Review on 6-Inch Flush Cutter Pliers - Side Cutting Wire Cutter Pliers for Electronics and Jewelry, Diagonal Cutting Pliers (Black) by Tim Airy

BLEDS BS-8109 Cutting Pliers are surprisingly well made for the price. I didn't expect much from them but they exceeded my expectations. For testing, I set up various projects and used wire cutters for a week. I first used flush cutters to cut standard nylon zippers while redoing cable management on my desktop. The flush cutters were able to cut the extra tape close to the head so no sharp edges were sticking out. The cutter is small enough that I don't have to worry about my cables getting in the way of the blades and being accidentally cut, but large enough to easily cut the thicker zip ties I've used. The size and angle of the cutter was also perfect when I cut the zip ties on my 3D printer where I had less space to work. The second test was done on a set of 300+ soldered pins in several of my electronic projects. . I had to squeeze the cutter's handle a little harder than I would with zip ties, but that's to be expected when you're cutting metal, not nylon. I started noticing cramps in my hand about a third of the way down, but it was a lot of work straight away and I'm happy to report that the cutters were able to cut the leads incredibly close to the PCB. There is also no visible wear on the blades as I expected, but I do feel that they will wear out over time. This test showed that the BLEDS flush cutter blades are quite strong, but a more ergonomic handle design could have been used in the product to reduce hand cramps. Finally, I used a 3D printer cutter. As I mentioned, I cut my printer's zip ties, which looks more professional now, but I've found the cutters to be equally useful for other 3D printing tasks. For example, trimming the preheated ends of PLA and ABS filament is easy and leaves an accurate cut, making filament loading and extruding easier. The flush cutters came in handy when working with supports for uncured resin prints, allowing me to safely remove the supports without damaging the more delicate parts, like tearing the supports off with my hands. I also used cutters to remove a poorly adhered support on one of my PLA prints. While I was still struggling to completely remove this support, the BLEDS flush cutter was able to get between the print and the support and safely separate them without damaging the surface of the print. Overall, my week of testing has shown that the BLEDS BS-8109 Wire Cutting Pliers offer really good value for money. They could use a better grip and I feel like they're starting to wear down with constant use, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well they handled what I threw at them. Worth getting if you need cheap side cutters.