I don't know if anyone here has ever done this, but I thought I'd share.
First, some pics, then the story.
So for a long time now I've been wanting a small, folding pair of side cutters to carry around for occasional light cutting tasks like zip ties, wire twist ties, and smaller gauge electrical wire, but all my searching came up zilch. I don't want to carry around a full pair of side cutters, not even the smaller ones, I already carry a full size pair of adjustable pliers, an adjustable wrench, and a Leatherman Squirt P4, plus other stuff (all on my person, everywhere, everyday). I wanted something small and light that I could carry without even knowing I had it on me.
And sometimes the things I need to cut are tight (like a zip tie pulled tight around something) and there's no room to fit the pliers of my Squirt in to use the provided wire cutters. For such tasks a pair of side cutters with good tips would be ideal.
But like I said, as far as I can tell no one makes what I wanted. Go figure.
In the past I had considered cutting off the pliers of a Squirt leaving just the wire cutters, but I wanted cutters with blades that meet edge-to-edge, not blades that pass each other, hence, side cutters.
So I was looking at my Squirt, and it occurred to me, why don't I just re-grind the tips of the pliers into side cutters. Hmm, maybe that would work.
Problem was, with a price tag of $40 +tax for a new Squirt, I wasn't eager to risk wasting such money when I didn't know if I could do it, and, even if I could, would it work. One little mistake and that's $40 down the toilet (and I'm a frugal/cheap bastard).
But, I was able to purchase a decent Squirt second-hand for less, so I decided to take the chance.
Here's how it went-
The first thing I had to do was try and tighten the two halves/jaws of the pliers. They weren't sloppy loose, but they weren't tight, there was a little play. And in order for the project to function properly the jaws of the side cutters had to meet and be stable. Turns out this was a simple issue to resolve by using a flat punch and a hammer and punching the pivot pin around it's circumference on the side of the pliers that moves freely around the pivot. Worked great, I made the jaws tight enough to remove all play but not so tight that the pliers didn't move freely (a little WD40 helped).
Next, (referring to the picture below) I had to remove the two little shiny spring tabs that keep the jaws open (they're not there anymore, but one used to be where the blue arrow is pointing). I had to do this in order to increase how far the jaws could be closed, (more on this in a moment). I used a Dremel and a cutting wheel to cut them off, leaving just nubs, and diamond needle files to smooth out the edges, and then I tucked the nubs away back in the handles. Fortunately those spring tabs aren't really necessary, all they do is force the jaws open, and although that's a good feature on mini pliers, I don't need such a feature on side cutters.
I also needed to increase how far the jaws could be opened so I'd have enough clearance to grind the jaws into cutters. To do that I had to grind off some of the pliers in the area indicated by the red arrow. If you open a Squirt pliers all the way you'll see what stops them from opening further, that's where I had to grind. Again, Dremel and diamond files.
Then I had to get the toothy portion of the jaws, at least at the tips, to meet flush. So I filed down the teeth with diamond files until about 1/4" from the tips back were flat together. This was important to have cutting edges that would meet, and meet enough to cut zip ties. 1/4" was enough. This is why I needed to remove the little spring tabs, because they limited how far the jaws could be closed, and once I filed the jaws flat there would have been a gap between them if I couldn't close them more than the Squirt was designed for.
Next came the biggest part, grinding the cutter edges. I started the edges using my 12" disc sander, with a bucket of ice water nearby to cool the jaws so they wouldn't get hot and ruin the heat treat. This turned out not to be an issue as I would barely touch the jaws to the disc, just enough to remove a little metal, then right into the ice water, but they never did get hot.
After getting the edges halfway cut on the sander I switched to diamond files to finish them.
When I was done, I did some test cutting, and I'm happy to say that they work great. First I cut a 20" zip tie into 1/4" pieces, then I did the same to a 6" steel twist tie, then I cut through various gauges of insulated electrical wire, both stranded and solid core, and my new folding side cutters snipped and snapped through all of it cleanly and without a single hiccup. And of course I still have the shear wire cutters for tougher wire (I've already tested them on some heavy steel bailing wire and they worked great. All the more reason to have the pivot tight).
I hope you enjoyed this thread, especially if you took the time to read all this
. I will immediately be adding my new folding mini side cutters to my EDC. They pair nicely with my other Squirt P4.
And lastly here's a pic of the opposite side of the cutters, still in their original flat condition (for flush cuts).
