Phot etched buckles/plates

[garyjd]

I'm going to use some photo etched buckles for my 54mm Civil War figures and would like to know the best way to separate them from the sprue. I've used an x-acto to separate a few in the past and did not care for the results.~Gary

 

[yeo_64]

Gary,try using a pair of cuticle scissors to separate the photoetch from the frame,they work for me.HTH.Cheers.
Kenneth.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Ive never had any sucess cutting photoetch with a scissor or a plier. Not saying thats a bad method though.

I use my scalpel and cut it off. The trick is to have a hard material underneath such as a ceramic tile or glass. This to make sharp clean cuts without the carrier sprues or the part being bent. When loose I usually hold the part in a flat plier sanding the sprue even with almost only the piece to be sanded off sticking out of the pliers gap.

 

[KeithP]

Janne's comments are right on, IMO.

You can use the curved xacto blade most often used for carving. Easy to slice.
I always did mine under a white cutting board. Taping down the etch tree is useful too.

There are snippers sold specifically for this operation although I was too cheap to buy :lol:

Keith

 

[waynetcolorado]

Gary:

I have a pair of surgical grade scissors that are used in eye surgery. They have an incredibly sharp edge and will trim the PE parts so close that I rarely need to sand off any stub. I got mine at a medical supply store for $20.

Wayne

 

[Kamil Feliks Sztarbala]

I'm cutting off pe parts from frame with simply modellers knife and then finnishing it with 1000 sandpaper.
~kamil

 

[mvonb]

I have used this little set for a few months now and had nothing but success with it. It is available from www.thesmallshop.com:

HTH

Martin