I always scrape enameled wire, and have never had a problem with breakage.? Use the *back* side of the Exacto blade or a razor knife to reduce chances of nicks.? That side is duller, but scrapes just fine.? A little less pressure also helps.
72,
Michael KD4SGN
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On 8/23/2018 11:52 AM, Glen Leinweber wrote:
With heat-stripping enamel, I scrape through first. Maybe not all the way around, but enough to allow soldering iron to meet fresh copper. It strips much faster, as Alan G8LCO suggests. Burnt residue still requires scraping off. With older high-temperature enamel, a thorough,complete scraping first is absolutely required, and it is visibly apparent when you've missed a bit after tinning. No burnt residue is left. This kind of enamel requires more prep work, which means that nicking copper is a bigger risk. Both types of enamel requires scraping IMO. And tinning with fluxed solder is absolutely required IMO - the risk of remnant nearly-invisible enamel is too great: tinning exposes it. I'd rather put in a full scraping effort, and be assured that enamel is gone for sure, with a clear transition from tinned copper to insulating enamel - that favours the high-heat non-striping enamel.
