Miniature Cutoff Tool

Started by Carl Smoot · 8 · 1 year ago
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    Carl Smoot said 1 year, 4 months ago:

    I just added small nuts to my Eduard F6F Hellcat engine casing. This was tedious as I had to manually cut the Evergreen rod into very small slices. Getting them close to the same height was damn near impossible. I know that Micro Mark makes a tool called Chop It that would perhaps help with this. Northwest has it's Shortline Chopper II which is similar (but a lot more expensive). But both of these seem just a bit large for the type of cutting I was attempting.

    There are several things to deal with. Each slice is approximately .5mm thick. These parts (.025 rod) are so tiny that the merest whiff of air or springiness when cutting the rod sends them flying into oblivion. And surface tension makes them stick to everything (except of course when you're trying to glue them into position)!

    So I am wondering if anyone knows of a smaller, finer, cut off tool for doing this type of work. I would think it needs some way to prevent parts from flying away, a small area to capture the cut offs until you're ready for them, and something smaller than a hand sized handle to move the cutting blade up and down.

    BTW, I attempted to use a punch set first to do these, but my set is too large of diameter and I haven't found a better set yet (that I can afford).

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 4 months ago:

    Sorry, cannot be of any help, my friend @clipper. I would also love to know if there is such a tool.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 4 months ago:

    My first thoughts were also to use a punch set but not sure if such a diameter is available, Carl @clipper
    No experience on cutting machines from my side, but would like to know if it is available to get this done.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 year, 4 months ago:

    I bought the original Chopper from Northwest Short Line. It was much less expensive buying direct than the original vendor I looked at. I should have this is a couple of weeks and I can decide then if it's what I want.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 4 months ago:

    I struggle with similar problems on almost every kit, Carl (@clipper). Like you, I have a punch set, but it is a set with punches that would work on a 1/48 instrument panel, so I need to get creative if I need something smaller. The last time I checked, the price of a smaller punch set had become very expensive. I have found my Chopper doesn't work well for smaller cuts. I have used a punch tool designed for leather-work, but it also has fairly large diameter punches. What I normally do is just take the plastic rod and cut several tiny slivers off of it. I cut many more than I need because some won't be usable, some will be lost, and only a few will make it to the model. Good luck.

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    gary sausmikat said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Hey Carl @clipper

    This may be a "cheap" solution.

    Create a small jig which can be secured to your bench top.
    Using thicker pieces of plastic, wood, etc. create a channel the size of the rod, that will hold the rod steady, and a stop at the desired distance to cut. Either using a razor saw or a sharp blade you can roll the rod back and forth to cut through. The channel and stop can be glued downed if necessary to hold in place. Remember, you will have to include the thickness of the cutter used to the desired length of the piece you want.
    Option for the channel holder would be a tube at the correct diameter.

    You can always put some masking tape under the cutting portion to keep the wee bits from flying off. This also works nicely when cutting photo-etch parts.

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    Cricket said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    @clipper not sure what stock you are using, sounds tiny, I have rolled the stock under an exacto knife with pretty good results, but yours sounds smaller

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    Carl Smoot said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Thanks for the responses everyone. Sorry I didn't respond back sooner. Too many things going on in my life. Gary, (@gwskat), I will look into this option. Sometimes, I have trouble seeing obvious solutions to problems and end up looking for a more complicated (and unfortunately, more expensive) option.