45-degree diagonal cutters?

[DaveC]

I used to own a pair of flush cutters where the jaws and the handles met at
about a 45-degree angle. Made for a nice tool for getting in between
components when you needed to nip something off flush with the PCB.

I think they were Xcelite.

I can't find anything like those Xcelites anymore. Everything is either
straight (no angle between the jaws and handles) or maybe a slight angle.

Anyone know of a good cutter that has a 45-degree angle? Flush-cut desirable
but not critical. A 1/2" (12 mm) jaw opening would be nice, though.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[DaveC]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wire+nipper

"wire nipper" just gives me millions of hits. Adding "45 degree" is what I
need. And already did. Hence my question here.

I have a newer pair of Xcelite nippers. If the above link does you no
good I'll grab them when I get back to the shop and post the part
number.

Are they 45-degree type? Yes, I'd appreciate a pn.

Thanks!

 

[Rich.]

I used to own a pair of flush cutters where the jaws and the handles met at
about a 45-degree angle. Made for a nice tool for getting in between
components when you needed to nip something off flush with the PCB.

http://www.restockit.com/4-Angled-F...e=froogle&Bvar5=100F1&Bvar6=100F1&Bvar7=100F1

 

[life imitates life]

I used to own a pair of flush cutters where the jaws and the handles met at
about a 45-degree angle. Made for a nice tool for getting in between
components when you needed to nip something off flush with the PCB.

I think they were Xcelite.

I can't find anything like those Xcelites anymore. Everything is either
straight (no angle between the jaws and handles) or maybe a slight angle.

Anyone know of a good cutter that has a 45-degree angle? Flush-cut desirable
but not critical. A 1/2" (12 mm) jaw opening would be nice, though.

Thanks,
Dave

Such tools are still around, but I have never seen a flush cutter that
had a half inch long cutting jaw. Ever.

Try hunting up Lindstrom on ebay if you want the absolute best Swiss
steel hand tools. Not cheap.

Alternatively, Xcelite dies still exist and they as well as a few other
inhabit the bottom of the market, from a quality POV.

Regular flush cutters are cheap steel, don't last long, and only cost
about $8 each, so they get bought by the case in boxes of ten.

The angled pair are usually single sales items though. The bottom end
has them for about $5 more each, and the top end has them at a similar
price to all the others because they are all expensive at that level.

They are also worth it.

If you want a pair that will last decades, and is fully serviceable,
and uses the hardest steel and tightest tolerances, Lindstrom shares no
equal. Well worth the typical $35 - $55 a pair.

 

[life imitates life]

Most nippers are 45, diag cutters are a totally different animal.

Not true. "nippers" are various, and there "norm" varies from USER to
USER, and no, the industry does not "usually use 45 degree" as was
inferred by your remark. Most were.... AT the shithole you were at at
the time.

Most at two of the places I have been were the other variety. You
probably knew that was an incorrect statement, the moment you hit the
period key.

Xcelite 170M

:http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/xcelite/pliersandcutters/shearcutters.htm#00033900?ref=gbase

The Lindstroms are worth the extra outlay if a long term, personal tool
is desired. For a production level, multi-user tool, the lower quality
steel, shorter life span brands are cheaper and are the better value for
such a setting. It just depends on who the tool is for, how well they
take care of their tools, and the term you wish the tool to last for.

 

[life imitates life]

Jeez, for $27 plus tax and shipping? Damn. For about $5 more, you can
simply buy the best steel in the world. Lindstrom.

If you are putting out that much already, what is adding 5% for a
twofold gain in quality?

If you do not want to spend that much, the cheap Xcelite, and Plato
brands, etc. are the right choice, and you shouldn't spend more than $12
each for a ten pack of them. Also worth it. If you are buying the
cheaper brands, you should buy at least two, if not the ten pack, because
they will wear due to the softer steels used. The Swiss brand will last
forever or until you break them via some form of abuse or other.

 

[life imitates life]

I used to own a pair of flush cutters where the jaws and the handles met at
about a 45-degree angle. Made for a nice tool for getting in between
components when you needed to nip something off flush with the PCB.

I think they were Xcelite.

I can't find anything like those Xcelites anymore. Everything is either
straight (no angle between the jaws and handles) or maybe a slight angle.

