Southwire Tools RS-101A Seatek Roto-Split Super BX Cable Armor Stripper , Gray

The media could not be loaded. It is the easiest way to cut armored / shielded cable in 10 seconds. With the quick-release lever, just adjust the nut once for the size of your cable, then just insert the cable, hold the clamp, squeeze and turn the arm a few times until you feel it spin free, release, and just twist off the armor (as shown towards the end of my video). It cuts only deep enough to cut the armor without cutting the wires within. Although it doesn't hurt to tug on the wires and peek to make sure they are fine, but after repeated use I found they were always perfect. You can try to cut by hand using wire snips (horrible) or by hacksaw (makes me uneasy to risk nicking a wire), but having the right tool like this make it like cutting butter. I would buy this over and over again for cutting shielded cable. It save me so much time and effort.We did a lot of cutting with this for a home improvement project on my own home, as I am an avid handyman in my own home. Actually my wife did most of the cutting with this one. We made a lot of cuts, and this made it easy and fast. I first tried to use wire snips like I do with normal electrical wire, and I spent an hour making slow, painful progress before giving up figuring there had to be another way. I don't trust the depth control by manually cutting with a hack saw. Having so many cuts ahead of us, we searched for and found this tool. And wow are we happy. I cannot attest to whether it will hold up to a pro using it every hour of every day, but for doing a lot of cutting for electrical work (outlets & lighting) that I was doing in my garage, it was perfect.The cutting blade rides the edge of the slot that it sticks through on mine. At first it seems to be a problem, but that is because there is a bunch of wax on the wheel or in the assembly that doesn't fit between the edge when you push it through at first, and seems like you are grinding the edge. But it easily works itself off, doesn't really even hinder the first cut you do, and by the end it is spinning freely without a problem at all. Even if it were to be a problem, I would happily just buy another because it saved us so much time and effort.The RS-101A has the quick release lever instead of only a nut that you have to re-tighten and loosen each time, which is great for cutting the same size cable over and over again.

I just wired an outdoor workshop with metal-covered cable, and I did it the hard way, nibbling at the metal with diagonal pliers, then cleaning up the burrs with needlenose pliers. I have worked with old steel-covered cable before, and that's easy enough to cut with a hacksaw, then break apart. However the newer MC cable is covered with thin, soft aluminum which is difficult to cut with a hacksaw, and then it bends rather than breaks apart.The Seatek Roto-Split is absolutely wonderful! It cuts the aluminum covering of MC cable literally in seconds, without nicking the wires, or even scratching the plastic wrapper around the wires. The loose end of the metal covering then pulls right off the cable. It is very easy to use, no fumbling or tricky adjustments, and it produces a very clean and neat cut. It is just great! It is very solidly made, and should last a lifetime.Note that there are a few versions of this tool. The one I bought, which is the one I recommend, is the RS-101A. This has a very quickly and easily adjustable handle that clamps the cable prior to cutting it. Typically, you adjust it once for your cable size, then use it repeatedly without any further adjustment. There is also an RS-101, but the cable clamp is much slower to use - not recommended. The RS-101AC has a fancier cable clamp, but I personally don't think it's a necessary feature.An extra bonus is that it is entirely Made in USA by a small business whose owner stands fully behind his products - it has a lifetime warranty. And he's not even greedy - he could easily charge twice as much, and people would buy it, the tool is that useful.I'm only sorry that it took me so long to come across this tool.

works great and well made. a definite time saver and produces a nicer result than I ever got using a hacksaw; don't know how I did without one of these in the past. I'm just a do-it-yourselfer. In the past I always assumed that you needed to cut BX cable at a 90 deg angle to the sheath; never occurred to me that you could get a nice cut by scoring two consecutive ribs. when using a hacksaw in the past I was always concerned about cutting into the wires. this unit prevents doing that in two ways; first because you're cutting lengthwise instead of across the cable; also because of the depth limiting feature. well worth the money for the convenience and results. definitely recommend.

Wish it had the quick adjust feature. It is my fault as I didn't look at the picture close enough but you do have to screw it tight to the mc cable before cutting, Others you can just squeeze the handle tight and that is what puts pressure on the cutting blade to cut the metal jacket

Update: what a worthless piece of over priced junk. Since my initial review it’s fallen apart several more times. Don’t waste your $ on this poorly designed/produced ‘tool’. I’ve since moved on to Ideal’s Sir Nickless which is excellent. It’s a far simpler design with less moving parts and it strips even small cable (like 16/2firm alarm cable).This is one of those love/hate reviews. Nothing else seems to do the job but this tool. However it’s not durable. So far it’s fallen apart once but I managed not to lose any parts. Also the stock blade lost all its teeth after making 10 or so cuts in Al armor. This is the last one I’ll buy.