I've now made a couple of new T2 coils successfully. One step I find a little tricky is closely cutting the two ends that emerge from the inside and outside of the plastic sleeve. It's probably a matter of my not having a small pair of scissors that is pointy enough to cut the kanthal easily. What do you folks use for that last step? Cuticle scissors?
Cutting Coil Ends (T2) - What do you use?
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I ordered a pair of these
Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
the other day & am hoping they will work better than the old & abused cheap hand dykes/diagonal cutters I normally use on wire.
Better days they have seen
& fine delicate wire snipping often takes a few attempted snips to find a non marred section of blade.
It's big wire only when the new ones arrive & sends these into semi retirement. My guitars all fear(ed) it
@ string changes.
Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
the other day & am hoping they will work better than the old & abused cheap hand dykes/diagonal cutters I normally use on wire.
Better days they have seen
& fine delicate wire snipping often takes a few attempted snips to find a non marred section of blade.
It's big wire only when the new ones arrive & sends these into semi retirement. My guitars all fear(ed) it
@ string changes.
You can tell they are junk when they are marked CHINA
Works every time
Works every time
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I originally bought them years ago in a dollar store & was amazed how much abuse they took (& still shall endure). I will still use these on my guitars, as the bigger wound strings are thicker than the new cutters are rated to handle (only 20 AWG).
I intend
to attempt
to try 
& treat these more kind
I intend
to attempt to try & treat these more kind
Good Luck With That
They look pretty damn played to me
I've thrown away cutters that were in better shape
Maybe good for notching coat hangers
They look pretty damn played to me
I've thrown away cutters that were in better shape
Maybe good for notching coat hangers
Back to the topic
I've seen videos of people using nail clippers to trim resistance wire
I've seen videos of people using nail clippers to trim resistance wire
I use an old pair of nail clippers and they are perfect get in nice and close and easily trim the wire off.
Actually, that's what I use for instrument string ends (with a nod to MISTer E) and make a point of replacing them ($.89) pretty frequently--or, more likely, losing them frequently. But I couldn't quite get in close enough with them inside the T2 head. Maybe a slightly skinnier pair.
This is what I use.
They are electronic-use lead clippers. Made by Erem - a Swiss company. I don't have a price on them, as they were purchased for me at work, but I'm pretty sure they're not cheap. The tip is very narrow as they are used to clip the legs of surface mount componenets and such. Really gets into the end of a T2 or other recoilable nicely.
They are electronic-use lead clippers. Made by Erem - a Swiss company. I don't have a price on them, as they were purchased for me at work, but I'm pretty sure they're not cheap. The tip is very narrow as they are used to clip the legs of surface mount componenets and such. Really gets into the end of a T2 or other recoilable nicely.
Great choice, MISTer E! I've used these as well as the Xcelite brand.
They'll work great and last years as long as you don't get them wet and don't use them on steel wire, as they're made for thin, soft copper wire. The Nichrome/Kanthal we use is harder than copper, but very light gauge, so the cutters should last a good long time.
***One thing to note about this type of sidecutter is if you clip short bits of wire, they tend to fly off with quite a bit of force! I worked with these for years at an electronic equipment manufacturer. The way they reminded us to use our safety goggles when trimming wires off PCBs was to point at the ceiling. Those acoustic foam squares (IDK what they're called) were absolutely littered with what looked like metallic hair. They were bits of wire that had flown off and lodged themselves IN THE FRICKIN' CEILING!!!***
Oh, and DO NOT use them on your guitar strings. The jaws WILL snap and fly off. Don't ask me how I know this bit of information. I now use cheap lineman's pliers (no, NOT my $45 Klein pliers, I learned that the hard way also :/) for my guitar and especially my bass strings.
TL;DR: ALWAYS use eye protection when using cutters or power tools! Bonus embarrassing revelation: I managed to get a tiny sliver of steel lodged in my cornea from using an air grinder without goggles. My strongest magnet would not pull it out. I had to use tweezers on my eyeball, while balancing a mirror on my lap, I KID YOU NOT! (My wife refused to do it for me, I still can't understand why).
dsy5 those Erem clippers look very solid. An awesome work duty build
Thanks for the safety warning P1NkY. Even more reason for me to wear my magnifying headgear often.
I do like to wear them
Thanks for the safety warning P1NkY. Even more reason for me to wear my magnifying headgear often.
I do like to wear them
dsy5 those Erem clippers look very solid. An awesome work duty build
They are excellent for fine work, such as electronics. I did a quick online search - $58.00 is cheapest I found. Not for the average Joe - happy that my place of employment picked up the tab!
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