This week, we’re looking at affordable flush cutters for electronics and wiring. We’ve got two pairs from the RS Pro range and one pair from Knipex. They are all designed for electronics work and small-scale wiring.
RS Pro 606490 Full Flush
These cutters are 138mm overall and riveted construction, spring opening and ergonomic rubber grips that fit well in the hand. The jaws have full flush cut anvils with quality edges and a jaw opening equal to the other cutters here but they are only rated to 1.3mm copper wire.
At just over £16 GBP from I RS in the UK, they are an excellent full flush cutter but this acute edge geometry does tend to dull quicker than the semi-flush variant.
RS Pro 606507 Semi Flush
These cutters are classed as a flush cut but actually have semi-flush cut anvils, this means they have a slight bevel on the front face of the jaws. This results in a stronger edge and they tend not to dull even after significant hard work, they are rated to 1.6mm of copper wire. Whilst they might not be as ultimately sharp as full flush electronics cutters, I have never found this to be an issue for wiring and electronics work, and they are my go-to daily cutter. The additional machining of the bevel increases their price slightly, currently at £22 GBP from RS in the UK.
Knipex 78-71-125 Full Flush
When Knipex brings out a cutter, you are a fool if you don’t at least take a look. The Knipex Electronic Super Knips have a body of 125mm and boast a fully flush jaw hardened to 62 HRC. The front face of the jaws also crowns where they meet, allowing you to get even tighter to the surface, within 0.2mm is claimed. Generally, for wiring applications, we don’t need to achieve this level of closeness but you may on occasion need to for PCB work.
The fully flush and ground edges are rated for 1.6mm of copper.
The firmer material of the handles is perfectly acceptable but not quite as ergonomic as the RS Pro items.
Currently selling for just over £25 GBP at RS but Farnell CPC are offering them at just under £20 GBP.
Conclusion
I have yet to put the Knipex through a full season but the Knipex reputation precedes them and I have no doubt they will be a great tool.
The RS Semi flush cutters have been the stalwart cutter of the last 15 years, cheap enough that losing them is not a big issue but strong enough to take on some really tough emergency jobs on event. Indeed my preference is to go for this semi-flush style, purely because you can take these cutters away with you on event, they’re going to last a season or more, even with the rough and tough use that gets thrown at them. I mean, I’ve used them to chew through a piece of armored cable and they were perfectly fine for the rest of the year.
So all three cutters are very similar in appearance and performance, and the choice is yours. They will be a reliable tool for any toolbox or race truck toolkit.