Side-cutting pliers
Side-cutting pliers
A side cutter is a pair of pliers for cutting, i.e. separating, especially of wires or strings by wedge cutting. The side cutter is used especially in electrical installations to cut the individual wires of a cable. With the help of the leverage effect it is possible to cut even quite thick cores (larger than 2.5 mm²) if the core is inserted as close as possible to the joint of the pliers. There are different versions of these pliers. Power side cutters are usually particularly large side cutters and also suitable for cutting hard wires, some have a mechanical transmission similar to bolt cutters. For assembly work on printed circuit boards, small side cutters with one-sided, non-V-shaped, ground cutting edges (without cutting face) are used, which allow the ends of leaded components to be cut very close to the board.