Needle File Set, Cut 2
Six shapes, 140 mm, medium cut
$38.00
USDStandard shipping $6.00, free over $75. Arrives in 3-6 business days. 30-day returns.
Six shapes - flat, half-round, round, square, triangular and knife - in cut 2, which is the medium grade and the one that does most of the work. Cut is stated as a number rather than as coarse, medium or fine, because those words mean different things in every catalogue and the number does not.
Cut 2 is deliberately the only grade in the set. A coarser file removes material fast and leaves a surface that needs three grades of abrasive to recover; a finer one loads solid on soft styrene within a minute and stops cutting. Cut 2 shears cleanly on plastic and resin and still moves brass at a reasonable rate, which makes it the one grade worth owning if you own one.
The tangs are plain and untapered so they take a standard file handle. Handles are sold separately - see AB-02 - and they are not an accessory. A needle file used by its bare tang is uncomfortable enough that people stop using it correctly, and the push-only stroke goes out of the window first.
The specification
Everything we know about this item, stated plainly. The same record is printed on the card in the box.
- Fits
- Plain 3 mm round tangs, 35 mm long - fit the beech handles in this catalog (AB-02) and any standard needle-file handle bored 3 mm. The set works on styrene, ABS, resin, brass, copper and aluminium.
- Service life
- Five to ten years on plastic and brass in normal use. The check is a fingernail: drag it across the teeth, and a sharp file catches and shaves a little nail dust, a worn one slides. A file that has stopped cutting is usually loaded, not worn - brush it out and check again before replacing it.
- Composition
- Hardened carbon file steel, 62-64 HRC, teeth machine-cut at cut 2 (approximately 46 teeth per 10 mm) with a safe uncut edge on the flat and triangular shapes.
- Dimensions
- 140 mm overall each, 105 mm of cut length, 4-5 mm across the working section depending on shape
- Weight
- 18-24 g each; 132 g for the set of six
- Made
- Cut and hardened in Northern Italy on traditional file-cutting machines, then tested against a reference blank for cut consistency.
Fitting & care
- File on the push stroke only, and lift on the return. Dragging the teeth backwards rounds them over.
- Clear the teeth with a stiff brush every few minutes on plastic - a loaded file burnishes instead of cutting.
- Keep files from touching each other in storage. Teeth chip teeth.
- Wipe with a dry cloth after use; these are carbon steel and will spot if put away damp.
Cautions
- Not for hardened steel. The teeth are harder than plastic, resin and brass, and softer than anything heat-treated - filing tool steel takes the teeth off in one stroke.
- Not to be used as a lever or a prybar. A needle file is brittle at the tang and snaps there, usually into a hand.
- Not for use in a rotary tool. These are hand files; spun in a chuck they shatter.
- Do not oil the teeth. Oil holds swarf in the cut and makes loading worse, not better.
Shipping
$6.00 standard, free over $75. 3-6 business days. Full policy
30 DAYS
Returns
Unused and in original packaging. Refunded within 5 business days of reaching us. Full policy
Questions about this product
hello@axonmodelco.comEvery message answered within one business day.
