What's Your Favourite P/E Cutter?

[Lucky13]

....thought that I'd add a p/e cutter to the tool box, any suggestions?

 

[fubar57]

I just use a standard hobby knife blade; put the P.E. on some tape and cut away hoping it stays attached to the tape. It's when I try to remove the nub that the P.E. does its magic and disappears.

 

[Leonidas]

I use my teeth.

P.S. I too also use just a plain hobby knife. I tried using sprue cutters but that didn't work.

 

[Airframes]

I was going to suggest around 4 oz for a telegraph pole, probably 3/4 lb on each of two stanchion of a power pylon or radio mast, and then I realised we weren't talking about PE4 (C4 for our American cousins ) !!!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Well that WOULD remove the part, so...

 

[fubar57]

I was going to suggest around 4 oz for a telegraph pole, probably 3/4 lb on each of two stanchion of a power pylon or radio mast, and then I realised we weren't talking about PE4 (C4 for our American cousins ) !!!

When I worked on the road crew in a logging camp in 1976, part of the job was blasting. We used B-line primacord which burned at 6400metres per second/21,000 feet per second. The blaster told me, if you wanted to knock down a small tree with it, one wrap per inch of tree up to 6 inches

 

[Airframes]

Sounds about right.
Each knot creates a "blockage" in the burn rate of prima chord / det. chord, just for a millisecond, which then "blows" just as an explosive charge would, cutting through the structure.
If you want the tree / pole/ structure to drop in a certain direction, then the "knots" or wraps are placed accordingly.
It's an effective, quick and cheaper way of "cutting" such structures, and sometimes safer.
As an example, I was once involved in demonstrating how to drop a quite large tree, and got distracted by someone's questions when placing the PE4 "sausage". Consequently, I miscalculated the formula "P", where "P" = Plenty, and instead of dropping the tree in the desired direction, it was launched like a Saturn 5 !!
The next question was "What steps do we take now, Sarge !", to which I answered "F***ing big ones - RUN !!!".

 

[fastmongrel]

I use a craft knife or scalpel. I cut on a piece of 3mm plasticard I find it firm enough to prevent the etch getting twisted when applying cutting pressure yet not so hard the blade edge gets blunted.

I have a pair of expensive Xuron etch scissors and they're very useful for cutting fine nylon thread to make rigging. I used them once cutting etch and never again.

 

[Crimea_River]

....thought that I'd add a p/e cutter to the tool box, any suggestions?

My only suggestion is to use the damn thing once you get it!

 

[Lucky13]

Oi....I resent that statement!

 

[TheRealMrEd]

I us the Xuron PE Shears HERE

Not only do they work well on PE, allowing me to nip the little "nubs" from cut-offs, but they also work well on this plastic card, and are my go-to for cutting out vacuformed canopies.

Ed

 

[Wurger]

 

[fastmongrel]

I us the Xuron PE Shears HERE

Not only do they work well on PE, allowing me to nip the little "nubs" from cut-offs, but they also work well on this plastic card, and are my go-to for cutting out vacuformed canopies.

Ed

They are the cutters I have but I didn't like them for cutting etch. I noticed the price on Amazon.com is $21 in Britain they go for around £25 which converts to $35

 

[Crimea_River]

You can buy and replace a lot of X-Acto blades for that price.

 

[TheRealMrEd]

You are probably right -- I bought these BME (Before Modern Era)!

Ed