[Boatanchors] Tools for Coax?

[Mike McCarthy, W1NR]

There are tools that exist, but they are quite expensive.  The one tool I 
have is a coax cutter, which resembles a big cigar cutter and is made 
specifically to cut round cables without deforming them.

Here is how I do it.

Cut through the jacket, shield and insulation down to the center conductor 
with a razor utility knife.  Use a little extra length so that the exposed 
center conductor will go past the end of the tip.  A slit lengthwise will 
assist in taking off everything down to the center conductor.  Be careful 
not to knick the center conductor and weaken it.  Now you have the center 
conductor exposed.

Next, cut through the outer jacket to expose the shield.  Expose only enough 
shield to reach past the connector openings when the jacket is screwed down 
to the end of the threaded portion of the barrel of the connector.

Use a fairly hot iron (42W Weller with medium size rounded tip works well) 
to solder the braid to the connector openings using silver solder  (62/36/2 
alloy).  Be sure to have contact with the side of the opening as well as the 
braid.  The solder should flow over the hole and cover it.  If the connector 
is not hot enough, the solder will ball and won't flow smoothly.  Just keep 
the heat applied until it does.  Use enough solder to completely cover and 
seal the hole.  Then do the tip.  Same rules apply.  Be sure that the 
connector tip is hot enough.  Use of silver solder is recommended with 
silver plated connectors as non-silver solder causes the silver plating to 
leach off.

After you get used to doing a couple dozen, it gets to be routine, even when 
making a repair 110' up a tower.

Mike, W1NR

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eugene Hertz" <ehertz at tcaf.org>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 3:13 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Tools for Coax?


Hi there.

I am learning to work with coax and PL-259's. The coax I am working with is 
9914F (bury flex) which is .405 in diameter.  I am learning how to solder on 
these 259's but had a question.

Much of the effort (and errors) is with properly stripping and cutting the 
coax for the outer jacket, braid, inner jacket, center conductor.

In the past, I have played with the RG-6 type stuff and used a nifty cutter 
that had two blades in it. A few turns of this tool clamped onto the coax 
would cut the right depths and lengths for putting on those infernal F 
connectors.

So the question is, is there any tools analogous to the one used in the 
cable industry to make cutting/stripping of these large diameter coax cables 
easier/more accurate? Or do you just get the knack of it eventually?

Thanks
Eugene



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