Anyone know of a good cutter that has a 45-degree angle? Flush-cut desirable
but not critical. A 1/2" (12 mm) jaw opening would be nice, though.

Thanks,
Dave

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lindstrom-7291-...lectrical_Equipment_Tools?hash=item45effd9ae5

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lindstrom-2211B...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b9e793cc

 

[Fred Abse]

Try hunting up Lindstrom on ebay if you want the absolute best Swiss
steel hand tools. Not cheap.

Swedish.

 

[Fred Abse]

The Lindstroms are worth the extra outlay if a long term, personal tool
is desired. For a production level, multi-user tool, the lower quality
steel, shorter life span brands are cheaper and are the better value for
such a setting. It just depends on who the tool is for, how well they
take care of their tools, and the term you wish the tool to last for.

I've got Lindstroms that I've had 30 years. Look their age, but still work
as good as ever. The newer ones aren't as good, IMHO.

Golden rule: Never, under any circumstances, lend cutters to *anyone*.
Never let them out of your sight / control.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Golden rule: Never, under any circumstances, lend cutters to *anyone*.
Never let them out of your sight / control.

That in my humble opionion is just plain silly. If you refuse to lend people
tools when they ask, they wait until you are not looking and borrow them
anyway.

The best thing to do, IMHO is to buy several sets of medium grade tools, i.e.
cheap but not the best. Still capable of doing the job, but nothing you would
worry about if it came back unusable.

Then you leave one set around for people to borrow and lend them
out agressively.

The good tools you keep locked up and never even let them know you have them.



I used to have a guy who worked for me part time who was constantly having
his tools stolen. From screwdrivers to floor pullers. I just bought a bunch of
screwdrivers for him and on his days off, I went around and collected them
from where he left them.

Geoff.

 

[life imitates life]

Were they going belly up because of buying only the finest, or despite
of that?

At the liquidation sales for some bankrupt companies, sometimes
I have seen hard, tangeable evidence of WHY they went broke.

I think you assign "hard and tangible" to others when it can be
assigned to you. Hard and tangible evidence that your statistical
analysis prowess ain't that great.

If the difference between buying $600 worth of cheap shit tools or
$5000 worth of long lasting, high quality tools is a figure that you
think could break just about any company, I think you do not know much
about it at all.

Good hand tools yield added value that is directly measured in labor.

Just the time it takes to get the lead to go to the cabinet to get you
a new pair of cheap shit cutters, when the good pair would have you still
sailing along in your job.

The one place where I will economize value out of price is with
computers. You will NEVER see me becoming a Mac retard. The idiots
actually think that they are smarter because they paid twice as much for
their computer, and the whole fucking crew is a group of total geeks.

It is really sad what has happened to the Mac world. I have never seen
a group of brand loyalists so 'affected' by the mindset of their fellow
owners. I have been trying to remember the last time my Windows machine
at work or here crashed like the Apple retard commercials all claim. All
the dopes at the Macworld TV show I watched a bit of the other day
actually think that we sit at out machines and fight crashes all day.
Are they really so stupid that they believe the ads Apple spewed upon the
world?

Are you?

 

[Fred Abse]

That in my humble opionion is just plain silly. If you refuse to lend people
tools when they ask, they wait until you are not looking and borrow them
anyway.

They get fired!

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

They get fired!

That only works if:

1. You are high enough up the food chain to do anything about it.

2. Have less invested in them than the tools.

Maybe a small company with a few employees of no particular skills, but
in the real world?

Geoff.

 

[Fred Abse]

That only works if:

1. You are high enough up the food chain to do anything about it.

Yes, I am.

2. Have less invested in them than the tools.

When it comes to finding you haven't got the tools to do the job and get
it out on deadline because of some idiot, that idiot's no investment.

Maybe a small company with a few employees of no particular skills, but
in the real world?

Not *that* small. Many longtime employees with irreplaceable skills who
know better than to borrow tools without asking. They have their own
tools. If they want more, we buy them. They wouldn't lend me theirs,
not that I'd ask.

It's called discipline and commitment.

