Frequently asked questions about Knipex pliers
- 22 Sep, 2021
Knipex is a famous high-end hand tool brand from Germany. The Knipex pliers line is the company's flagship product with a long history and excellent quality. In the article below, let's find out about frequently asked questions about Knipex pliers .
I. Frequently asked questions about Knipex pliers
II. Buy genuine KNIPEX pliers on ESHOP phuthaitech.com.vn
I. Frequently asked questions about Knipex pliers
1. Are blue and red handles suitable for electricians?
In principle, the plastic used by KNIPEX is thermally insulating and electrically insulating, but this property is not tested on the blue and red handles. Other design features of the IEC 60900 standard, such as anti-slip, are also not met.
Therefore, pliers with blue-red handles are not allowed to work on electrical systems or work on energized parts.
KNIPEX COMBI PLIERS CHROME PLATED BODY 225 MM LONG 02 05 225
2. Are there spare parts for Knipex pliers?
KNIPEX offers replacement parts for many tools with interchangeable parts. However, replacement parts are not usually listed in the sales catalogues as they are rarely required. Please contact KNIPEX or the dealer where you purchased the tool.
COBRA ES KNIPEX 87 51 250 WATER PLIERS
3. Are there special insulation strippers for rubber cables?
For materials such as rubber cables, we recommend the 12 12 XX precision wire strippers. These work with two pairs of precision blades that cut through the insulation around the entire circumference of the cable.
Therefore, this type of pliers is suitable for difficult materials such as rubber, PTFE or silicone. There are a total of more than 40 special knife sets for this type of pliers for a variety of applications.
4. Can Knipex pliers cut flat hard materials?
Hard materials cannot be cut with pliers. There are physical reasons for this:
- For flush cutting, the cutting edge of the pliers should not have an outside bevel.
- Single-sided cutting creates very large lateral compressive forces on the cutting edge when cutting at the tip. These bend the cutting edge or cause cracks.
- Flat cutting, works only with soft materials such as lead, copper, soft brass or plastic without damaging the cutting edges.
KNIPEX HEAVY DUTY SPRING CUTTING PLIERS 180 MM 74 12 180
5. Can the cutting edges of the pliers be sharpened?
Theoretically, it is possible with a lot of skill and the right tools such as a fine grinding wheel or a fine diamond file, but there is a risk that the shape of the cutting edge will be altered, which could affect the cutting performance.
In addition, by reworking the cutting edges, the cutting range of the pliers becomes narrower, because the hard cutting area is “worn away” and becomes thinner. If re-sharpened with a grinder, the hardness may be reduced due to the heat generated during the grinding process. The time, effort and risk of re-sharpening are very large, so users often do not re-sharpen.
KNIPEX SUPER KNIPS® ELECTRONIC CUTTING PLIERS 125 MM LONG 78 03 125
6. How can I cut the cable tie?
Cable ties are usually made of high-quality plastic with high tensile strength. When cutting with pliers, large frictional forces arise between the plastic of the cable tie and the steel of the pliers' cutting blades. The wider and thicker the cable tie, the greater these forces. The surface of the cutting edges and their wedge angles also have a great influence on the cutting force generated.
Our recommendation is a precision electronic diagonal cutter from the 79 series, e.g. 79 22 125 or diagonal cutters for plastic from the 72 series, e.g. 72 01 160.
7. How to keep pliers from rusting?
Steel rusts as soon as it comes into contact with water and oxygen. However, if it is coated with a waterproof layer, it will not rust. Such layers can be, for example, an oil or grease film, a lacquer layer or an electroplated layer made of a non-rusting material such as nickel or chromium.
A film of oil or grease is the simplest method of rust prevention. This is especially effective on smooth surfaces, which is why the pliers are polished to a smooth finish, sometimes even to a mirror finish. The lacquer will also wear off with heavy use, but this heavy use will usually prevent rusting where the lacquer has worn off.
In general, you should store your pliers in a dry place. If condensation cannot be prevented, you should use chrome plating. Almost all KNIPEX pliers are chrome plated.
KNIPEX CHROME PLATED DIAGONAL CUTTING PLIERS 140 MM LONG 70 05 140
8. Standards for electrical conduit ends: What type of conduit ends are allowed?
The German standard for conduit ends DIN 46228 part 1 + 4 does not specify the method or geometrical shape of the extruded tubes. It is only necessary to ensure that the connection between the tube and the accompanying cable meets the conditions specified in DIN VDE 0609 Part 1.
