Cable Preparation Tools

Cable preparation tools remove the layers of a shielded medium-voltage cable in the right order and to the right depth, which is the part of a termination or splice where the work is either right or the joint fails in service. A shielded cable is built in layers — jacket, metallic shield, semi conducting screen, insulation, conductor — and each has to come off cleanly without cutting into the one beneath. Semi-con scorers cut the semi-conducting layer to a controlled depth and no further, so it can be peeled away without scoring the insulation underneath; a nick in the insulation at that point becomes a stress concentration and eventually a fault. Prep kits gather the scorers, blades, dies and gauges for a given cable range into one case, so a crew arrives with the whole set rather than improvising with a knife, which is how insulation gets damaged. Adjustable depth settings let one tool cover a range of cable constructions. This is work where the right tool is not a convenience: the quality of the preparation is what the joint's life depends on. Match the kit to the cable range and construction being worked.