For general-purpose everyday work, the best wire stripper is still the humble T-stripper.



They're available in a couple of different size ranges. Unless you commonly work with 30ga bus wire, just buy the 16-26 AWG version.

This is one tool wherein it doesn't cost much to get good quality. Buy from Klein, Ideal, Gardner-Bender, etc. Shouldn't be more than $10-15 for a good one.

Also, you don't need to go to Fry's for this. Home Depot and Lowe's sell them as well.

 

I have those, no need for something like these?

I have a ton of wiring work to do.

 

Those are the type of strippers I use and I love them. I think my stripper is 3-5 years old and it still works like a champ.

How much is a ton of wiring? We had both types of strippers at my old job and unless you are stripping several hundred wires all at once the fancy expensive types are not needed.

 

Absolutely not.

90% of strippers like that are utter ****. Heck, even the good ones aren't great. When I first started working for Harris, they gave us all a stripper of that design which was probably a $100 unit from Panduit or some other high-end manufacturer. It sucked. On smaller wires in particular, it was really difficult to get the tension adjusted properly so that it actually removed the insulation (rather than just shaving it) without also nicking the conductors. We quickly gave up on them and went back to T-strippers.

This is one area where simpler is better. Unless you're doing bench work with hundreds of terminations at a time, and using the super-duper high-end automatic strippers that look like an electric pencil sharpener, stick to the basics. It's what the pros do.

 

More than you ever wanted to know about USB chargers.

Ken Shirriff's blog: A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is very good, but not quite the best

tl;dr -- Turns out the chinese cheapies really do suck.

 

The leading cause of explosive, watery, painful diarrhea?


Outback. Steak. House.

 

I think you misspelled Taco Bell.

 

That is so true it isn't even funny.

 

so my 2 month old baby was sleeping on my lap on his back like this:



when my 18.5 lb cat Riley:


(totally freaky: he's sitting in that same spot, in the same position--crossed paws and all,with the same pillow behind him but this photo is from August)

jumps up on the couch and walks across the kid's stomach.

My wife and I were both shocked and concerned and what happened? Baby did not wake up. Just kept sucking on the pacifier. Our laughing almost woke him.

 

^ cat's jealous, keep an eye on it.

 

I have this habit, when I'm looking to purchase a car, of fixating on a certain model, doing a ton of research, and then realizing that due to a combination of age or unpopularity, it's extremely unlikely that I'll find a good condition example for a decent price with a few hundred miles of my location.

Right now I'm looking for a 1992-1994 Nissan Maxima SE with a manual transmission in any color but that terrible purple-red. I don't know why I do this.

 

That cat does not look 18.5#s. Is it a main coon?
EDIT: OK it does actually...or thats a really small chair

 

hes a big boy.

 

I have done this a number of times, eventually giving up on a certain car. I had my 3-series shipped in from the opposite corner of the country because I decided on a very particular set of options, colors, etc.

I also like to spend 6 months researching cars and making a decision on which one to buy, then get impatient if I can't find that car within 2 weeks and pull the trigger on the first one I find.

 

*sigh*

A few hours after I wrote that, this car was listed locally:

1994 Nissan Maxima GXE

So close. So close.

 

Step 1: buy automatic, remove transmission.
Step 2: Buy 5-speed transmission and harness, install.
Step 3: ?????
Step 4: Profit.

 

I ended up getting a 2007 Nissan Altima SE a couple weeks back.



So far I love it. I made sure I got the 3.5 though, same motor as the Maxima/G35. Paired with the CVT tranny it makes good use of its power.

The car gets good MPG, has plenty of space for all my **** I carry around, looks nice while blending in with normal traffic and most of all, its fun to drive.

Sure its not "turbo miata" fast or fun, but its more reliable and more responsible. I'll keep the miata as my weekend toy rather than my DD. lol

 

GXE only had 160 hp too, the SE had 190. GXE auto 2 steps removed from what I would want.

 

ew ******* disgusitng nissans. you are not men

 

K.