Binder clip for tension wrench

[Absinthe]

A binder clip is a triangular piece of spring steel with two chrome handles for clipping a large chunk of paper together.

http://www.keysan.com/pictures/zacc9697.jpg

If you take the handles off and twist them you can make a two prong tension wrench. Takes a bit of fiddling, and perhaps you will want to hammer or grind down the ends to fit but I have used them in tight areas with no problems.

[technik]

great thinking Absinthe! Very cool. Can you post some pics of your modified tensions?

[Chucklz]

I suddenly envision Offices around the world devoid of binder clips and our members hoarde them. Great job on the "office pick set" Now Im tempted to make a complete set of tools out of office supplies.

[Absinthe]

Chucklz --

It's worse than that, because they will still have the clips, but the handles will be gone

I will try and get one scanned in now that I am back from holiday.

[technik]

Wow Absinthe, you went on a holiday for a whole 13 hours!!!! get back to work

[Gyrine]

First thing I did was open my desk drawer and pull a couple apart.... I am eagerly awaiting your photos, so that I can see where you are going with this. Sounds interesting!!

[Absinthe]

I was on holiday for 96 hours thank you very much!

Just because I am not at work doesn't mean I don't have access to the internet..

As for how to make them, simply take the handle and place it in a vise open side up so that it looks like a really funky "V" but sink it deep into the vise with just the pieces that fit into the clip sticking over the top of the vise. Next grab your vise grips or pliers or whatever and turn those tabs inward 90 degrees heat may be your friend in this case, but I didn't use any. Now when you take it out of the vise it looks like it has feet walking forward instead of walking crab style It will no longer fit back into the binder clip.

Now grind or pound on them until they fit your favorite keyway. It will be under a fair amount of spring pressure, so if the keyway sisignificantly smaller, then it will ride the bottom of the shell. You can overcome this by adding a large washer to them and use it to adjust the spacing by sliding it up and down. But where I used it I didn't find it necessary.

[technik]

good description Absinthe, some pictures of your modifide clips would be great

[Absinthe]

Well, I figured that would hold all but the least adventurous until I got a chance to get to the scanner

When I get home this evening, I will take a snapshot of it. If it is not 100% intuitive from there, perhaps I will tear another one apart and photograph the process.

[Chucklz]

We have so far:

Tension tools
Great tension tool from certain pens
Double sided tension tool from binder clips
Poor tension tool from a paperclip

Picks
Needle pick/tubular lock pick from paperclip
Can Grind a pick from a hanging file folder metal strip


Wow, an office job doesnt seem so bad anymore.

[Absinthe]

Here is a picture:

[Mad Mick]

Nice work Absinthe.

[Gyrine]

Hope you went somewhere warm for holiday, pretty dreary here lately. Your verbal description was good, but the photos motivate me to make some when I get home....looks like fun. What made you think of this anyway?

[Absinthe]

Funny, I actually went to PA... (visiting family)

As for the wrench thing, I have done other things with them, like taking the arm off then using it to hold a key and puttign it back on. Crap like that. But I think one day when it was off it just "looked" like it might work.

If I can come across with some bike spokes I was thinking of using one bent completely in half the same way. I assume a WW blade will work as well. Normally, I just use a regular tension wrench, but I wanted to try a 2 point wrench without paying for one. Cheap B*D that I am

Next thing to come up with is the round one. Or perhaps the weighted one...

[Chucklz]

Absinthe.. for a weighted wrench, I have this to offer.

Get a street sweeper bristle, wiper blade insert...whatever you like. and make a standard L shaped tension wrench, but leave the long arm a bit longer than usual. Get a 35mm film canister, and make a small cut in the top for the tension tool. Stick the tool through about an inch or so, and epoxy/glue it into place. Now, just put some sand/coins/lead/etc in the film canister as an adjustable weight.