God Hand nippers

[nah00]

Are these really as good as claimed? I've used Xuron cutters pretty much exclusively (except for the garbage pairs I get from Harbor Freight that I use to cut parts out of the sprue on larger models but never to remove sprue from the part) and have had good results with them. The God Hands seems to require more care though and looking at them durability is a concern for me.

 

[cteno4]

Ive seen them on how in the past. I'm the same with cheap nippers to do the heavy work and zuron and a couple of other no name brands I have to do finer work.

 

I have a neat pair from micromark that they no longer sell that has a reverse handle lever arm so you get a great lever arm action and thus great force to slice smoothly thru sprues. The problem is will all the four elements I needs bigger blades so is not useful for smaller parts/sprues and can cut very flush.

 

This kind of cutting with a nipper is always going to cause some plastic to be left behind and also deform it a little, so I usually do the nip the blade clean up and file if necessary. At $35-45 a bit expensive but the pictures on hlj show them slicing off thin bits of plastic. Reviews on Amazon are all raves 5 star except one chap who reviewed it without ever trying them!

 

It it really works it's worth it!

 

Jeff

[Suica]

I have the Ultimate Nipper 5.0 SPN-120

It's amazing for fine cuts on plastic. It's the only thing these should be used for though, as the blade is not just really sharp but also really fragile. I use cheap Revell nippers for rough stuff.

I bought mine directly at a hobby shop in Japan. I wouldn't pay any more than the regular price though. Unfortunately, western sellers tend to sell them for twice the price.

 

[kvp]

This kind of cutting with a nipper is always going to cause some plastic to be left behind and also deform it a little

Except with tools that have their cutting edges exactly on their side (got sharpened from one side only). Those can cut very much like an xacto blade. This does stress the plastic though as with any other nipper. Another problem is that these kind of blade edges are very fine and easy to damage, very much like finer boxcutter blades, which are the harder to use alternative to fine nippers.

[ATShinkansen]

My brother's roommate uses the God Hand nippers for his Gundam models. I just use a pair of Tamiya nippers, and I'm happy with them.

[cteno4]

That's great to hear suica, thanks!

 

fine flush cutters (back side ground flat) will still deform some. Knife blade will as well but less as usually you are shaving a thinner piece and sharper edge than with cutters and thus less pressure going into the cutting area generally and stress can go to the thin side more than the good part side. This is why it's best to do sprue cutting in stages. Cut far back first to remove piece (this sometimes requires cutting the main sprews up some so the part is not stressed in its sprew box), then trim the nib back to just at the part, then clean up with blade and or file. Taking the final bit down in passes causes less stress and discoloration.

 

These are a bit thicker than a matte knife blade and probably alloyed and hardened more to stay sharp but means it can be brittle and then snap if too much force. I doubt that trimming the final bits of sprew would ever do this and why Nah's process is good to protect the fine nippers. Also fine nippers need to be squeezed with gentle even pressure to both not deform the plastic and not snap the blades shut hard and fast on each other.

 

Jeff

[cteno4]

My brother's roommate uses the God Hand nippers for his Gundam models. I just use a pair of Tamiya nippers, and I'm happy with them.

GC,

 

Have you ever tried them side by side with some tamya? That would be great.

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

The drawings on their website suggest that the flat edge of the blade cuts the part off flush, while the angled edge makes a beveled cut on the sprue end.

 

To me this means there is a small pie-shaped slice of plastic that is miraculously disappearing.

 

Or, are we talking such small dimensions here that it's somewhat true?

 

I didn't bother trying to translate the site.

[cteno4]

Flush cutters have the back side of the cutter ground flush so the blade edges are like a wood chisel edge with one side only beveled. Most cutters have both sides of the edge beveled so when you try to flush cut with them you will end up with a tiny wedge of plastic along the surface of the part. I think this is what you are thinking about. Can you put a link to the diagram?

 

When the blade of a flush cutter is going along the part surface it's like a wood chisel going flat along a surface and any raised bit is shaved off. It's the same thing you do with a blade if flush cutting like this you want to angle the blade a tiny bit so the bevel of the blade in the side next to the part is flat against the part so shaves flatly along the surface of the part.

 

Some cheap nippers are called flush cutters and have flat back sides but they have beveled blades. Some flush cutters also have a slight outward angle on the blades towards the back side of the cutter and these can sometimes dig funny into the part but but can let you cut into concave surfaces.

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

Can you put a link to the diagram?

 

 

Ultimate Nipper 5.0 SPN-120

[cteno4]

Ahh thanks Charles! These have only one side as a blade! This is how they can have it come together cleanly to finish the cut against the flat side as getting two sharpeneded edges on thin blades to meet well would be difficult when closed. Nice adjustments on it to keep it in alignment and stopped so it does not mash the blade into the anvil side. Good nippers usually have a fine adjustable stop like this to keep things just tight enough.

 

The single thin blade is much closer to using a knife to slice off the last bits.

 

Jeff

[ATShinkansen]

GC,

Have you ever tried them side by side with some tamya? That would be great.

Jeff

No, but I believe this same roommate has. I'll have to ask him.

[cteno4]

[nah00]

My brother's roommate uses the God Hand nippers for his Gundam models. I just use a pair of Tamiya nippers, and I'm happy with them.

 

Honestly that's more the kits I'd be using them on and Kotobukiya models. I'm not big into painting them since they're precolored but sometimes my Xuron cutters leave stress marks on the plastic. This isn't a big deal on something like a tank or plane that needs filed/puttied/sanded/primed/painted but on something I just want to put together over a weekend the precision would be appreciated. 

 

Also it looks like it doesn't have the tendency 'fling' smaller parts because of the single cutting edge as it's not pinching the part off of the sprue. 

[cteno4]

SPROING, TAP, Tap, tap. $&@#%¥ where is the flashlight...

[cteno4]

These are tempting me the more I think about them! While I always clean up with a blade (I can practically do it by feel while watching tv) having nice clean cuts to begin with is very attractive and to be honest I've never been really happy with any of the flush cutters to begin with.

 

Interesting that god hand and these nippers came from making the ultimate fingernail clipper and it was a hit with modelers! Love it when tech migrates to find a new home like this.

 

Jeff

[nah00]

The only thing that's holding me back is the durability. I use my garbage nippers to cut through bigger pieces but I'm still wary about these. Also my main interest in them was for cutting out clear parts, does anyone have any experience with them in that regard? 

[nah00]

Having now used these I will say for fine cuts and cutting small parts out they definitely live up to their name. However they definitely are something you want to follow the instructions on...I still use my Xuron nippers to cut part away from the gates and only use these to cut the gate away from the part at it's narrowest spot. There are also may be kits that are cast heavier (especially older kits) where these won't be as useful. For cutting out number plates and roof accessories though they're great.