Flying parts

Better tweezers.  I bought a set of the Pixnor tweezers talked about in the tools forum.  I had it happen twice, I think, since I bought the set two years ago.  That is orders of magnitude fewer than ordinary for a year of model work .

Spit.

Technique I found working well with very small PE is to wet the part with some spit so it stays tacked to the tweezer.  

And and as Don said, use a good quality tweezer with flat blades so there is a enough surface area to hold, and not pinch the part.

Blue tack on the end of a piece of sprue was suggested when I asked the same question and it works quite well.

Tickmagnet

Blue tack on the end of a piece of sprue was suggested when I asked the same question and it works quite well.

 

Although I completely agree with the advice to use better tweezers (I also have high quality tweezers and yes they work better), I have reduced flying parts by using tweezers as a last resort to tiny parts.

I mostly use the blu tac trick Tick mentioned, except I put mine at the end of a toothpick and roll it to a point (they end up looking like the swabs mentioned below)

For the tiniest of tiny PE parts, sometimes I'll dampen an end of one of these fine Tamiya cotton swabs.

Something about the water tension often times holds the part.

Aha;

      I thought no one would ever ask this one. When I buy New tweezers that don't have teeth.( in some instances you don't want this type). This is what I do. I take a small square of Fine Emery cloth and fold over smooth side in and catch it in the tweezer jaws. Then I rotate it gently till it takes the smoothness off the inside of the tips. You do NOT have to bear down hard. Just enough to give the surface " Tooth"

         If you are worried about the Squareness of the surface this ,I find , Is the best way to retain it. Also remember tweezers don't need a lot of pressure. Pressure is your enemy. I only hold the part in question hard enough that it is held but not crushed or pinched in the tool.

    Tweezers do wear over over time. The above method revives them for years to come.

I completely agree! I bought a set of Pixnor tweezers several weeks ago, and have used them extensively, including for a good bit of photo-etched cockpit pieces in 1/48. They really make a big difference !

Tom

Thanks folks,the blue tack idea sounds good since i have very pointy tweezers.

Somewhat related- when I slice PE off of it's fret, I put a piece of blue tape face up on the back. That keeps the part from flying off when I chop it with the razor blade.

I also usually do PE construction in a shoe box with one long side chopped way down. It removes two of the three dimensions in which I can/ do launch parts.

Oh My!

   " G " I figured you would,ve gone in for the trim P.E. inside the sandwich size Ziploc by now.

Tanker-Builder

Oh My!

   " G " I figured you would,ve gone in for the trim P.E. inside the sandwich size Ziploc by now.

 

Dip the tips in liquid tape or have the wife as a spotter. 

[quote user="seastallion53"]

How does one keep tweezers from throwing tiny parts away?

I found a cure! Get a big white terry cloth towel and place it on the floor partly under your chair and under your table. No more crawling on the floor with a magnifying glass. When the part hits the floor you'll be able to see that tiny part by just sitting back in your chair and looking down. It's worked so well I now have a piece of white Terry towel on the workbench to catch any hopping parts and it makes the part much easier to grab with tweezers. This was a whole game changer.

Tanker-Builder

Aha;

      I thought no one would ever ask this one. 

A question. Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question. 

TB, is that you?