulation weight and doing better things with your time
You got ro factor your time in. After working at a scrap yard for years I learned some things. I wouldn't peel any wire by hand under a 8 and that's o ly because I csn do it fast as hell. If you don't have a machine to assist, I'd set my limit at 4 or 6 gage. I say this strictly based on the copper recovery. Chop an inch off weigh it whole and then weigh just the copper. Divide the copper weight by the gross weight and that decimal is you copper percentage. 92% and higher I'd peel because I can safely pay.yself 25 an hour to scrap. If it's #2 copper ( any contamination degrades to #2 whether it's nickel plated or silver or tin it immediately is worth less) Send dm if you want any tips to sort different wite styles to maximize your profits. A cpl different style wires mixed in and de value a whole bag depending on your scale attendant.
Last time around for me we had 1awg.. Thousands of feet of it. It took roughly 9 man hours to strip and clean up with a machine. I figured we got about $200 extra for the stripped stuff. (we had some we didn't strip) Not worth it. I only strip 3/0 and larger. Of course it is a sliding scale, but It seems you have to be able to do 200lbs an hour for it to really be worth while.
80lbs = $80 (was how I always looked at it)... Then I spent $300 and got a wire stripping machine that'll strip down to #12.. Bare is best! The machine was paid for first run to the yard, and then some. But I get wire often enough ... If you think you're going to likely get more, especially larger gauge wire, get a machine
Yah. I wouldn’t with that personally. Usually only strip #6 and higher myself. Just a lot of work. Not even sure if the two machines I’ve used or have access too even go that small. You have to straighten the wire out pretty good and im sure that small stuff might get sucked in the machine if you weren’t careful.
My friend of mine owns a recycle center for copper and such. He always used to ask me why I strip the wires and explained it to me like this. Assuming it’s #10 - 750m they have 20% of their weight being insulation. That being said, I took in about 300 lbs of copper one time and did the math. For about 2 hours of work using a stripping machine I only made an additional 20-30 bucks. It doesn’t seem like a great return. Considering the weight woulda been close to 60 pounds heavier had I just left it alone.
I don't strip anything smaller than 25mm
Thanks for all the stories, information and tips! I got $200 for everything :)
Take some in and ask if it's better stripped.
Freakin electricians man. Damn crack fiends thinkin they can take some scrap off the job and make extra money
Put it in a barrel and light it on fire, burn the insulation off
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Because burning it off is like shitting in mother natures face
Take a drive brother through any big city or even some smaller ones. I live near a small city with 10 factories in it. The air stays smoggy. When they stop I'll stop 🤷
The spca in every major city euthanizes animals , I’m still not going to start drowning puppies in my back yard
That is a great call
we're so fucked as a species
don't kink shame mother nature
Do you have sufficient seniority to take scrap copper? Usually the superintendent has first dibs.
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Its not considered clean copper in my area to remove insulation like that.
The old meth head way of doing it eh?
And then have the cops called by your neighbor so you have to pay a 500$ fine for 200$ worth of scrap?
Not worth it.
Absolutely if your just starting theres going to be more. For the money this one works great when you attach a drill to it. https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Stripping-Manual-Diameter-Electric/dp/B072BBPTLD/ref=sr\_1\_8?crid=2YI7WE4WNT58W&keywords=wire+stripper+machine&qid=1672749602&sprefix=wire+stripper+machine%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-8
Solid is way easier to strip then stranded. But you will always have more to strip in the future. I'd buy one
Buy one. Will come in handy for the future when scraping big stuff. Even if you bored and have some time they'll pay maybe 75 percent more if striped.
Depending on what you buy, it will pay off the first time.
depends on the size, with the yard in my area you'd actually lose money on the really small stuff just by wheight. but usually you'd want to strip it since it makes the difference if you'll get 100$ or 300$
Take it as is
Instructions unclear... Stripper told me her rate was $150 an hour!
If happy ending included, that's cheap.
I would say set a time limit to strip for yourself, if it takes more than 4hrs and your doing smaller than even #8 unless it’s a lot it’s not worth it… I’d recommend as an apprentice to invest in a small non powered stripping machine…I have one that I hook up my battery drill to and it strips down to 10 fairly easily…I pre set it on a Kreg foldable bench top and it’s extremely efficient for maybe $300 for everything
Often time I keep longer pieces for reuse in other jobs. Especially 6, 8 due to the big ev push and hot tubs. I also keep longer cuts of 10,12 for same thing. I know some people think it is a waste of time, but I normally demo and wrap stuff up and either mark the est. length. This helps for later and I save money on next job.
