1. What Laser Stripping Does
Laser stripping, put plainly, uses a beam of controlled energy to selectively vaporize one layer of a cable and expose the conductor or shield underneath that needs terminating. Unlike a blade that cuts and pulls mechanically, it works by "burning off what should go and not touching what shouldn't."
In a structure like micro-coax, the difficulty is that the layers are thin and easily harmed. A fine coax, from outside in, is jacket, shield, dielectric, center conductor, and each must be worked at the right spot and the right depth — which is exactly where the laser earns its place.
2. Why Fine Coax Especially Needs It
Micro-coax keeps getting finer. Once the gauge passes 40 AWG and the connector pitch drops to the 0.25mm tier, the old problems of mechanical stripping get magnified: a blade a touch deep nicks the center conductor or shield, a touch shallow leaves the layer uncleared; and with dozens to hundreds bundled together, every one has to come out the same, which mechanics can barely hold.
The laser takes a different approach. With energy and position under control, it can remove the outer layer without touching the conductor — especially friendly to very fine, densely packed coax. That's why it shows up more and more in fine-coax harnesses for high-speed displays and medical imaging.
3. How It Works
The rough flow goes like this:
- Set parameters to the cable structure — wavelength, power, pulse, and focus position — matched to whether the jacket or the dielectric is being removed
- The laser sweeps that layer around the circumference, vaporizing material to a set depth
- Work in layers where needed: first remove the jacket to expose the shield, then the dielectric to expose the center conductor
- After stripping, check the window length and confirm the underlying layer wasn't harmed, then move to termination
The key is "layered" and "controlled." On the same cable, the parameters for jacket and dielectric aren't the same; once the shield or center conductor is harmed it often only surfaces at power-on or test, so parameters and inspection both have to sit up front.
4. Laser Stripping vs Mechanical Stripping
| Dimension | Laser stripping | Mechanical stripping |
|---|---|---|
| Very fine wire / dense pitch | Friendly, can avoid touching the conductor | The finer it gets, the easier to nick |
| Consistency | Parameterized, stable across batches | Depends on tooling and technique |
| Suitable layers | Can selectively work layer by layer | Struggles with thin dielectric |
| Best for | Micro-coax, fine AWG, high density | Coarser cable, ordinary stripping |
This isn't to say mechanical stripping is bad — for coarse wire and modest demands it's fast and cheap. The two are a matter of choosing the process to fit the cable, not one wholly replacing the other.
5. Where It Fits, and Where It Doesn't
Very fine gauge, very dense pitch, a shield and center conductor that bruise easily, and a need for batch consistency — when those line up, laser stripping is generally the right call. Conversely, ordinary coarse wire, a wide stripping window, and small volume usually make mechanical stripping the better value; there's no need to force a laser.
6. How to Judge a Good Strip
A few spots are enough: whether the stripping-window length is consistent, whether the underlying layer is burned or nicked, whether the shield stays intact, and whether the cable behaves stably between sample and batch after termination. The problems with very fine coax usually aren't in the body — they're in those few millimeters at the termination area.
7. Want to Build This Kind of Harness? Next Step
This article only covers the principle. To actually land a laser-stripped micro-coax harness — process scope, inspection records, deliverable documents, and RFQ inputs — see Laser-Stripped Micro-Coax. If you're still confirming whether it's micro-coax and which pitch, start with What Is a Micro-Coaxial Cable and 0.25mm Pitch Micro-Coax.
8. Related Articles and Applications
- Micro-Coaxial Cable Assemblies
- Laser-Stripped Micro-Coax
- 0.25mm Pitch Micro-Coax
- Further reading: What Is a Micro-Coaxial Cable, What Is Impedance Control