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  • Author Author: neuromodulator
  • Date Created: 11 Mar 2020 5:01 AM Date Created
  • Views 1604 views
  • Likes 20 likes
  • Comments 21 comments
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Knipex pliers

neuromodulator
neuromodulator
11 Mar 2020

I recently received a nice package from E14:

image


Of all these items my favorite items are the Knipex pliers. They are mostly cutters and so far I'm very happy with them as they appear to be very high quality and well built. Lets take a closer look at them.

 

These cutters have a longer handle, use a coiled spring and have an opening limiter mechanism. Cutting with them is effortless, these are the kind of pliers I would first chose to cut electronic component leads. The only difference between these 4 cutters is that gray ones have ESD protection, and that the bigger ones can cut through bigger diameters.
imageimage

imageimage

 

Then we have the rest of the pliers with shorter curved handles:

 

imageimage

 

Here are some close-ups of their jaws:

 

imageimageimageimage

 

This one is really nice, it contains a "lead-catcher", which is a mechanism that keeps the cutted lead stuck until you open the grips:

 

imageimage

 

This one is interesting, the cutting piece is made of a different material, which I suspect is tungsten carbide. The hard cutting piece cut even piano strings (which are very hard):

 

imageimageimage

 

Of all the pliers these two are the only one that are not cutters, and are what I would use to bend wires:

 

imageimage

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Top Comments

  • dubbie
    dubbie over 5 years ago +7
    What a great set of cutters. Who would have thought that so many different cutters even existed! I'd be tempted to arrange these in a big circle and stick them on a wall, as wall art. As they do in Stately…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 5 years ago in reply to Gough Lui +7
    As non-electronics-engineers find out, when they borrow tools without asking, and try to mess with mains electricity! Come back complaining that they got tingles and there's something wrong with the tools…
  • neuromodulator
    neuromodulator over 5 years ago in reply to 14rhb +5
    I don't know, but there are other important differences between the 2 types. Coiled spring ones have an opening limiter, while leafed ones don't. Coiled ones require less force as result of longer handles…
  • dubbie
    dubbie over 5 years ago in reply to neuromodulator

    Not sure about diodes, but I have come to the conclusion that resistor legs are mostly made of some magnetic material, perhaps iron, rather than the copper I expected. This revelation happened because as part of my retirement I had planned to save all the wires I cut from resistors and so on, in a big jar, for the next 20 years and then go to the scrap man with many kilograms of copper. Sadly, this goal is no longer viable as I noticed they were sticking to magnets. Copper doesn't!

     

    Dubbie

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  • Andrew J
    Andrew J over 5 years ago in reply to neuromodulator

    Great question!

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  • neuromodulator
    neuromodulator over 5 years ago in reply to knipex

    Thanks Kinpex, I wouldn't call it a review though, it was more like showing what I received and my impressions of the pliers.

    I have 2 question for you:
    What are the advantage/disadvantages of softer cutters compared to harder cutters?
    I've never payed attention to the material of electronic component leads, what are they usually made of? In one of your web-pages you stated that "diode leads" should be cut only with hard cutters, is there any rule of thumb on how to identify the hardness of the leads to know what cutter one could use?

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  • colporteur
    colporteur over 5 years ago in reply to dubbie

    I have a knock off of pair of your wire-strippers. Mine have ugly blue handles. The color is easy to find when left on the floor. They are great for preserving skin on your knuckles when stripping 14/2 electrical wires. Especially when the wires are sitting inside a junction box. Nothing like the a good pair of wire strippers to improve a day working with wire!

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  • dubbie
    dubbie over 5 years ago in reply to three-phase

    Donald,

     

    I still have my cutters that I purchased when I was 16 or 17 from a tool shop, when we still had such this. I have used them all my life, some 45 years. I cannot make out the makers name but it is also marked  W Germany LJ1. The cutting edge is still as good as the day they were purchased - although I make sure I only use them for cutting component legs. They're not Knipex, but still good.

     

    image

     

    I have some Knipex wire strippers (model 1211?), purchased with Project14 winners prize money and they are great.

     

    image

     

    Dubbie

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