[adhesive_wombat]

What tools did you use to cut these components with such precision and lack of burring?

[ncmncm]

Sandpaper of increasing fineness.

And patience. Lots of patience.

[adhesive_wombat]

How did you hold the items securely while sanding them down? Standard hand vices or some kind of custom jigs?

[ncmncm]

Not my project, but embedding the part in a plug of epoxy would make it easier to handle.

[tubetime]

we used a variety of tools: diamond saws, polishing wheels, hacksaws, and a lot of sandpaper.

many of the samples had to be mounted using clamps or dop wax.