Took me 5 years to realize I was stripping coax wrong

I was at a job last week in an apartment building downtown and the customer's TV kept cutting out. I checked everything, connectors, splitters, even the drop. Then the old guy who lives there walks over and watches me for a minute. He says 'you're nicking the copper, that's your problem.' I had been stripping cable with the cheap tool from my van kit and leaving tiny cuts on the center conductor for YEARS. He showed me his method using a utility knife at a specific angle. Fixed the signal loss on the spot. Has anyone else ever had a basic step embarrass them in front of a customer?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_craig10d ago

Humble pie tastes terrible, doesn't it? I actually used to think the cheap strippers were just fine for everything, figured it was the customer's gear or the line quality from the pole. Then a buddy of mine who's been in the game for decades watched me one day and pointed out the exact same thing. Those little nicks eventually turn into a break or a bad connection after a few heat cycles or vibrations. Now I use a proper stripper with a depth stop and I check the conductor with my fingernail before I crimp. Your mileage may vary, but that old guy saved you a lot of future callbacks.

brian30310d ago

Funny you mention the fingernail check, because that's something I've never heard anyone talk about before. Most guys just yank and go, but I started doing this thing where I run the stripped wire across my front teeth - sounds crazy but you can feel those tiny nicks way better than with a finger. Had a foreman catch me doing it once and just shook his head, but my connections hold up and his always seem to fail right when the weather turns cold.