9. What can be used to cut rope/wire for the marine industry.
Thick ropes and marine ropes can be cut with cable shears, except for fine-grain Kevlar® ropes (e.g. 95 12 200). The handy cutter for flexible hoses and conduits KNIPEX PlastiCut® 90 20 185 also works very well for ropes up to 25 mm in diameter.
Our Tip: Wrap the wire with tape where you want to cut it to prevent fraying/twisting.
10. What can be used to cut thin, thin-walled copper tubing (e.g. on a refrigerator compressor) without the tubing being (completely) compressed?
Generally, copper pipes can be cut with cable cutters to the maximum diameter of the corresponding tool. However, it is inevitable that the pipe will be flattened when cut with pliers.
11. How many mm² can the crimping pliers crimp?
Application information on Knipex crimping pliers is usually only shown as a single number for each die due to space constraints. The engraving on the pliers indicates the largest cross section that can be processed.
However, smaller cross-sections can also be processed, in the same die. You can find out from the catalogue, the Knipex website and the packaging. For example, the KNIPEX 97 32 240 crimping pliers for cables and cable connectors have the information 1.5 / 2.5 / 6 mm², while it is actually suitable for sizes 0.5 - 1.5 / 2.5 / 4 - 6 mm².
KNIPEX 6IS 97 52 36 COS CRUSHER
12. What do the tempering symbols on pliers mean?
The small letters are tempering symbols or combinations of numbers and letters that serve to trace the origin of the tools.
13. What does "atramentized" on pliers mean?
Atramentizing is another term for phosphating and part of the rust protection concept.
However, pliers often do not provide enough corrosion protection to keep the pliers rust-free for a long time. It is quite normal for this layer to wear away permanently in the cutting edge area. The phosphate layer is an excellent primer for a lacquer coating to be applied over it.
14. What is the difference between the green-red handle and the yellow-red handle?
The blue-red handle is a two-component handle that offers the user greater comfort, for example: a plastic coating also insulates against cold and heat, thus increasing comfort when working in harsh conditions. The plastic used by KNIPEX also insulates against electric current. However, when an electrician works on electrical systems, special rules apply.
For Europe, these rules are standardized in the European standard EN 50110-1. These ratings apply to all electrical components that operate on mains current and cannot be disconnected from the power supply by pulling the plug. EN 50110-1 specifies tools for this purpose in accordance with the relevant standards. EN 60900 is binding here for Europe. It determines all the electrical, geometrical and mechanical properties of such tools. It also specifies how these properties are tested and how the tools are labelled.
The dielectric and yellow-red insulation of the safety tools meet all these requirements. The final test for each pair of KNIPEX insulated pliers is with a dielectric strength of 10,000 volts before being placed on the market. These requirements are not taken into account for the blue-red handles. Therefore, they are neither approved nor tested for electricians who are supposed to work on electrical systems. If tools with blue-red handles that are not VDE approved are used on electrical systems, the occupational insurance association will not be covered in the event of an accident.
KNIPEX INSULATED CUTTING PLIERS DIAGONAL 70 06 160
15. What is the maximum load that the crow's beak pliers can withstand?
KNIPEX pliers are hand tools, so Knipex has calibrated them to the loads that can be applied by hand. We consider the maximum load that can be applied by hand to be the load in which the user loads the pliers wrench with their muscular strength or their body weight (by lifting or hanging on it). We define our reference value with a 140 kg person. The pliers are designed so that they can withstand the maximum load without damage.
COBRA® KNIPEX® 87 01 125 SIZE 125MM
16. What type of oil is recommended for lubricating pliers?
Any industrial or regular motor oil is suitable for lubricating the pliers. Phu Thai recommends using motorcycle oil as it is easily available or using WD40 Dry.
17. Where does the term "Rabitzzange" come from?
The name "Rabitzzange" is named after Carl Rabitz, a master mason from Halle, who in 1878 invented the process of producing plasterboard walls using wire mesh.
18. Which crimping pliers are suitable for double terminals?
Self-adjusting crimping pliers are ideal for crimping double crimping terminals. There are crimping pliers with different capacities for different cable sizes.
