PTS-40 Thermal Wire Stripper is battery powered tool, which far surpasses all previous devices in safety, versatility, speed, and economy.
The extremely thin heating element produces negligible amount of fumes and therefore the use of these strippers does not require special ventilation. The fumes produced by thick element designed tools should be exhausted.
The element design features two sections. Ringing section (a heated section where the insulation is thermally separated) and pulling section where the thermally separated insulation slug is wedged between two parallel edges of the stripping element for an easy removal. Adjustable gauge selector will block the entrance of the wedged conductor to the next and smaller opening thus preventing any scraping of the conductor. Although this section of the element also carries the current which heats the grooving section, it is not annealed (due to its greater widths and therefore much lower resistance) and it retains its hard temper. In addition, these edges are also supported by .025″ thick, hard temper element support. This will allow pulling a slug as long as 12″ without damaging the element. Please note that conductors # 24-30 AWG are stripped directly at the heated end of the stripping element. The inner surface area of these wires against the insulation is very small so there is no danger to damage the element while pulling off the slug. The stripping element is only .010″ thick (.008″ PTS-10) and therefore the thermally cut groove width is much narrower than the two element models offered by other manufacturers. This low mass thermal stripping technology means less power, faster heating time, shorter cooling time fewer fumes and higher quality strip. The longevity of the element is also greatly extended because the annealed portion of the element is used mainly for ringing (separating) the insulation rather than pulling off the slug.
Of course, there are no nicks because of the rounded edges of the stripping element. The heated section of the element is also protected by an element guard, thus reducing the risk of burns. The segmented design of the studs helps dissipate heat thus reducing the risk of burns even in prolonged use. The weight of the PTS-30 tool is 14oz. (0.4 kg.) and the weight of the PTS-3 adjustable temperature model is 5.2 oz. (0.150 kg.).
The flicker accessory is provided to flick off the sometimes wedged in insulation slug for continuous and uninterrupted stripping.
Each model is equipped with different element mounting hardware which must be assembled in a certain order otherwise the tool will not work properly. Please carefully observe close-up pictures of the 5 available models to see the difference in element mounting hardware. It is not economical to keep switching elements and hardware designed for other models in order to extend the wire stripping range of a single tool.