Longtime 'stripper' turns entrepreneur

California inventor markets device to speed large-scale wire stripping

(EMAILWIRE.COM, September 02, 2001 ) Santa Ynez, Calif - Jeff Adkins knows about wire strippers. His business is stripping insulation from scrap wire on a custom basis, and in 15 years of dealing with contractors, wholesalers and scrap dealers, he guesses he has stripped 100 tons of wire. After trying all the strippers he could buy, he decided none could do the job he wanted.

So he designed and built his own, and now he has applied for a patent on the design and has gone into business manufacturing and selling it. “They’re starting to catch on. I’ve sold 46 so far, and word’s getting around,” Adkins said of his $320 machine. Before he started building his stripping machines, Adkins’ fulltime business was setting up in the yards of owners of large quantities of wire and stripping the material for them for 20 cents per pound. The owners could then sell the wire, Adkins said. It was hard work, but he found it was easier with his home-built stripper, which evolved into the device he sells today. “Guiding and adjustment are everything if you want your stripper to work right, and those are what my machine does right. You have to cut the insulation, but you don’t want the cutter to touch the conductor. If it does, it makes a mess and you end up getting cut handling the stuff,” he said.

Adkins’ machine has a fine thread adjustment for the cutter, replaceable thin brass shim stock guides, and accommodation for wire from 14 gauge to 1½ inches in diameter, including high-voltage wire with shielding. The 9-pound, 18-inch-tall device can be mounted on a bench or clamped in a vise. It takes out most kinks and bends in the wire as it strips, Adkins said.
“It’s meant to be operated only by hand, but you can do 50 pounds of wire an hour and more, and a take-up reel could be added to make it even more efficient,” Adkins said.

For information, call Adkins at (805) 344-4818