RG11 Cable Cutter for Steel Conductor

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Supporting Founder
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Oct 13, 2003
557
7
St Louis Metro East (Illinois)
Any experienced person(s) have a good recommendation for a coax cutting tool suitable for RG11 with copper clad steel center conductor? I recently got a good deal on Commscope 5916 but now realize its conductor is part steel and my cutting tool is only rated for CU & AL.

I want a decent quality but won't be making hundreds of cuts.

Thanks.
 
Not sure what cable preparation tool you are using, but as rule of thumb ...

As long as your prep tool has the proper cutback for the proposed connector and your prep tool doesn't score the center conductor; you should be OK. If you need to be more exacting, find out which prep tool is recommended by the connector manufacturer.
 
Cutting Tool not Prep Tool

The prep tool is a Sargent 8720ES. It works fine on Belden 7731A (CU center conductor) and I expect it will do the same on CS 5916. That is not the issue.
The cable cutter (severs the cable) states do not use on steel. The 5916 coax has a CU cladded STEEL center conductor. I don't want to ruin my cable cutter that is graded for CU and AL ONLY. I wasn't expecting this to be a difficult or tricky question.
 
Misunderstood that all you were looking for was a way to cut the cable.

Have been using the Klein 2000 series lineman pliers for cutting everything from RG-59 mini to .25" bolts since the 80's.

The typical cable cutter isn't rated for steel as you pointed out; but you would need to upgrade to something like this to get one that is AND leave the crisp perfect edges and assure the braid doesn't pull to resemble it.

If you won't be making lots of cuts, stick with the lineman pliers - cheaper an more versatile & with the lifetime warranty you'll never buy another pair again.
 
Good Advice

Thanks. Glad you understood the problem and I think your advice is sound. I just ordered the Klein 2000 series lineman pliers from the link you provided. Looks like they will be handy for other things around here. I suppose that one could always use the coax cutters first and simply not cut through the steel center conductor and then take the lineman pliers to execute the final coup de grace which should result in a coax cut not buggered up too bad. Of course if one is on the clock this procedure would be rather tedious. Definitely do want to pit the cutting edge of the rather expensive coax cutter.
 

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