Re: HA tool recommendations

["kw1816" <kw1816@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

FWIW I've always thought working with cables is about 50% tool and
50% practice and experience. I've always stripped just about any
sort of cable the same way - nibble the outer insulation with a
sharp pair of side cutters and then pull with the jaws at a slight
angle. Mind you, I've been doing that since I started work at 16
which was *cough* a few years ago. No doubt it's deeply frowned upon
and totally wrong :-)

As for tools - If you're using IDC punch down blocks, buy the best
punch down tool you can. You won't regret it. My other 'best tool
ever' recomendation goes to fibreglass cable rods - the sort you
screw together. Beats trying with a bent coathanger any day. More
first fix than second though ...

Ta
Kevin W.

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "JonShaw" <semi.jon@...> wrote:
>
> So far I've mainly done first-fix work but now beginning to enter
2nd-fix
> and I am finding it slow.  I have some watch makers screw drivers,
a Stanley
> knife and a soldering iron.
>
> I am finding stripping stranded Cat5 conductors (for Idranet and
sensors) a
> bit hit and miss, sometimes I knick the wire so a number of
strands are
> lost.  I bought a "parrot" type "automatically
adjusting" stripper
and that
> is also a bit crude.  I have yet to attempt anything with the
CT100 laid so
> I wondered .
>
>
>
> What are the most useful tools in your HA tool-box?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Jon
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>