Loading…

Dropped $180 on a Milwaukee cable stripper and it paid for itself in two days | Cable Installers - Pinecone Attack

Dropped $180 on a Milwaukee cable stripper and it paid for itself in two days

I was out on a job last week in an old building downtown, pulling coax through drop ceilings full of rat droppings and rusted supports. My old Klein strippers kept slipping on the jacket and I was wasting time re-stripping every damn cable. So I grabbed a Milwaukee cable stripper from the supply house on my lunch break, cost me around $180 with tax. That thing cuts through the jacket clean on the first try every time, no nicks on the inner conductor. I knocked out 22 drops in one afternoon without a single do-over. The boss even noticed and said I was moving faster than usual. Has anyone else shelled out for a high end stripper and felt like it was worth the money? Or did you find a cheaper trick that works just as good?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel_martinez846mo ago

I stripped coax for about 8 years before I finally dropped the cash on a quality stripper. I mean, it's funny how we'll spend $50 on coffee in a month without thinking twice but balk at a tool that makes our actual work easier. That Milwaukee sounds like a beast, my buddy got one last year and he said the same thing about the clean cuts. It's like those cheap plastic lawn mowers versus a nice Toro, you pay more upfront but you save time and frustration in the long run. Maybe it's just me but I've noticed that with a lot of stuff - the cheap option ends up costing you more in the end when you factor in the wasted time and the do-overs.

the_joseph5mo ago

The coffee comparison is solid but you're being a little generous to Milwaukee there. They make great tools, no doubt, but their coax strippers have had some quality control issues lately. I've had two warranty claims on the same model in three years. The cutting blades don't hold their edge as long as they used to. If your buddy got one last year and it's still working perfect, he's probably one of the lucky ones with the good batch. I'd still take it over a budget stripper any day, just don't expect it to last forever like the old ones did.