The Ping factor

[Guest]

I am truly fed up, no matter how hard I try to secure the pieces cut from the sprue there is always one piece that flies off into the ether never to be seen in the lifetime of the build of the model, which leads to raiding the spares box or making something similar to the part that went west, usually because of too much downward pressure on the part as it is removed. I find it is because you are unable to get the clippers in next to the part and have to really on the scalpel blade. Does anyone else suffer from the same or is it just me?

:cry:

Andy

[Guest]

I have had them ping off a few times but now i have some sprue cutters and its not too bad generally.

[Guest]

Andy,

This has happened to me too with virtually every model I have made. I work in my Garage, which has a Laminate floor down, you'd think it would make lost bits easier to find, but 9 times out of 10 I never find them, or I spot them days later after I have scratch built replacements. The last time it was the head of the US Marine who was driving a jeep I was building - which had me panicking 'cos I had no idea how I was going to replace it. Fortunately that did turn up after a thorough search with the torch.

It's not cutting them off the sprue that does it for me - it's small items that ping when i'm holding them in tweezers - I guess I squeeze too hard!

[Guest]

I know might be a bit late...

When I have those small or indeed tiny parts, I squidge some blu tac down first the carefully squidge the part and sprue into the blu tac

put your finger over the back of the blade and over the part press down with blade and finger at the same time, all being well

a, part remains in the blu tac

b, no blood

Hope it helps

[stona]

I cut parts off the sprue away from the part and clean up afterwards. The parts tend not to ping away initially and when I use a blade to remove the nub of sprue it is that rather than the part that disappears into the ether.

Like Gaz I still lose bits that ping out of tweezers.

A good way of retrieving them is to fit a pair of tights over the vacuum cleaner hose (I use SWMBO's but it's entirely your business where you get them from :lol and search with that. A small part will end up stuck onto the tights. Grab it before you turn the vacuum off or you may lose it again....ask me how I know.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

ahh good tip that man with the hover.

when cutting a dificult piece off the spru i line up my hobby knife with the part being cut, then lay a teatowel over the whole thing and gently push untill "click" raise towell away and lift spru and there is said part.

one way instead of using tweezer's, my son has a toy work station with a working soft plastic vice that has been nicked and is in my tool box for such cases. if the part is tiny i will glu it to a piece from the spru clamp it in the vice and take an emery board to the area needing cleening. then gently remove it from the spru.

i hate it when i lose bits as i have never attemted any scratch building yet.

[Gern]

I am surprised that the carpet monster living in my house can't be seen by the naked eye! It must be huge to have eaten all the bits I've lost.

Try putting a bit of Cellotape (any clear sticky tape will do) over the sprue and the part you're cutting and cut through the tape as you cut the part from the sprue. The tape should hold the part for you.

Gern

[Guest]

Hello,

Id wondered what id done. Then i read on and was relieved . Definetly had problems with the carpet monster even though we havent got carpets, our wooden floors eat bits readily too. i try to wedge my belly against the table hoping that the bits bounce off and back onto the table.

Cheers

Si

[Guest]

think the trick is to get your eyes as low as possible to the floor when looking for bits you've lost, looking across the floor as opposed to looking down at it. its always worked for me.

[Guest]

Some great tips here, and thanks to everyone who has told me what they do to retrieve the lost parts. I work in my garage which has a green painted floor, an absolute nightmare for green molded plastic. I like a few of you have the tweezer trouble as well. That being said I am now getting dab hand at scratch building parts. This seems to be one of those problems that we all encounter so I am glad I am not alone with this one! Like the idea of Blutack or Celotape though, will certainly try that with small parts, Cheers guys

Andy

[Guest]

I shared your frustrations for many years.I now cut the item of the sprue inside a clear plastic bag. The items still fly off but are trapped within the bag.