Electric pliers are used for electrical connections, with special cutters to cut wire and remove outer coating. Rubber-coated handles protect from electric shock, and markings indicate correct size wire. Over-crimping can damage the connection. Separate wire cutters are recommended to protect the pliers.
Electric pliers are used when working with electricity and making electrical connections. Special cutters on the pliers allow you to use them to cut wire to size and to remove the outer coating of the wire as well. With the protective coating removed, the wire is ready for a connector to be crimped into place using electrical pliers.
Typically, electric pliers have rubber-coated handles to help protect the user from electric shock. It is important that the grips are kept clean and free of grease or any similar electrically conductive material which could assist in transferring electricity from the grippers to an operator. Any signs of tears or gouges in the protective insulation coating of the pliers handles should be grounds for tool replacement or repair.
While most electric pliers come with a wire cutter, the typical professional electrician will use a separate pair of wire cutters to cut the wire. This is done to protect the pliers from frequent shear pressure stress, which could cause the pliers jaws to distort. Any jaw alignment distortion could result in a poor quality crimp when attaching a connector to wire. While electrical professionals may use multiple tools, the average homeowner might use a pair of pliers for all household tasks involving electrical connections.
The stripping, cutting, and crimping areas of most pliers used for electrical work are clearly marked for the correct size wire you intend to use. If the marks deteriorate or cannot be read for any reason, it is best to use a larger size cutter or extractor instead of a smaller size when guessing which cutter to use. The larger cutter will cut the wire leaving a rough edge on the protective coating, and this will not affect the connection in any way. Using too small a cutter, however, will result in cutting several strands of wire and creating a connection that could potentially overheat and fail.
There is no need to fully crimp an electrical connection when crimping a connector onto a wire. Crimping a connector too tightly with electrical pliers damages the connection by breaking the fine wires within the crimp. This damage can cause the connector to come loose or completely detach from the wire. The crimp only needs to grip the wire tightly to effectively create a connection.
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