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I would like to assemble a few SMA connectors on 0.086" semirigid coaxial cable. Here is an image of the assembly instructions on one such part (Amphenol 901-9723).
As you can see, the outer jacket of the cable and dielectric must be cut back by dimenion a. What tool is suitable for cutting/scoring a controlled length the outer jacket and dielectric of the cable without damaging the inner conductor?
I'm willing to spend up to around $1,000 on a tool set.
To make a clean work use a coaxial cable stripper: you may find one on aliexpress or rfsupplier site in 5 minutes. They are built for a range of diameters: yours should fit well; I will post a picture of mine when back home end of week. The price is indeed less than 10$ and I don't think you need anything more expensive. Otherwise a cutter with a sharp new blade will do the job, because you do not have to cut sleeve and braid at different lengths here, just cut through the dielectric neatly to the inner conductor.
How to cut to size: cut it slightly abundant and then trim the inner conductor to size after some trial and error gently pushing into the spring contact. You can shape as hinted the tip to 90° or so, to help centering inside the spring contact and to apply force evenly.
Soldering: it is clearly said not to apply excessive heat not to distort/melt the dielectric. Well, the cable may bring away the heat so the soldering iron shall be about 40W (or up to 60W used gently and wisely) for a good result. Apply some flux paste to the metallic cable shield depending on the material: silvered copper or brass does not need it, otherwise it is not doing any harm. I am using colophony in alcohol.
You cannot rework, it usually does not give good results. If the solder joint surface is not even, you may use a fine grinder gently removing the tin alloy in excess.
On the bench, I always used a scalpel to score the outer, then bent to and fro until it fractured along the score. This leaves a raised burr around the end of the jacket, which may need to be removed with a file or abrasive paper.
I am sure there are proper tools for doing it in production, the recommendation for which would be off topic on this forum.
This is for semi rigid coax only.
You can make a jig for endstops with this DIY solution for prototypes. I used this method for 6GHz then tested after on VNA.
