cutting thin copper wire without messing up the ends?

[ChuckT]

I want to cut some soft copper wire that is .3mm in diameter (pretty thin). Normally I would just use a wire cutter to cut it, but the problem with the wire cutter is it leaves the end all crimped and smooshed! 

Does anyone out there have a good method for cutting wire this thin that leaves the end relatively square and not sqaushed? 

Thanks in advance, chuckT.

[Vandy 1 VX 4]

I'm thinking this is flat not coiled wire?  If flat, I lay it on hard mat and cut it with a Zacto blade by rolling it while cutting it.   It works for me.

 

Hope it works for you Sir. Cheers

[Guest Jessie_C]

I just use my cuticle scissors if it's really thin. There's a tiny bit of a lip left when the metal shears, but much less than the mess left by wire cutters.

[ChuckT]

Sounds good. I also discovered my orange handled Xuron cutters make a pretty clean cut.

[LSP_Kevin]

Rolling under a either a #11 or curved blade works for me.

 

Kev

[krow113]

A razor would suffice , like the # 11 blade. You could then slide the wire into a small diameter tube, exposing a little at the end and file the wire end square.

[109]

Get a really high quality side-cutting nipper. They are expensive but if you use it only for quality cuts in non-ferrous materials it will last very long ... HTH!

[Uilleann]

Plain old scissors?

[NavyMech06]

Last time I was at Hobby Lobby, sorry if they're not in your area, but I ran across this little tool in the bead jewelry section as I was looking for small gauge wire and they had a tool that touched up the end of a cut wire. I didn't find it on the Hobby Lobby site but I did find it here http://www.beadalon.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=B6EA2B0E98E0490EB64A3E5442061F6E, I might have to pick one up. At least you wouldn't have to worry about snipped ends anymore.

[LSP_Kevin]

You could always try Xuron's Hard Wire Shears:

 

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=1440

 

Kev

[Zero77]

I usually use scissors or a scalpel blade for thin copper or tin wires.

For micro tube (about 0.5mm diameter), i use a razor saw so i dont crush it.

[LSP_Kevin]

For micro tube (about 0.5mm diameter), i use a razor saw so i dont crush it.

 

Rolling such tubing under a curved Xacto blade really works well. Took me a while to get the hang of the technique, but it's pretty effective. It's just not very precise, unfortunately.

 

Kev

[kap64]

Flush cutters or razor flush cutters work well.