 

[life imitates life]

That's nice YMMV

How retarded of you. Most of the industry does NOT use oblique cutters.
Pretty simple shit. Run your plow over it and see what springs up.

Never heard of Lindstrom

How uninformed of you.

 

[life imitates life]

That only works if:

1. You are high enough up the food chain to do anything about it.

I can relate to that. I arrived at work one day, and went upstairs
down at the other end of the building. The new tech we hired started the
previous week. As I came to the end of the building my lab is at, and
looked out over the balcony, I saw him down at my bench, digging in my
personal tools/parts cabinets for whatever he felt like "he might need".

They did not do anything about it. Maybe because I was so mad about
the fact that such a low life fucktard had just been hired by our company
and was being considered a capable employee.

I think character flaws like that are grounds for instantaneous firing.

Not if it was a true colleague, looking for something he needed. This
was a new asshole, trying to get at my things, thinking he was getting in
before everyone else.

I only wish that the huge scare I filled him with when I hollered at
him when it happened had given him a heart attack.

He is fucking lucky I did not load up one of our BIG HV caps and dump
the fucker in his ass while saying, "Now go near my shit again, fucker,
and I'll dump one of these into your chest!"

I hate that the fucktards in the world cause me to compromise my
character just to put the stupid bastards in their place. I hate fuckers
that make me hate.

I am so glad that the scrutiny used where I work now, means that I can
trust every soul there implicitly.

I could be a ****-up and they would keep me because I am part of the
family now.

But I am not a ****-up. That asshole digging in my parts and tools
was.

 

[life imitates life]

I don't doubt they are the cat's meow. I use a pair of side cuts for
anything less larger than 20. My nippers were always for nipping leads
from caps, diodes, etc.... The shearing edges are just too soft.

Not on Lindstrom steel, it isn't. They use ball bearing steel. The
"shearing edges" are flawless.

BTW, side cutters perform NO shearing action whatsoever. They are not
shears. They are snips. Blades and seats strike into each other. On a
shear, the blades cross each other.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Not *that* small. Many longtime employees with irreplaceable skills who
know better than to borrow tools without asking. They have their own
tools. If they want more, we buy them. They wouldn't lend me theirs,
not that I'd ask.

It's called discipline and commitment.

It's also a cultural thing. Here there is a much more socialist attitude
where the company owns the tools, and not the employees. Everything is
shared among the workers.

Pisses (angers for you UK types) the hell out of me, but it's the way
everyone thinks. People would even unlock my desk to get to my tools.

Note that until the mid 1990's no one was paid enough money to own their
own tools, and to this day very few are.

I recently resarched this because someone asked me about starting business
here that they had in the US. They have a tool franchise and drive around
in a van selling tools to craftsmen, mechanincs, etc.

It does not translate well, the workers can't afford the tools, and the
employers would rather buy a high end chinese tool than a high end
US/EU made tool because it is likely to get broken, lost or stolen.

Geoff.

 

[Fred Abse]

It's also a cultural thing. Here there is a much more socialist attitude
where the company owns the tools, and not the employees. Everything is
shared among the workers.

We don't have "workers", we have engineers and technicians.

Pisses (angers for you UK types)

I'm American.

the hell out of me, but it's the way
everyone thinks. People would even unlock my desk to get to my tools.

Anybody unlocking anybody else's desk without authorization here, would be
in *serious* shit.

Note that until the mid 1990's no one was paid enough money to own their
own tools, and to this day very few are.

In "my" world, the company buys the tools, the individual "owns" them.

I recently resarched this because someone asked me about starting business
here that they had in the US. They have a tool franchise and drive around
in a van selling tools to craftsmen, mechanincs, etc.

Sounds like Snap-On

It does not translate well, the workers can't afford the tools, and the
employers would rather buy a high end chinese tool than a high end
US/EU made tool because it is likely to get broken, lost or stolen.

Our people are free to choose which maker's tools they want us to buy.
They tend to develop a consensus.

 

[life imitates life]

Are you saying that the outfit that
Sansui Samurai described as having
gone belly up did the right thing by
buying $5000 worth of Rolls Royce
hand tools rather than the Xcelite
ones which would have cost $600?

No. I am saying that your claim that it is any indication of a
causation for having gone bankrupt, is a fallacy, and it is.