Discovered a New Sprue Cutting Tool

[Maven]

I have several Jeff Tanner round ball moulds, which cast beautifully but have no sprue cutter/sprue plate.  Ordinarily, I use an rail cutter (made to cut HO  & N scale rail to a given length; Lambert imported it), but it's slow, tedious, and often takes several passes to make a smooth cut.  Little while ago I tried rail cutting tool made by Xuron and found it was not only faster, but cut much more evenly than the Lambert tool or various flush cutting pliers I've tried.  In short, it did a perfect job.  Btw, Xuron advertises in Railroad Model Craftsman and Model Railroader magazines and does a great job in cutting rail too!

[smylee grouch]

Interesting and one more option to choose from. I think it was on this forum not too long ago that someone suggested mounting a sprue cutter from some other mold to a Tanner mold. I'm wondering if this worked out and what other molds sprue cutter they used.

[Maven]

I read that suggestion here as well, sg.  Unfortunately I have neither the skill nor drill press to do that even though I greatly prefer moulds with sprue plates.  The Xuron cutting tool was a serendipitous choice as it was lying on my HO layout and I was curious to see if it worked better than the Lambert (Shinohara) rail cutter.  Needless to say, I was most pleasantly surprised.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

I use a nail clipper meant for dog use to clip the sprue. Pretty effective.  Varying molds have varying sprues depending on how the mould handles the sprue.

 I tumble all my hand cast RB in a Thumler's tumbler.  The tumbler virtually makes the little RB sprue remaining after clipping disappear, the mould parting lines vanish,  and the ball is a shiny black color all over with  great measured uniformity. About a 2 hour tumble for 200 32 caliber ball.

Lon

[B.Habermehl]

I use the toe nail clipper that look like diagonal wire cutting pliers. They cut nice and flush. BJH
PS They are made for people toe nails.

[Daryl]

In case some don't know what balls cast from Tanner moulds look like when they come from the mould.



I use these wire strippers. I grip the 'sprue' close to the ball, cut in about 1/2 way with a small diameter 'cutter' - about 1/8" diameter, then twist the ball as I cut through. Most balls are left completely round with no sprue at all sticking up while others need just a light swipe with a coarse wood rasp to round them off- takes only a second or 2 per ball.
The ball can then be taken from the bag and set on the patch then pushed home - no orientation as with sprue cutter moulds.