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How to Choose a Wire Stripper

Choosing a wire stripper that best suits your needs can be overwhelming, especially for someone who has little previous experience using one. Due to the large variety of scrap wire types as well as different customer needs, there is no such thing as a "one-type-fits-all" wire stripper and there won't be one in the foreseeable future, either.

To help you navigate through the process of choosing a wire stripper that you will be happy to use, both now and in the future, we have put together a number of different approaches to narrowing down your choices. Each approach is trying to attack the problem from a different angle. You may want to read through all of them, which should give you a better picture afterward.

  • What budget do you have?
    Generally speaking, having a larger purchasing budget often means you have a greater amount of wire to strip. A larger model is probably what you should look at. By design, larger models (regardless of the number of input holes or the power source) are better suited for heavy duty use. For example, steel frames are stronger than aluminum frames at a similar size; thicker steel frames handle stress better than thinner ones; a larger machine size provides room for bigger bearings that can survive repeated crushing forces that will break smaller bearings over time.

  • What type of wire do you process?
    Many of you just deal with a few types of wires. For example, if you are an electrician specializing in residential buildings, you only expect a handful types of small wires. For another example, if your source of wire is from a utility company, you probably will only get a few types of large wires. In these cases, you may want to choose a machine that is best for certain types of the wire, as opposed to multifunction models. On the other hand, if you get all sort of wires imaginable, for example, you operate a scrap yard or you are a weekend hobbyist who has hundreds of friends from all walks of live, a multifunction machine may be your best bet. Not only because it is capable of gobbling up more types of wires, it also eliminate the need of frequent machine adjustment, as needed by other more dedicated models.

  • Would you like a small tool that you can carry around?
    Sometimes, even when you have already got a bigger wire stripper, you will still find a bench top stripper a nice supplement. You can carry it with you where you don't expect to be stripping wires or your larger model is impractical (absent of power source, noise concern, etc). Our handheld model (CT-102) and bench top model (Model 210) are light-weight and small-sized, ready to travel with you.
  • How much time are you looking to spend on processing your wire? 
    In this industry time is money and every minute counts. Our machines are priced according to their efficiency level which helps us quickly determine a suitable machine for the customer. If this is a hobby for you on the weekends while you kick back in the garage then our lower priced machines like the CT-302 or CT-402 are great options with little investment. If you are planning to use the machine at your business or on a job site, then efficiency is most-likely very important! Our automatic copper wire stripping machine CT-500 is a very efficient option with a powerful 3HP motor, patented features, and 200 ft/min processing speed. Time can be a vital factor which machine you end up with. 

  • What is your anticipated volume per month?
    Understanding the goal you are trying to achieve will always play a crucial role in the machine you want to purchase. With a full range of copper recovery solutions you may find yourself at a crossroads between multiple machines. If you are a scrap yard, demolition company, or electrician you can find yourself coming across not only a variety of wires, but also an abundance of it. Sometimes a wire stripper is the best option for your operation and other times you may find yourself considering granulator or chopper. If you regularly see 20k+ lbs. of wire a month you may want to consider an even larger investment in our copper granulator CT-610. This machine is both efficient, and easily operated by 1 employee. If you are unsure if this is the right machine for you, reach out to the CopperMine team we are here to help you.   

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