Automatic Wire Cutter and Stripper

When you need to strip a bunch of wire to a certain length, you could bite the bullet and measure manually, then carefully cut over and over… and over. Or instead, you build a machine like the one shown here by Mr Innovative to do it for you.

This device pulls a roll of wire into the jaws of a normally manual cutter/stripper, where it strips and cuts the wire to the specified lengths. The feeding mechanism employs a NEMA 17 stepper motor to pull wire through, using a timing belt-style pulley setup that’s very similar to a 3D printer filament feeder. The wire travels through a tube, which can be shifted left and right via a servo to position it in the stripping or cutting section of the jaws. These jaws are then closed with a stepper motor and linkage system, cutting or stripping the wire as needed.

Wire length, the length of the stripped portions, and number of wires to be made are dictated by input to a Nextion 2.8” touchscreen HMI. The machine runs on an Arduino Nano, with stepper interface is via a pair of A4988 stepper drivers. A custom PCB links things together electronics-wise. While you wouldn’t need it for snipping a wire or two, if you need to produce tens or hundreds of identical wires, you’d likely be thankful to have it in your arsenal of tools!