First, some pics, then the story.
So for a long time now I've been wanting a small, folding pair of side cutters to carry around for occasional light cutting tasks like zip ties, wire twist ties, and smaller gauge electrical wire, but all my searching came up zilch. I don't want to carry around a full pair of side cutters, not even the smaller ones, I already carry a full size pair of adjustable pliers, an adjustable wrench, and a Leatherman Squirt P4, plus other stuff (all on my person, everywhere, everyday). I wanted something small and light that I could carry without even knowing I had it on me.
And sometimes the things I need to cut are tight (like a zip tie pulled tight around something) and there's no room to fit the pliers of my Squirt in to use the provided wire cutters. For such tasks a pair of side cutters with good tips would be ideal.
But like I said, as far as I can tell no one makes what I wanted. Go figure.
In the past I had considered cutting off the pliers of a Squirt leaving just the wire cutters, but I wanted cutters with blades that meet edge-to-edge, not blades that pass each other, hence, side cutters.
So I was looking at my Squirt, and it occurred to me, why don't I just re-grind the tips of the pliers into side cutters. Hmm, maybe that would work.
Problem was, with a price tag of $40 +tax for a new Squirt, I wasn't eager to risk wasting such money when I didn't know if I could do it, and, even if I could, would it work. One little mistake and that's $40 down the toilet (and I'm a frugal/cheap bastard).
But, I was able to purchase a decent Squirt second-hand for less, so I decided to take the chance.
Here's how it went-
The first thing I had to do was try and tighten the two halves/jaws of the pliers. They weren't sloppy loose, but they weren't tight, there was a little play. And in order for the project to function properly the jaws of the side cutters had to meet and be stable. Turns out this was a simple issue to resolve by using a flat punch and a hammer and punching the pivot pin around it's circumference on the side of the pliers that moves freely around the pivot. Worked great, I made the jaws tight enough to remove all play but not so tight that the pliers didn't move freely (a little WD40 helped).
Next, (referring to the picture below) I had to remove the two little shiny spring tabs that keep the jaws open (they're not there anymore, but one used to be where the blue arrow is pointing). I had to do this in order to increase how far the jaws could be closed, (more on this in a moment). I used a Dremel and a cutting wheel to cut them off, leaving just nubs, and diamond needle files to smooth out the edges, and then I tucked the nubs away back in the handles. Fortunately those spring tabs aren't really necessary, all they do is force the jaws open, and although that's a good feature on mini pliers, I don't need such a feature on side cutters.
I also needed to increase how far the jaws could be opened so I'd have enough clearance to grind the jaws into cutters. To do that I had to grind off some of the pliers in the area indicated by the red arrow. If you open a Squirt pliers all the way you'll see what stops them from opening further, that's where I had to grind. Again, Dremel and diamond files.
Then I had to get the toothy portion of the jaws, at least at the tips, to meet flush. So I filed down the teeth with diamond files until about 1/4" from the tips back were flat together. This was important to have cutting edges that would meet, and meet enough to cut zip ties. 1/4" was enough. This is why I needed to remove the little spring tabs, because they limited how far the jaws could be closed, and once I filed the jaws flat there would have been a gap between them if I couldn't close them more than the Squirt was designed for.
Next came the biggest part, grinding the cutter edges. I started the edges using my 12" disc sander, with a bucket of ice water nearby to cool the jaws so they wouldn't get hot and ruin the heat treat. This turned out not to be an issue as I would barely touch the jaws to the disc, just enough to remove a little metal, then right into the ice water, but they never did get hot.
After getting the edges halfway cut on the sander I switched to diamond files to finish them.
When I was done, I did some test cutting, and I'm happy to say that they work great. First I cut a 20" zip tie into 1/4" pieces, then I did the same to a 6" steel twist tie, then I cut through various gauges of insulated electrical wire, both stranded and solid core, and my new folding side cutters snipped and snapped through all of it cleanly and without a single hiccup. And of course I still have the shear wire cutters for tougher wire (I've already tested them on some heavy steel bailing wire and they worked great. All the more reason to have the pivot tight).
I hope you enjoyed this thread, especially if you took the time to read all this
. I will immediately be adding my new folding mini side cutters to my EDC. They pair nicely with my other Squirt P4.And lastly here's a pic of the opposite side of the cutters, still in their original flat condition (for flush cuts).
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