My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

Jan Cumps — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 18:25:37 GMT

Here's my set of mini pliers. The side cutter is not flush but flat enough.

[View:/resized-image/__size/774x530/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-910fceb9-1626-4752-9d11-ea46145cc2db/contentimage_5F00_189103.png:774:530]

Knipex, like a few others here in the thread. Part of the loot when I won an industrial design contest.

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

hlipka — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 15:12:57 GMT

Knipex is a well-known and highly regarded brand here in Germany. Usually you will not go wrong buying them.

But for electronics tools I have grown fond of another brand: Engineer Inc. from Japan. I own the NS-03 side cutter (or 'micro nipper' as they call it), and several other tools from their product line. They are quite expensive, but for now they are all worth it.

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

dougw — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 04:34:00 GMT

Here is a picture of my smaller cutters and my smallest pliers:

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x462/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-910fceb9-1626-4752-9d11-ea46145cc2db/5482.contentimage_5F00_189102.jpg:620:462]

The 2 on the lower right are fairly new - the others are ancient, but they all work well.

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

Gough Lui — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:30:05 GMT

I've heard good things about Knipex ones - these don't look too expensive and could probably be decent:

https://au.element14.com/knipex/78-03-125/cutter-side/dp/413403501?st=Connect27-ALL-PRODUCTS

I say "could", because I actually bought a set from element14 back last when they had a special. But I could never bring myself to use them. As a bit of a serial tool abuser ... I wasn't going to take out the "best" stuff for my everyday work. As a result, I live with the Duratool stuff:

https://au.element14.com/duratool/pl-501/cutter-micro-5/dp/115600101

It does exactly all those "nasty" things you mentioned - there's a bit of play in the pivot after a few uses, so the blades don't come together "exactly" and let light through. They don't bite-down quite exactly and do fling wire scraps across the room. I've even managed to have a few jaws "snap" suddenly after a year or so of usage.

But ... I don't mind this at all. While it has always been something I've been aware of, I've gotten used to operating with it - so I always "hold" the scrap or shield it to stop it flying, I don't apply silly amounts of force and I never expect a perfectly flush cut. Being as cheap as they are, I end up using them to cut all manner of things - at one stage I caught myself nibbling through a plastic enclosure with a pair of them out of desperation. I certainly wouldn't want to wreck a decent one doing that kind of "work". As someone who only has a limited supply of basic tools ... I guess I'm as much at fault as the cutters themselves [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-910fceb9-1626-4752-9d11-ea46145cc2db/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16].

Maybe I will take the Knipex ones out of the bag for a quick spin ... speaking of which, I also have a Metcal PS-900 station under my bed ... another one I wasn't willing to destroy ... so I use a Tenma combination hot-air and soldering iron station instead. I just can't be trusted with nice tools [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-910fceb9-1626-4752-9d11-ea46145cc2db/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16].

- Gough

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

genebren — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:06:37 GMT

John,

Great blog! I love high quality hand tools (actually almost any tool). I recently picked up some PLATO cutters (https://www.newark.com/plato/175/shear-cutter-1mm/dp/98H3232?st=plato%20175) as part of a prize package (cool tools bench awards), which I really like. Although, I used tried the cutting of 30 gauge wire placed on glass and they did not quiet do as well (nicked but did not cut the wire). I will have to investigate these cutters and see if there is a set out there that needs a new home.

Thanks for the heads up a high quality tool!

Gene

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

three-phase — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 20:10:38 GMT

Nice blog, they certainly look like good quality cutters. I just use the two mini-side cutters;

[View:/resized-image/__size/457x609/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-910fceb9-1626-4752-9d11-ea46145cc2db/7065.contentimage_5F00_189101.jpg:457:609]

The green handled 45 degree cutters stay at home and are what I generally use on the odd bits and pieces of electronics I build. They are many years old now from the now defunct Maplin stores we used to have in the UK.

The Knipex cutters go in my works tool bag and seem to spend more time cutting off tyraps rather than electronics work.

After that my side cutters grow up a little bit.

Kind regards.

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

luislabmo — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:52:40 GMT

Hi John,

This is a nice review!. I've been lucky enough to get my favorite flush cutters as a first time buyer, the Hakko CHP-170 Micro Cutter. Probably not as good as the AVEN but in my opinion they meet all the criteria except shooting the pins flying (wire is fine, pins go flying -not a lot but they do), not a bad trade considering they only cost $5 in the US. I think your review was posted at the right time... according to Newark the CHP170 are no longer manufactured. Probably they will be out of the market soon.

Luis

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

shabaz — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:10:16 GMT

Hi John,

Excellent tool review! We're lucky being engineers, we can get decent tools if we search them out like you have. A friend was shopping for round-nosed pliers for jewellery and some of those specialist stores charge high prices for mediocre tools.. I told her I would find her engineering round-nosed pliers instead since they will be better made!

Incidentally, ESD cutters or pliers need to be hidden away from general DIY users.. they borrow them, and wonder why there is a tingle or worse, when they inevitably use them on live wiring!

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

fmilburn — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 07:32:37 GMT

The thing I have out of proportion to all other tools I own is hammers. I have many claw hammers, ball peen hammers, roofing hammer, cobblers hammer, mallets, sledge, mauls, pick... All but two or three have not been used in many years. But my father was a carpenter and general do it yourself fixer and most of them belonged to him. I only have one pair of side cutters that I considered good up until now - but they are the $16 variety and definitely won't cut 30 AWG wire lying on glass ;-)

RE: My Kingdom for a good pair of flush cutters.

dougw — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 07:02:33 GMT

Great topic. I don't know how you put your finger on a great topic like this. It would never occur to me to discuss side cutters, but now that you mention it, I definitely could say a lot... I will just mention that I have lots of side cutters, each of which gets relegated to certain types of task based on minor nuances in the way they work. And I do have a an ultra special pair of expensive cutters which I reserve for jobs only they can do because I don't want to wear them out. They are over 40 years old.

I have a similar relationship with my needle nose pliers. How many pliers do you have that could easily pick up a 40 gauge wire?