Thinnerline Circle Cutter review

[ebf2k]

Nope, not quite right! Hmm. Also I haven't yet realized my calibration was off (by a lot).




Let's try another method!

[ebf2k]

I found another engine part, found the center with the bullseye, used the L bracket and put the cutter in the bracket.
This time however, I only gently put the cutter on the paper (loosen the pressure on the blade a bit too) and adjusted the arm so the tip of the blade was right on the edge of the part.

Lock the blade in place and adjust the pressure back. Time to cut! How will I do?





Looks perfect to me, and no hole poked in the middle! This is why I wanted to try this tool, and it works great.

[MichaelS]

Interesting. Where do you get these and how much?

Thanks for your detailed effort.

[ebf2k]

After I got this results I realized my calibration must have been off. So I cut another random circle, measured it, and re-applied the calibration circle. As you can see it's in a different location this time.





After doing more cuts with the center and measure the diameter method I got much closer results than the first time, but consistently get really good cuts by not measuring and just putting the tip of the blade on the edge of the part.

[ebf2k]

But what else can this tool do? On the website it claims to cut circles down to 0.5MM! I don't have any parts that small, but I did find this little guy who is about 2.5mm in diameter. I want to cut this part out and use it, and just make a hole in my paper.




The bullseye locator works really well even on a part this small

[ebf2k]

With the L bracket secure, I put down the cutter and adjust the blade to the outside of the part. Hard to see in this photo, you will need to make sure you have good lighting when working with parts this small.





Again, lightly placing the cutter on the paper while adjusting the position of the blade, then lock it down.


With the blade locked in position, I did a test cut on some scrap paper to make sure the circle is the right size.
The test cut looks good, so lets cut the actual part.

Success! I have a perfectly cut 2.5 MM part.

[ebf2k]

These cuts were made with the parts printed on standard copy paper, laminated to another sheet of paper, so the thickness is about 0.2- 0.25mm. But our kits often have parts on thicker stock.



This is a circle cut out on 0.5mm paper stock. I used both the 30 degree and the 60 degree paper and got good, consistent cuts. The trick is the first put the cutter on the paper and then adjust the pressure of the blade to prevent burrs on the circle from where the blade first contacts the paper.





I also tried it on 1mm card using the 30 degree blade. As you can see, even after a few passes, the cut did not go all the way through consistently. This was with the blade set at maximum pressure.


However it did cut nearly all the way through, and it was a trivial matter to finish the cut with a hobby knife. The end result was a clean circle and disk.



I give this product a thumbs up, especially now that the center locator is included with the cutter. I'm throwing my compass style cutters that leave a hole in the middle of the part away!

[ebf2k]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Interesting. Where do you get these and how much?

Thanks for your detailed effort.

I got it from Shadow Hobby and it was $49.95
Shadow Hobby |TLCC-000 Thinnerline Circle Cutter

[Kevin WS]

OK. Looks interesting. Thanks for all the explanations and illustrations.

Four questions.....

1. Given its cost, use etc. do you recommend this? And maybe for beginners?

2. Once set up can you cut out multiple circles without have to reset or check the settings?

3. Given set-up times and so forth if you were cutting out a number of different sized circles would it be just as quick to do this by hand?

4. And is the cost just for the cutter, or does it include all the accessories? If not, how much is it for everything shown?

[ebf2k]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

OK. Looks interesting. Thanks for all the explanations and illustrations.

Four questions.....

1. Given its cost, use etc. do you recommend this? And maybe for beginners?

2. Once set up can you cut out multiple circles without have to reset or check the settings?

3. Given set-up times and so forth if you were cutting out a number of different sized circles would it be just as quick to do this by hand?

4. And is the cost just for the cutter, or does it include all the accessories? If not, how much is it for everything shown?

In my experience:
1. I recommend it, since I was never successful at using a compass circle cutter for anything smaller than 20mm or so, especially on thicker stock, and it does not leave a hole in the middle. I do pretty well cutting circles by hand but nowhere near as accurate as this device. As for beginners, I feel that it can be useful for beginners as it is easy to use, but the cost is significant compared to other items in a paper modeler's toolbox, so there will be a trade off. If you're still practicing cutting and glueing, trying to get the hang of building simpler models, you'd probably be OK with delaying this purchase and cutting circles by hand. Once you have moved up to advanced kits, things like building consistent road wheels for tanks & trains, cylinders for radial engines, etc., this will definitely come in handy.


2. Once you have set the size you want and screwed the lock down on the blade arm, it won't slip. It is very stable and cuts consistently. I have not tried it, but I am certain it can cut lots of circles of the exact same size over and over very quickly. If you are cutting out printed circles from a kit, you will have to reposition it every time, obviously, but can make them all the same size.


3. It will definitely be faster to cut out lots of different sized circles by hand or using a compass style cutter. For me, using this cutter is not a time saving device in that scenario, but it provides much more accurate and clean cuts than I can do by hand. To me that makes it worth the extra time.


4. For the $49.95 price on the website you get the cutter circle, two calibration stickers, the L bracket, the bullseye locator, and one 60 degree blade. The 3 additional 30 degree blades I got were an additional $9.95. The tool feels very substantial and the action is smooth, I think it will last a long time.