Review: Tom’s Oil Filter Cutting Tool Helps Clean Up Oil Changes

Have you ever wished the process of changing your aircraft’s engine oil could be a little less messy? While this important maintenance task offers many ways to get your hands dirty, I find that cutting open the oil filter to check for contaminants often is how they wind up bloody.

During a recent oil change for my Commander 114B, I began thinking about how many times I have performed the operation over the years and how rarely I get through it without making a mess of the filter and sometimes spilling blood in addition to oil. Early on I tried basic tools including metal snips to cut the filter can then moved on to specialized filter can cutters available from aviation suppliers.

Fraught With Frustration

For a variety of reasons, including problems rooted in the tools as well as in the user, I have never been satisfied with any of the cutters I have tried.

Some seem unnecessarily complex while others tend to make meandering, uneven cuts that fail to meet up after 360 degrees. The result often is a lot of bending and twisting of thin, sharp-edged and splintered metal that inevitably winds up in my fingers. But I keep trying.

The last oil change marked the debut of my latest test subject, Tom’s Oil Filter Cutting Tool from Flyboy Accessories. I purchased mine from Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. I think this might be the one.

It is not as if I have tried every filter cutting tool on the market or come close to doing so. But I have noticed similarities in design that led me to look for something different.

The Tom’s tool is a departure from the others I have tried, in both appearance and function. It is remarkably straightforward and reminds me of the simple hand-operated can openers that were in my grandparents’ kitchens. It is the essence of a form following function.

Read the Directions

The tool comes with a sheet of instructions that also seem like a relic from the not-so-distant past, possibly printed on a mimeograph machine like the ones my elementary school teachers used during the 1970s. In that fine print, though, are the secrets to success when cutting aircraft oil filters.

The first tip is to put the filter in a vise, which is almost always a good idea, though in my experience pilots often try to hold the filter in one hand while wielding the cutter with the other. The vise is the third hand you often wind up wishing you had. With a stable platform and both hands free to brace the tool against the filter while cutting, the operation can proceed smoothly and quickly.

Next is the technique of working the cutter back and forth over a space of about an inch until the cutting disc breaks through. From there you gently, patiently, work the cutter around the circumference of the can, continuing the cut through about 350 to 355 degrees. Stopping short of the full circle leaves a small tab of metal in place to serve as a hinge that holds the end of the filter as you flip it open.

Covering the Details

Grab the filter element by its metal core, preferably with a pair of pliers, and pull it out. Tom’s instructions talk the user through all of these steps in detail, right down to prying off the metal clip that holds the filter element in place, and the proper way to cut the element free so you can spread it out on the bench and check for contaminants.

Throughout the procedure, the Tom’s felt solid, worked smoothly, and exhibited no play in its hinge or cutting wheel. I think it made the filter-cutting task about as clean and easy as it can be without paying someone else to do it.

If you have found changes to be less than satisfying lately, I recommend trying Tom’s Filter Cutting Tool. I believe it will save time, frustration, and perhaps a few Band-Aids. I hope your filter holds no surprises.