Conductor reducer for co-axial cable

Abstract

A tool for reducing the diameter of the center conductor of a coaxial cable allowing it to mate with a smaller receptacle without the necessity of a reducer. The tool uses plural rollers within a housing to roll form the conductor as they rotate about it. Preferably the rollers are caged for alignment but bear on the inner surface of the housing. The housing thus resists the axial loads on the rollers and transmits the rotational drive force directly to the rollers allowing the roller cage to serve solely alignment purposes. The roller cage incorporates an extended nose designed to contact the dielectric portion of the cable, serving as a depth stop. An optional indicator sleeve is visible through openings in the housing and indicates the position of the roller cage within the housing. A small lead angle on the rollers causes them to self feed onto the conductor and to crawl rearward within the chamber which provide the indication of the length of conductor reduced. The rollers may have any of various profiles and may impart a matching profile on the conductor. Alternate forms of the rollers use independently rotating body and nose portions to avoid creating a twist in the reduced conductor. An optional stop collar may be fitted to the extended nose of the roller cage to contact the cable outer conductor, providing more precise indexing.