Longtime 'stripper' turns entrepreneur

California inventor markets device to speed large-scale wire stripping

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 $450 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