damifino

This may be old news to some but I've not seen it discussed here. A great tool for cutting iron-on covering such as Monocoat, Ultracoat, etc. is a rotary cutter and cutting mat intended for cutting cloth. They can be bought in the sewing department and in fabric stores. My wife has one she has used for years and I've covered three planes using it to 'blank out' my film pieces with no ill effects to the cutter at all. By using a clear cutting guide sold specifically for use with rotary cutters one can achieve perfectly straight cut lines. Have you ever had to trim 1/16"along a straight line with scissors? It ain't easy! Free-hand curves are a snap if you follow a line drawn on the film's backside. Mirror image designs for left and right sides of your plane are easy, too. Just tape your two layers of film down to the cutting board and cut away. Nothing cuts faster or cleaner. My method of covering is to cut my piece a little oversize with the rotary cutter, tack down the edges to the plane, shrink with the heat gun, iron down and then trim to size (with razor blade or trim tool). The rotary cutter really speeds things up ALOT.
Please share your favorite tips...Happy Holidays!!! [/font]

vinnie

My Feedback: (1)

Great tip Damifino.
I got mine at Michaels Craft Store. Great for making those wavy stars-and-stripes American flags.

CafeenMan

I have one and the first thing I did was remove a large chunk of flesh from my hand. Haven't used it since.

Kaos Rulz

damifino,

What kind of costs are we talking about?

Stripes

My Feedback: (19)

Three sizes, this is the big one:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXL451&P=0

Azcat59

My wife is a quilter and uses these, so I bought one. First thing I did was put my finger on top, like I would with an X-Acto knife, and cut a nice clean line in the end of my finger.....gave that little beast to my wife and went back to my old favorites, single edge razor blades, or the X-Acto for tight curves. They cut well, but be careful guys.

Clair

damifino

I haven't bought one for myself because I use the wife's cutter and mat! I do know however that if you can do without all the info printed on Tower Hobbies' mat that you will save about 70% by buying one at the department store or craft store. Just guessing, you're probably looking at $24.00 to 30.00 bucks for a rotary cutter (OLFA is a brand I think), clear cutting guide, and a good sized mat (get one that's at least 24" the long way). The mat is 'self healing' so it'll last a good looong time. Just don't heat shrink parts on it with your heat gun because it will become permanently warped. As for cutting huge chunks of flesh from one's hand?? Hell, I guess we can get hurt doing just about anything, why just the other day I was putting on my underwear and.......uh...never mind!

CafeenMan

You can get a huge cutting matt in the craft section of Wal-Mart. I think it was 24" x 36" and is the largest cutting matt I've seen. I think it was about $19, but can't remember now. Cutting matts are wonderful things.

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

I have two rotary cutters of different diameters. Use them to cut monokote, foam, etc on a cutting mat. I use a plastic ruler to guide the blade for straight cuts. Works great !

rhd-RCU

My Feedback: (36)

Rotry cutters work great. I have yet to cut myself with one. Have lots of scars from an 11 blade though.

scott7x71

A buddy and I were at the field discussing rotaries. His wife is into quilting and I have used them for a while. We were surprised at the number of guys who had never heard of 'em. Eventually we ended taking ours up there so they could see what we were talking about.
Now they all have one. By far the best pattern cutter I've ever used. You can get an off-brand for less than $25.00 (mat and cutter).

Trust me- you'll love it.

marshallflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Rotary cutters work great for monokote. They also work good for cutting thinner balsa. The quilters rulers available are also handy tools to have around. My mother has had rotary cutters for years. According to her Olfa is the best quality tool. Be careful as mentioned above they are wicked and can slice you and dice you in unpleasant ways. You don't want to drop one an a bare foot. I know of a lady who was cutting fabric and dropped her Olfa on her bare foot. Her foot was messed over pretty good. She had a bunch of tendons cut etc. Not a good thing.

Stripes

My Feedback: (19)

Cutting fiberglass cloth is made much easier with these rotary cutters but it does leave small amounts of glass fibers on the cutting mat so don't use the wife's mat for fiberglass.

scott7x71

Stripes is right- don't get your wife's. You will find that rotary cutters are great! I've even used to "wavey" wheel to make a perfect sagged paint look. Made the plane look an iced donut.

There are also the swiveling blades for your exacto knife. They are the best thing for cutting letters and patterns if you're using a stencil.

Bob101

Hobby Lobby sells them and they have a guide to keep you from slicing off your finger....

I use one a lot, it will slice up thin balsa better than a balsa stripper in my opinion. You can get ungodly size mats to cut with as well. I got mine from Hobby Lobby when they had a 1/2 off sale on "possibles" like quilt making stuff and got a 36" x 48" one with guide grids for $29. Very good deal for $29. I turn it over and throw it on my work bench when doing some other stuff when I need a smooth flat surface (it's super smooth on the back and "gripped" on the cut side).

Boss248

OK...I am lost...what does a rotor cutter look like??? I have been doing monokote for many years and I have no idea at all what you are talking about...a picture of one would be real nice.

I went to the OLFA web site and I am shocked I never knew of such a tool...I gotta get out more[sm=bananahead.gif]

Stripes

My Feedback: (19)

A rotary cutter would be found in sewing supplies, you know as in fabric stores. Try this:
http://www.olfablades.com/rotary/ind...LFA_blades_sgo

hookedonrc

I noticed that there are different sizes of cutters. Any particular one that works the best, or do you who have them use more than one size?

Stripes

My Feedback: (19)

I only have the one I stole from my wife. Its' blade is 1 3/4 inches in diameter and the handle is just ove 6 inches in length. You really can't underestimate how handy this is for cutting fiberglass cloth. You know how it squirms away from you when you try to cut it with sissors or a number 11.

hookedonrc

You are right, fiberglass cloth is a hassle to cut. I'll start looking around here and see what I can find.

Thanks

Boss248

I went to Waly-World tonight and bought a rotory cutter and a cutter called Shape Cutter. I am amazed at how fast and clean the rotory cutter does on Monokote...!
I also bought a cutting tool called Shape Cutter...it is FANTASTIC...it makes cuting the paint run pattern even easier than the rotor cutter. It uses a very small blade that can pivot as you move the cutter around and the really cool thing is that you can see what you are doing se easily. It will easily cut 1/4" in.circles and you can get in so much tighter with this tool. It is like using a #11 blade in your hand but you are not limited to the locked down aspects of an X-Acto knife .
As you can tell I am really blown away with this new world of something other than straight lone schemes that I always do.

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

Boss,
I have the same Rotary utter that you have pictured, and they are amazing. When I first brought it home, I cut up a lot of covering scraps into little pieces, because I couldn't get over how easy it was. (A very light touch is all that's needed.)

I'll have to go look for that Shape Cutter!
Dennis-

Boss248

Dennis...the shape cutter is a tool made in heaven...I was cutting out very small and close question marks and if I got to small and went over an area that was inside the cutter base it would bunch up. The fix for that is a plane of glass or a mirror, I pealed the backing off and sprayed the mirror with windex and layed the backless monokote down and worked out the remaining windex and I was cutting 1/8" dia. donuts.

martyg

My Feedback: (42)

How long do the blades last on these rotary cutters?
How much does it cost to replace them?

Plastic covering is murder on razor and X-Acto blades.
Will a rotary cutter blade outlast a couple of covering jobs?

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

Don't know yet how long they'll last, but it would seem like the blade would last through at least a couple covering jobs. The blade is a small wheel, and I believe they're only a couple bucks. (I paid $10 for my cutter which is identical to the one in Boss's photo.)
Dennis-