I am having lots of trouble finding a good cutter or blade to remove PE parts from the sprues. X-acto knives break immediately or notch immediately and don't cut thru the brass often. I got an NT Cutter and, while the NT blades are sharp, the blades notch immediately and don't cut PE parts very well. I tried mat cutting razor blades, which are also hit and miss. What do you all use? It is crazy how hard it is to cut some tiny little connecting piece of metal!!

What brand of PE are cutting? For fine parts, I use an xacto knife with no issues, for bigger parts I use the Xuron PE cutters.

Voyager Model PE. Perhaps they have thicker attachments? The Xactos are sharp, but always break when cutting PE. overpriced for this use!

Those Xuron cutters look nice! Do they really fit in the tiny spaces between the parts and the sprue?
http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-Professional-Photo-Scissor-XUR9180ET/dp/B003XXU3GM

Just ordered those cutters-they look perfect for this task.

It may be a little late, but you can also use small sewing scissors or cuticle scissors.

Coming a little late to the game, but in addition to the Xuron PE scissors (game changing tool for me, worth every penny) another game changer was to buy one of the Tamiya diamond dust coated files from HLJ. not too expensive, iirc about $5, but makes a WORLD of difference filing off the small 'sprue' fret(??) attachment points/scars left over from whatever means of cutting you settle on.

HLJ has a whole page of them
http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?GenreCode2=all&Word=diamond+file&x=0&y=0

and I think Micromark sells them too.

My US$0.02, your mileage may vary.
mike

thanks Mike. I will see if that nice Tamiya file is better than my current set of metal, ridged files that seem to get hung up on the little nubs..found it on amazon for under 10 bucks.

and WOW, does HobbyLink Japan have the worst website ever, or what?!

yeah, you have to select the 'advanced search' option to get most anything you do not know the EXACT name of most of the time.

Get a thick piece of styrene plastic to cut the PE on . If you do use an xacto knife use a 616 blade and don't use the very tip . The styrene provides a better backing for cutting the pieces off

I've found that files are pretty useless for cleaning up those PE attachment points. Instead, I like to use a sharpening stone. It doesn't snag the way files do. Coarse ceramic stones and diamond stones work very well. Natural whetstones may get torn up though if they are too soft, so I stay away from those for this purpose.

whetstone is a great idea too! I've been cutting my PE parts on pyrex glass...perhaps styrene would better

They both will melt a a high speed .

both will melt at high speed? confused what you mean...

I meant the styrene will melt from the friction of the stone . If you run the stone fast enough . If you cut on Pyrex , that's the same thing as glass , I believe the life of the blade is reduced considerably glass is hard and takes it toll on the blade . Styrene yields and prolongs the blades life a bit , plus it's soft so the PE does not go flying all over the place .

I was simply suggesting sharpening stones--rather than files--as a way to remove the residual nib from the piece AFTER it is cut from the sprue; not that it be used in some way being to cut them off.

I thought you meant using a cut off wheel on a dremel , sorry if I misunderstood you ?

The Xuron cutters are nice, but I usually use a single edge razor blade in a box cutter handle. I cut on an old CD which gives a clean cut and prevents fly aways. Then 2 swipes with a diamond file and the piece is ready.

Small shop makes a PE cut off kit ?

I guess it is back to single-use razor blades or NT cutter blades since the Xuron cutter I was so excited about will not fit in the tiny space between the PE part and the fret/sprue, so it can't cut a damn thing!

How does a CD prevent fly-aways?

You can use the CD as a straight edge, by placing it over the part you intend to remove. Similarly, you can place a piece of tape over the are of the piece you intend to remove. Make the cut and the part should remain on the tape.

And I thought CD's were round?