Cutter / Mitre Tool

RP Toolz

Reviewed by James Hatch

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RP Toolz’ Cutter Tool (or Mitre Tool) isn’t really a new idea. There are of course a few manufacturers out there who produce fairly similar tools, and I used to have one of them myself, so when RP Toolz announced that they were releasing their own, I was pretty keen to see it for myself. A mitre tool is designed so that the modeller can produce mitred plastic junctions of specific angles on strips of either flat styrene or shaped section stock. If you’ve ever tried to make a 90-degree angle frame, you’ll know how difficult it is to get right if you don’t have the correct tools. The Cutter Tool is designed to ease all of your woes.

This tool is packaged into a robust, corrugated box with a colour product label on the lid. You’ll also notice the weight. There’s some heavy metal in here, and some of the best you’ll see from a tool manufacturer. Unlike some contemporaries who may mould their cutters in some form of plastic, this one is precisely CNC-machined from a very hard grade aluminium, which has also been given a tough matte red anodised finish. The box fits the tool almost perfectly, with an insert used to support the cutter arm. A hex key is provided for changing the blade, as is a second blade with a finer cut. The tool is fitted with a 0.3mm thick blade for regular cutting tasks, with a slightly thinner (0.25mm) blade for something a little finer.

The first thing you notice when exploring this tool is that there is no play in any of the parts. That is, there is no looseness or wobble in either the arm pivot or the two adjustable fences. Those fences are also neatly engraved with degree graduations and the base is marked with a reference point too, in order to align the fences. The bottom edge of the fences is also marked, but in centimetres, with ZERO being at the actual cutting point of the blade. With the fences in their neutral position, an end stop can be positioned so you can cut precise and equal straight-edged lengths of strip. This stop can be removed of course so the fences can be adjusted. It can also be switched to the opposite side of the cutter for maximum flexibility. The stop and both fences are tightened using plastic thumbscrews that cover the metal fixing bolt.

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Now, a cutting area really needs a cutting mat, and this is what is fitted to this tool. A self-healing and graduated mat, sits flush with the upper surface of the tool, and proved a hard yet non-damaging surface to the cutting blade.

I made a small number of cut tests with this tool and found it both precise and effortless.

RP Toolz’ arsenal of quality modelling tools is certainly expanding, and like those before it, the sheer quality of this really does demand the price asked of it. This is no flimsy or inaccurate tool, but one with which you can work with total precision in producing either angled lengths of styrene, or equal, multiple lengths too. If you like to scratch-build or even just improve on what a kit supplies, then this could well be of interest to you. This is the very best of the mitre cutting tools that I have ever seen, without a doubt.

Thanks to RP Toolz for the sample

Page Created 11 October, 2018
Last updated 11 October, 2018

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