Aven makes a line of Accu-Cut hard wire cutters, and they’re actually very affordable (for what they are).
Last week I posted about Schmitz mini pliers and cutters, and NewtonsApple brought up Aven’s German-made carbide-jaw cutters.
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I’m familiar with Aven tools, but I don’t think I’ve seen these hard wire cutters before.
Aven Accu-Cut hard wire cutters are available in several sizes and styles:
- 10826TCS, Tapered Head 120mm Semi-Flush
- 10825TCS, Tapered Head 125mm Semi-Flush
- 10827TCF, Oval Head 120mm Flush
- 10827TCS, Oval Head 120mm Semi-Flush
- 10821TCS, Oval Head 125mm Semi-Flush
- 10828TCF, Mini Tapered Head 120mm Flush w/Relief
- 10828TCS, Mini Tapered Head 120mm Semi-Flush w/Relief
Aven says their hard-wire cutters are designed for cutting materials such as stents, catheters, nitinol, component wires, piano wire, and other such materials. The jaws are made from a stainless steel alloy with brazed tungsten carbide inserts. The tungsten carbide cutter blades have a hardness rating of 80-82 HRC.
Although suited for medical applications, they can also be used for electronics work, or other precision cutting tasks. The “medical-grade” mirror-finish polish should make the cutters easy to clean.
The cutters feature an ESD-safe handle grip, box joint construction, and dual leaf springs.
The different models have different cutting capacities, ranging from 0.2/34 to 0.6/22 piano wire, 0.6/22 to 1.0/18 hard wire, and 1.6/14 to 2.0/12 soft wire, with the numbers referring to mm/wire gauge.
Price: $30 each
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Aven)
These cutters are made in Germany.
These hard-wire cutters are said to be made exclusively for Aven. Aven also has a line of standard Accu-Cut cutters, for use on “micro-assembly and repairs.”
It’ll be very difficult to confirm which company makes Aven’s Accu-Cut hard-wire cutters, but I have seen those handle grips before, on the NWS precision cutters I ordered last winter. If you’re familiar with NWS, you probably already know that their pliers and cutters are made in Germany.
First Thoughts
Despite using miniature and precision pliers regularly, I can’t say I’ve needed hard-wire cutter blades in a tool this size before. Still, it seems like a pair or two would be “buy it for life” tools for hobbyists that work with hard wires. Professional and industrial users are likely to get a lot of use out of each pair before they start seeing wear.
A big benefit of the stainless steel construction is that the pliers will be easy to clean. And since they’re not chrome plated, should you damage them you won’t get chrome flaking off into delicate circuits or components.
Schmitz, the brand we briefly talked about the other day, also makes ESD-safe hard wire cutters with tungsten carbide-tipped blades. Those are $90 each.
If you think you need precision hard-wire cutters, and aren’t sure which to buy, the 10821TCS oval head 125mm semi-flush cutter (Buy Now) has the highest cutting capacity. The 120mm oval head and 125mm taper head cutters have slightly lower cutting capacity, and the 120mm mini taper head cutters have the lowest.
Generally, semi-flush cutters can last longer than flush-cutting, but the cut typically isn’t as perfectly clean. Oval head cutters are stronger, due to there being more material behind the cutting blades, while taper head cutters can fit in tighter spaces. Taper head cutters with relief have material removed from underneath the jaws, allowing them to make cuts in even tighter spaces.
Thank you to NewtonsApple for the tip!