How do I make a pick from hacksaw and Dremel?

[Wecko]

My first creation.
I have just made a pick from a pair of smashed up clip on sunglasses I found on the side of the road. I used the brow of the glasses as the pick and part of the rim as the pick handle. I straightened the metal and tempered it using a bic lighter (lol). My wrench was made from a coat hanger and the grips are just cheapo duct tape.

Pardon my webcam quality, but I don't own a digital camera!


They work surprisingly well!! I have managed to pick 3 regular + 2 mushroom pinned locks with them and the pick metal does not appear to fatigue.... but is a little flexible.

MY QUESTION!

I live in a little apartment so I cannot use an angle grinder, but I do however own a Dremel. I was wondering what techniques do you recommend in making a pick from a hacksaw blade using only a dremel and a file??


Cheers all!


[Title edited by MBI for searching purposes.]

[Shrub]

I can not reccomend enough the value of the stickies on this site also the search button opens up a vast world of experiance in anything you can think of regarding locks,

Theres guides and pictures and explanations of how to do all you want and more,

I leave you to have a read, the site is your oyster,

[Wecko]

Hi,

Yes I read a lot of the stickies and done searches. I can't find a definitive guide for dremel only hacksaw creations! Thanks.

[Shrub]

There may not be a definitive one as its not needed but i will give you tips as you say youve made an effort,

Always use safety glasses,

Dip in clean cold water every second or so,

Use your slitting discs,

Get the black fibre slitting discs instead of the stone ones,

Cut the material away by cutting slots down to a line, cut loads of slots and then join them together at the end to remove the bulk,

Now use a grinding wheel to straighten up the edges and make it clean,

Now use a sanding drum to smoothe out all the edges,

Finish as normal,

[n00bking]

Use fiber glass re-enforced cutting wheels for cutting and detailing. Be sure to go on LOW speed so you don't destroy your pick by cutting too much off. That is just for detailing. The wheel I used but now is ground down to nothing was this small grind wheel. It was thicker than cut off wheels, and was more durable. I think it is part number 541 or something. It cut through my hacksaws SOOOOOOOOOOOO fast! It was amazing, I wish I could find another in the stores. Use it on like an 8 to 10 speed and it works as well and big bench grinders.

[raimundo]

if you use cutting discs, you can get away with not trying to join your angles, when all the cuts are made you can support the part you ar making with a locking plier and just break off the final tabs of metal, this will leave an area that needs to be worked to clean up the tool but it avoides cutting too close to the meta that you are hoping to make the pick out of, if you slip a cutting wheel too close to what you are making, you can make a mistake that will destroy the project before its done.
by support the part you are making, I mean that the plier should be on the part right by the tab that you are breaking off, put the suppor right where the forces will be acting on the metal. and break it off one point at a time, dont try to rip a piece out that has more than one tab on it, break at each tab carefully

[Wecko]

Coolness. Thanks.