Automatic Wire Stripper (CS-55)

The distinction between those two figures catches people out, so it is worth being clear. Millimetres of diameter measure the whole cable including its insulation. Square millimetres measure the cross-sectional area of the copper itself, and that is what electricians actually specify and what determines current capacity. A 6mm² conductor is a substantial cable — the sort used for a shower circuit, a cooker feed or a sub-main — so this tool reaches from the finest signal and control wiring right up to heavy final circuits. That span is unusual in a single automatic stripper and it is the reason to choose this one: fewer tools in the bag, and one tool that does not stop halfway through a board.

The blade is quoted at hardness 55 to 60, on the Rockwell C scale. That is a meaningful figure rather than marketing. Below about 50 a blade edge deforms and rolls over in ordinary use and quickly stops cutting cleanly; much above 60 and it becomes brittle enough to chip. Fifty-five to sixty is the range good knife and cutter edges sit in — hard enough to hold a keen edge through thousands of strips, tough enough not to break out when it meets something it should not.

The action is bypass, meaning the edges pass one another like scissors rather than crushing against an anvil. That slices the insulation cleanly instead of squashing it onto the conductor, which is what keeps the copper unmarked. That matters because a scored or nicked conductor carries less current at that point, runs hotter, and is mechanically weakened exactly where it gets bent into a terminal — a fault that typically shows up months later as an intermittent connection or as heat in a consumer unit.

The buyers are electricians and electrical contractors working across mixed cable sizes, panel and control builders, solar PV installers, industrial maintenance electricians, and hardware dealers supplying trade customers.

Practical habits. Strip only the length the terminal requires, since exposed copper past a terminal is a genuine hazard and an obvious inspection failure. Present the cable squarely to the jaws. Clear insulation offcuts out of the mechanism regularly, because packed debris is the usual reason an automatic stripper starts stripping short or slipping. And test an unfamiliar cable once by eye before working through a whole installation. Ask on WhatsApp for a price, and tell us your usual cable sizes.