Ryan Jennens wrote: > Mornin' all! > > We have a problem with our through-hole lead cutters dulling. They are > the hand-operated type as we are hand-stuffing through hole parts for > now. They are just your run-of-the-mill clippers, and I cannot find any > specially hardened versions to last longer. Our leads are not made of > any particularly hard material. Is there a different solution than > buying new clippers as they wear out? Thanks again. > > Ryan > Phoenix Engineering Design Ryan, You might try Kline <--sp for you tool supplier. I have had very good results with their tools for electronics work. I don't do assembly any more but Kline had a cutter that is hardened on the tips only. The cutters were about $12.00 or so, (4 or 5 years ago) but they worked great. The only time I had one fail was when a Engineer cut Stainless steel wire that was about a 18 ga. and the tip turned into a stripper then broke. I was gone the day he used them for that or I would be writing you this from prison....... The moral of the story of course is, NEVER let an engineer use any tools except a pen or pencil! (I'm going to get hammered for that statement...) Anyway, try Kline for your cutters and their was a Swiss company that made some also but I don't remember the name. Very expensive though, $30.00 + bucks but also very good. If you need the name send me mail off-line and I'll check at home for the name. Later. -- Scott Decker AKA: PadMasterson Praegitzer Design On Location at Enterprise Server Group CO3 Intel Corporation Ph: (503)-677-6582 E-MAIL: [log in to unmask] ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################