And you would NEVER guess what it is. You all probably have some of it already, and all of us, except for the ones that live near the equator, are using it every day. DSC_5806.jpg

Antifreeze!!!!!! Get one of those little $10 crock pots from walmart. Fill it with the antifreeze and turn on high. Give it a couple of hours to get up to temp, ya know those things are slow to get hot. Now put your wire in it and leave it two or three hours. It may take less time but I know three should get it all off. Pull the wires out and rinse with water, and your ready for solder.

And a good thing about this remover is that it is cheap as you can use the left overs in your mini van, and it does not attack the copper like the salt/lye solution does, the wire in the picture was stripped two days ago. And it's much much more safe. So with this method you do not have to hurry to get the soldering done before the copper turns blue with corrosion.


It's hard to tell in the picture but every bit of the varnish is gone and the copper is shiny on the wires at the top. The wires at the bottom are also completely stripped, but the copper took on a dull textured look. That's because I let the bottom wire soak overnight with the pot set on warm, after a one hour soak with it on high. I think either would be fine as I am pretty sure that even the dull copper will take solder after a good fluxing. I'll flux and solder them later and will let you'all know the results, but I'm all but positive that there won't be a problem.

Most of you will never need something like this, but for those few of you that may have cut your motor leads a little shorter and now that insulation is keeping you from soldering them back together and attaching a connector to them. I'll make up something and take a picture of it, to demonstrate how to soak the motor leads without dunking the whole motor in the pot. (That wouldn't turn out to well!)