The capacity range of the KNIPEX crimping pliers 97 53 04, 97 53 09 and 97 53 18 is up to 16 mm². Double pliers can also be crimped in these pliers with a total cross-sectional area of up to 16 mm² (i.e.: 2 x 8 mm²). If a double crimping tool measuring 2 x 16 mm² is required (total cross-sectional area: 32 mm²), the KNIPEX solution is the crimping system pliers 97 43 200 (A) with additional crimping socket 97 49 18 (capacity range 2 x 6, 2 x 10, 2 x 16 mm²).
COS KNIPEX TWISTOR® Pinch Pliers 16 MM 97 53 18
19. Why are the cutting edges of the KNIPEX Electronic SuperKnips® offset and not directly opposite each other?
The offset of the cutting edges of the KNIPEX Electronic SuperKnips® has been deliberately chosen for the following reason: Since the cutting edges are so sharp, they would destroy each other if they hit each other directly.
That's why we've chosen a small offset of a few hundredths of a millimeter (0.2 mm maximum). This not only protects the razor-sharp cutting edges, but also cuts the thinnest wires efficiently.
20. Why do Knipex multi-function combination pliers have a slight gap between the jaws?
Combination pliers, multi-function (at least) two functions. In production, it is necessary to decide which function should have priority in the long term. This priority is given to the cutting function in combination pliers.
For the cutting edges, there is a gap between them and the clamping area so that nothing is accidentally cut. The ISO 57 46 standard, which applies to multi-function combination pliers, specifies how large this gap can be. KNIPEX complies with these tolerances. The permissible jaw gap depends on the size and is 0.4 mm for pliers 180 mm long.
KNIPEX MULTI-PURPOSE PLUG CHROME, FLANGED HANDLE 180MM 02 05 180
21. Why does KNIPEX offer two different VDE lines (yellow-red vs. red handle covers)?
Red handles appeared when people could not produce handles from two-component materials (red gold).
Electrical suppliers are very interested in VDE pliers which are significantly different in appearance to “normal” pliers, to prevent misuse. Both versions can be used in the electrical industry as long as they are properly marked or marked for work on electrical systems without restriction.
22. Why doesn't KNIPEX offer pliers for left-handed users?
Left-handed tools are needed when a left-handed person cannot use a “normal” tool, such as a bread knife, household scissors, or carpenter's hammer.
However, pliers are usually symmetrical in structure so that they can be easily operated by both the right and left hand. Only some pliers have a “dominant hand”, adjusting the opening of a KNIPEX Cobra® or a pliers wrench, for example, seems easier when operated with the right hand. But left-handed people can also adjust without any problems, all they do is use different fingers: instead of the right thumb for right-handed people, left-handed people use their left index finger to unscrew the hinge pin to adjust. It looks a little different than when a right-handed person uses pliers, but left-handed people get the hang of it very quickly.
KNIPEX TWIN GRIP SLIDE JOINT PLIERS WITH ROLLED MULTI-COMPONENT PLASTIC HANDLE 82 02 200
23. Why don't crow's beak pliers close completely parallel?
If you look at the jaws closed in the unloaded state, you can see a slight gap in the clamping area behind the crow's beak pliers. This “gap” ensures that the jaws will be perfectly parallel to the clamped workpiece when under load (unloaded components always bounce a little).
KNIPEX CHROME-PLATED COBRA WATER PLIERS 250MM 87 05 250
24. Why is the oil on the pliers dark brown?
The pliers are lubricated with oil and kept clean. The oil that penetrates the joint will find carbon black there. This comes from the tempering process, in which the tool steel is rapidly quenched in oil after being heated - this optimizes the steel structure and significantly increases its strength.
When cooled, it burns there due to the high temperature - soot remains. It is not completely washed away during subsequent operations. If new lubricating oil penetrates the joint gap, this soot is dissolved and the very fine particles give the lubricating oil a dark brown color.
II. Buy genuine KNIPEX pliers on ESHOP phuthaitech.com.vn
As a high-end German brand of pliers, KNIPEX has always affirmed its appeal in many countries around the world, including Vietnam.
PHU THAI TECH is a leading company in distributing high-end hand tools in Vietnam, with a series of genuine products from leading brands in the world. With a team of professional, enthusiastic staff and a convenient ESHOP page, you will have a great shopping experience with diverse product codes, easy payment systems and the best priced items in Vietnam.
If you want to own genuine KNIPEX pliers, looking for a reputable distributor with a global warranty policy, 1 for 1 exchange and above all, reasonable prices. Phu Thai Tech's Eshop - specializing in high-end hand tools is the destination for you.
