I’ve had many part nippers over the years. Currently my favorite ones are the blue GodHand nippers. The $50 price was a major turn off but I’ve used them quite a bit. They do cut flush or very nearly cut flush dependingon alignment. Parts clean up is far less hassle. They have become a favorite tool.
They are definitely more for finesse than brute force. When there is a nasty sized sprue or big attachment point, its back to the Xuron’s which are excellent for the heavy duty plastic cutting.
I use Xuron Micro Shear Flush Cutter nippers…Made in the U.S.A. and not as expensive as Godhand which I never purchased.
Now there are a few variants of Godhand and Xuron nippers ranging from $9 to $56. I use the cheaper ones and they work fine.
I used to use a SEARS Craftsman wire cutter nipper with triangular blades but I found that heavy to handle and it was a bit large to get into tight sprue areas. Also, the force had a tendency to cut the piece in half if pressed too hard.
This is the $8.50 Micro Shear Xuron Flush Cutter nippers that I use.
FWIW - In addition to the GodHand 5.0 nippers, I’ve added:
A) Meng/DSPIAE’s top nipper - ~$80 under the Meng name but they are ~half that under the DSPIAE name. I really like these almost as much as the GH’s.
B) Zoukei-Mura Pro-Zetzu Precision Nipper paid ~$40 Everyone but me seems able to flush cut with this brand. My ZM’s leave a bigger burr than the MENG/DSPIAE’s or the God Hands OR gouge out plastic. They had this issue directly out of the package. However the nose has a different taper so they have proved quite usefull.
Eventually realized the blade has a small blemish on it. Probably ought to get a new pair to get the real benefits.
If I could only have one
#1 God Hand - definitely worth the price IF minimal parts clean up or finesse is important to you.
#2 Meng/DSPIAE’s is a VERY close second for all the same reasons.
#3 Zoukei-Mura seems so promising and if I could have got mine to flush cut would easily be #1 with that ~$36 price tag.
Even with this jacked up pair of ZM’s, I’m 100x happier than with the best Xuron’s or anything else other (GH/Meng/DSPIAE ) I’ve used.
I have several pair of Xurons as my beat around cutters now. I recently got a pair of Godhands and they are worth the money. I’m a gadget nut so I’ll try a few others on down the road.
For cutting PE Xurons dedicated snippets for PE are a dream but sometimes limited by how tight the PE frets are.
I have a pair of those Big Army Modelers that I use specifically on heave sprue cutting jobs.
Almost 2 years later and my Zoukei-Mura’s are still as sharp as the day I got them. They are still the world champs on my list. I also have never bought a bad tool from DSPIAE.
I’ve been using Xuron nippers for the last couple of years and they work most all the time unless there’s not enough room between the part and the sprue rail . . . that’s when I use one of these little dudes . . .
I might be a bit odd in saying this, but I really like this small pair of wirecutters I stumbled upon while at Crappy Tire. There’s a little bit of extra cleanup, but not an exorbitant amount. I used to have a pair of cheap sprue cutters, but those ended up breaking while mindlessly using them like a stress ball. I don’t have to worry about that so much with wirecutters.
