Best wire cutters ?

[kolakidd]

EUR89 on a pair of flush cut side cutters is silly.

Mantech, Communica and za.rs-online.com all sell PCB Flush Sidecutters (Products > Hand Tools > Pliers & Cutters > Cutters

Mantech has the cheapest ones, with a relatively big range in price and brand. (Search LOW PROFILE Cutter)
Communica has very a limited range (Proskit), but the range mentioned above is pretty good.
RS has the broadest and best brand range. These look like they will do the job nicely https://za.rs-online.com/web/p/cutters/8640772/

Check out the data sheets to see if they are flush and narrow. You'll see on the rs data sheet they specify dimensions.

I go through a pair every 3-4 months with my electronics work, I actually have just started buying the cheapies from Mantech, A tungsten carbide pair from RS lasted the longest and will match most of the above good brands.

If you're just cutting vape coil wire you're not going to be pushing these pliers and they will last a while. The only reason I damage mine is because I lose concentration or am in a tight spot and end up using them on wire and cable I shouldn't, which is generally thicker or harder than any vape wire.

 

[Shahin]

Thanks a lot for the info bud. I was considering buying some ck pliers, but after checking out the proskit pliers at communica, decided to go with those instead. They're way cheaper and look like they'll work just as well.

Didn't buy any flush cutters though. I just bought some new demon killers last night, so not really in the market for any other flush cutters right now. Anyone who's ever tried them will understand my sentiments. They're just crazy good, by any standard. Please try them if you ever get a chance. I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed.

I'm still interested in a tungsten carbide tipped cutter though. I've sent a request for a quotation to christensen tools, and will probably compare pricing with rs-online before making a decision, so let's see what happens. I don't recall seeing tungsten carbide cutters on any of the other websites during my search, but I might not have been looking intently enough.

Curious, what's EUR89?

 

[Shahin]

Ohh you're talking about those tungsten carbide cutters for $89 someone posted the link for?

I'm hoping they'll be cheaper here, but I have a feeling they're gonna cost around the same amount. Let's see what christensen quotes me.

 

[Christos]

EUR89 on a pair of flush cut side cutters is silly.

Mantech, Communica and za.rs-online.com all sell PCB Flush Sidecutters (Products > Hand Tools > Pliers & Cutters > Cutters

Mantech has the cheapest ones, with a relatively big range in price and brand. (Search LOW PROFILE Cutter)
Communica has very a limited range (Proskit), but the range mentioned above is pretty good.
RS has the broadest and best brand range. These look like they will do the job nicely https://za.rs-online.com/web/p/cutters/8640772/

Check out the data sheets to see if they are flush and narrow. You'll see on the rs data sheet they specify dimensions.

I go through a pair every 3-4 months with my electronics work, I actually have just started buying the cheapies from Mantech, A tungsten carbide pair from RS lasted the longest and will match most of the above good brands.

If you're just cutting vape coil wire you're not going to be pushing these pliers and they will last a while. The only reason I damage mine is because I lose concentration or am in a tight spot and end up using them on wire and cable I shouldn't, which is generally thicker or harder than any vape wire.

I guess it depends on your needs but knipex has outperformed all other brands for me. I also do a fair amount of pcb work and the quality and longevity of the knipex far outweighes the cost.

Plato doesn’t even align properly for a decent cut.


And some comparisons. Knipex still cuts and no damage to the cutting edge.

 

[Shahin]

Hi guys, so I got a quote for the ck tungsten carbide tipped cutter. Around R2550 excluding VAT. Way too rich for my blood.

But I've been considering a knipex flush cutter. I notice some come with a bevel and some without.

Which one is better for coil building?

On one hand, without a bevel gives you a very flush cut, which I sometimes need. On the other hand, I read the one without the bevel is only suitable for soft materials, like plastic and lead.

I'm only cutting nichrome, which is kinda soft. Sometimes I need a very flush cut when doing my alien de-cores.

I'm honestly not sure which one to go for.

 

[Shahin]

I guess it depends on your needs but knipex has outperformed all other brands for me. I also do a fair amount of pcb work and the quality and longevity of the knipex far outweighes the cost.

Plato doesn’t even align properly for a decent cut.
View attachment 211041

And some comparisons. Knipex still cuts and no damage to the cutting edge.

View attachment 211042 View attachment 211043 View attachment 211044 View attachment 211045 View attachment 211046

Bud I can get exactly the same one as in the pics you posted. That doesn't have a bevel, right?

Here's what confuses me...

The one with the bevel and the one without both have the same ratings. They're both rated to cut 1.6mm copper and 1.2mm iron.

So why do they say the one without the bevel is only for soft materials like lead and plastic, when it's rated to cut exactly the same metal guages as the one with the bevel?

 

[CashKat88]

View attachment 208771

If you get anything with the name "Piano Wire Cutters" as part of the description, Piano wire is much harder than the coil wires we will be cutting. But I see some builds you have to insert the cutter into a hollow under the coil mount so they need to be quite pointed and preferably flush cut.
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/economical-tools.t67797/#post-865056
The cutters I bought from Communica were R130.00 but they are not flush cut and they are not very pointy to get into narrow gaps. I just got a small Vapefly toolkit for R150.00 (Second hand but basically new) The cutters look pretty good. R380 at Wonderland Vapes was the first one to come up on google, the scissors do work on the first cut I did the other day.
https://wonderlandvape.co.za/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=659

View attachment 208772

I have the exact same kit and it works like a charm, small compact and really portable. I like the hard case too, very durable, I have had no issues with it and have been using it now for almost 2 years

 

[Modyrts]

Honestly speaking, I have used everything from a pair of scissors to dedicated vape wire cutters to a pair of pliers and even a leatherman
I can truthfully say, It makes no difference.
However on one occasion I snipped a coil using a wire cutters that came with a Vandy Vape kit and the blade shattered and almost hit my customer in the eye had she not been wearing glasses.

 

[kolakidd]

I guess it depends on your needs but knipex has outperformed all other brands for me. I also do a fair amount of pcb work and the quality and longevity of the knipex far outweighes the cost.

Plato doesn’t even align properly for a decent cut.
View attachment 211041

And some comparisons. Knipex still cuts and no damage to the cutting edge.

View attachment 211042 View attachment 211043 View attachment 211044 View attachment 211045 View attachment 211046

Yeah I don’t doubt for a second that Kipex are great, and trust me I like expensive tools, but in my post I specifically said that if you are just cutting coil wire, then you don’t need anything special. Coil wire, even stainless is actually easy to cut at the AWG we all use on coils. The current pair I am using are a basic EIE pair from Mantech, and I’ve used them on several pcb builds (10-12 heavily populated boards), cutting heavy capacitor and diode leads and they’re still cool. You notice when they’re damaged right away because they don’t do a clean cut, and you get dangling resistor leads.