Hey everyone, have a question about removing photo etch from the tree. I have the Xuron metal cutters (supposed to work well with PE) but I have found they are much to large to cut most of the parts off. So, what I have been doing is putting a small piece of tape over the part to be removed, and putting the tree flat on my desk and cutting them off with an exacto. The issue I am having, is sometimes when I remove a part, the part and or the whole tree will get a bend at the pressure point of the blade. How can this be prevented? It isnt really hard to correct on larger pieces, but I would HATE to try this method on something like ship rails.
A.J. has the right idea, but you don’t have to buy anything. As long as you have something HARD to put your PE fret on: tile, metal, formica, etc. you won’t have problems with the fret bending. You’re smart putting a piece of tape over the piece to keep it from flying away!
One other suggestion would be to get a chisel-tip blade for your X-acto handle. Makes cutting that much easier.
Hi,I would NEVER use a hard surface,blades break !! and have in the past stabbed myself due to that…do not use green cutting mats…you need somthing inbetween…JMO
I have found that the semi-hard plastic cutting mats that my wife uses in her crafting are perfect for this. Not hard enough to break a blade, but won’t allow the PE to bend, either. Fairly inexpensive and available at Michael’s, Craft Warehouse, etc.
That is exactly what I use. It works very well. As for blades breaking, it is true. that is why I went to Michael’s and picked up a set of 15, that’s right 15, #11 blades.
Here is my PE cutting set-up. A piece of scrap white ¼” Plexiglas as a cutting board, a small piece of clear Plexiglas to hold the PE in place and a hobby knife with a curved #18 blade. I use a rolling motion when I cut the piece using the clear Plexiglas as a guide and have never broken a blade. I can cut 1/72 scale PE parts using this technique.
Whenever I cut PE I put it in a clear plastic bag on my cutting mat and when I cut it there is no problem with flying parts and it won;t stick to the bag. You can use the bag many times before you have to replace it,