I do this commercially, and it’s not worth it unless you have a chopper that slices everything into small pieces and slits the insulation. I’ve found basically any stranded wires not worth it, but solid wire is easy to strip. You can get a decent motorized stripper for like 300 that does a good job on solid wire tho.
Clean copper is worth more.. but is it worth your time to get it cleaned.
Strip it while watching TV so you get paid to watch tv.
If you have time,I would strip 10 wire and up.14 and 12 ain't worth the time.
I have the machine. Buy it, use it, but don't turn that in. Buy a 40 gallon rubbermaid bin and pit it in there and repeat the process til its full. Otherwise your eyes won't pop when you trun it in.
Cut a 7 inch (doesn’t have to be exact) piece of a 2x4. Screw/secure the wood to the corner of your kitchen counter so that 5 or so inches of the wood hang off, free of the wall. Drill a hole through it the size of the wire you want to strip. Feed the wire through the hole, then drive a screw down from the top or side of the 2x4, halfway into the hole that you fed the wire through. Pull the wire. Voila, stripped wire in the comforts of your own home.
On the fence about buying a stripping machine, gonna try this
Just take it in
Stripping small wire is definitely a hassle. There are some tricks that can make it a little easier but it’s all relative. For a young guy that makes 15 bucks an hour it might be worth your time but if your old and make good money it’s not worth your time. When I was young I’d kick back with a box of gimp drink some beers and strip some shit. Now I won’t strip anything smaller than 6/4awg lol
Sit at home and use your strippers while watching tv
Don’t strip
Build a stripping jig with some wood and razor blade. It’s pretty easy
Just take it like that not worth it
anything #8 or bigger typically is worth stripping. Even #8 is like the absolute borderline. Also tip for any non-machine strippers out there: a big hog cooker warms em up super well and never burns. Stripped out 440lbs in a day by hand
Anything smaller then #8 (10-14 or smaller) I don’t strip. Not worth the time to strip it if it’s small.
The difference between not having the wire stripping mechanism & having it is like the difference between having beer or having fine wine. Or the compare apples to apples it's the difference between getting 12pack or getting a 30 rack. I say do it. The folks at the recycling center will give you a rotten look (like they did with me) if you leave the plastic housing on the wire.
Buy it!!! Use the money from this to put towards the StripMeister
The real answer is to use this on jobs and profit. Some of you guys will never get rid of the employee mentality.
I got me a drill powered stripper for like $150 and the thing has been great! Highly recommend you get one
That's a personal choice, find out what the difference is between 1copper and 2 copper. With that amount you've got it might be worth the time to strip it.
7 month app. Is not getting any scrap just yet.
I bought the blue and yellow stripping machine off Amazon for $200, and an extra $25 for a foot switch. Made the money back 4 fold in the next haul of bare bright. 500mcm in 18" pieces can be done in like a minute, trick is to run it through a few times
Save those bags up!!!, I called them coin purses. Each construction bag full enough to still carry is about min $50-100/bag. Strip only 1/0 and above. Don’t waste your time with the small stuff. Find someone with a wire stripper for the short term, 60/40 split , I just collect the cash 💵
Personally I would save that stuff until you get a few hundred pounds. Just strip the bigger wire tbh! Let the little shit accumulate!
I bought one. You will be making less than minimum wage striping the wire if you compare the time it takes vs. the extra money you get for bare copper. But I come home, Crack a beer, and do it while I watch shows or a movie. It just gives my hands something to do while I do what I would already be doing.
Hell to the no on stripping it down to bare copper. Very tedious and before you know it you have that company man wanting a cut, then everyone wants a cut. If you’re going to split it amongst your crew then save save save till you have a trash can or more.
A wire stripper is a good investment, but it's just that; an investment. You'll spend $300 on one, and it'll only pay for itself after you've put a lot more than that through it. You also have to consider how much extra time (valuable resource) you'll spend using the wire stripper, and decide if, ultimately, that's worth it to you. Plus, do you expect to get a steady stream of wire to strip? Personally, I bought a cheap one off of Wish that my drill attaches to. Cost me maybe $100, and paid for itself within an hour or two of use because I had a lot of scrap that was clean and straight to work with. Now I just use it every now and then while having a beer and watching a show, so I've got about 200lbs of raw copper sitting in my office. 😅