Rice ball.....yes. Good one Craig.

Ray

Another reason to buy American made tools and toss the Chinese garbage in the...well...the garbage.

I have several sets of the wire strippers/crimpers and have cut bunches of screws without problems. Sometimes they leave a little roughness on the end of the screw which makes you have to start the screw carefully but they always go in. I'd try experimenting with the orientation of the screw in the shear or cut the screw off to length and then, if the end of the thread is trailing, rather than leading, maybe turn the screw 1/2 turn and just nip off the last little bit so it smooths the end of the last thread into the center, rather than towards the outside. Also, once it cuts off, I open and close the tool a few times to burnish the end a little-probably doesn't make a difference, but what the heck.

If you're really fussy, you can dress the end of the screw with a fine file or, better yet, a small diamond stone (or a #400 belt on the belt grinder if you have one), filing or grinding from the end of the thread towards the center of the screw. All you really need to do is move the starting end of the thread back into the major diameter with a smooth leading edge.

Also, make sure you're not trying to thread a coarse thread into a fine thread fitting or a SAE thread into a metric fitting, or V/V.

I usually put a nut on any fastener I'm going to cut shorter, which makes it easier to straighten the last thread after it's cut. Thread chasers are nice but you sure don't need to go buy a set of chasers to cut off a few screws.

Lowell

My vote is to put a thread chaser on the screw or bolt before cutting it and then backing the chaser off to clean the threads. As long as the new length isn't super short it works well.
The ideal situation is to have the proper length screw or bolt to begin with or be able to adjust the length with no more than a "moderate" washer stack but that isn't always practical.
DonC

Craig,

Being a complete idiot about cars and tools, could you tell me where you got your channellocks and what part number they are. I have the ones from my days with Bell Labs but they are just for very small screws that went into circuit pack mountings and of no use at all for larger screws. I called our local NAPA, should be renamed STUPA, and tried to explain what I was looking for and all I got was DUH!!! And since I haven't seen what you have I can't really go in and look for them. The only channellocks they could come up with were just the regular old type that are adjustable pliers. I have ones from Sears that are much better than them and they are easily adjusted while fitting them to a bolt.

Ron :(

I don't have the part number but I have seen them at most all of the larger home improvement stores.....Lowe's. Home Depot.

Ray

Ron,

If I remember correctly, I picked them up years ago at our local electrical / plumbing wholesale distributor.
This would not be a " electronics " store.
Any distributor that sell wholesale to electrical contractors should have them or a similar high quality.
The strippers that G.R. posted a link to look impressive also. I think I might even try to locate a set of them here.
I will try in the meantime to locate a part # for the ones I have.

Craig

The Ancor stripper/crimper is the best...they have different mosels and they all are a bit spendy. The s/s version I posted is the best value for the dollar, won't rust, cuts s/s screws an bolts.
I have Mac, Craftsmen, and Snap-on stripper/crimper also and there is no comparison

Another thing that might be happening here is a difference in thread class fit. Threads are classified from 1 to 5 for fit. Class one being loosest and 5 tightest. Wingnuts are a good example of a class 1 fit. A class 4 or 5 fit requires a wrench to turn. Your die might be a lower class number than your hardware.

G.R.,

You have a PM.

Ron

Reply to you Ron

Thanks G.R. and to the rest of you.

Ron