Homemade wire tools

[Legion303]

I made these because I needed a really short, thin tool to assist in picking my new Mul-T-Lock and even my very small picks weren't able to manipulate the inner pins very well. Since I was doing one I decided to save energy and do a set of three differing sizes. The handles are tri-colored:







Note: PVC is entirely more flexible than I thought. If you try this, don't just zig-zag the wire inside the clay mold like I did, but try lying it down on (or maybe gluing to) a wiper blade insert inside the clay before molding to give it rigidity. It's not really a problem since I can barely put any pressure on before the wire deforms anyway, but I don't like the rubbery feel of the handles. YMMV.

-steve

[femurat]

A set of 3? Nice idea... what's the wire diameter?

Cheers

[femurat]

Since we are here, why don't you slightly bend the tip of the wire towards the tip of the inner pin? This could help you in pushing it without pushing the external pin.
I'll try this idea myself this evening and post a picture tomorrow. Sure, I won't have your beautiful handles

Sorry for the double post...

[Legion303]

I believe the diameter is right around 0.025", but I don't remember for sure. I bought the music wire from another member some time ago. The bend in my smallest wire is extremely small and will manipulate the inner pins on its own, but I won't know for sure until I manage to pick it. :)

-steve

[femurat]

I made a double end wire, it's symmetric so can work from both sides.

I started by bending the tip half round, then I bent it 90 degrees and then I cut the excess on the tip.
I think that this rounded tip will be useful in manipulating the inner pin without touching the external one, this could be useful if there's a very long external pin with a short inner one. I tried it in a multilock just to test the dimensions, it was able to lift the inner pin a lot before starting to push on the external one.

Now I have to test if it works. I guess it can be a good pick even without the clay handle, I like this skeleton

Cheers

[Brother Paul]

Legion303 when reading you Fimo handles i loved the idea , and the handles i made where very nice looking but as you stated in this post they are very flexible and unusable if not reinforced , also if not very careful will break/ split etc etc , on thing i found when making them is that the quality improved when using the fimo brand sealer a little making them a little stiffer , but the most success has been in adding a little other stuff , now let me say i had a extra stove in storage , its old but works gr8 ,i put it outside under a little lean to because ventilation was a must so far what ive had the best success with feather light , and heat treat bondo /tiger hair i had around , some things that did not work well was adding JB weild ,adding a little sand there is a couple other things im thinking of adding ill let you know how they work.
one thing that helps a lot is when using hacksaw blades is keep them as wide as possible , and also letting the blade extend in its full with the full length of the handle
ps,, !!!Warning !!! dont add anything to fimo and cook it inside it will kill you !!!!

[Legion303]

Femurat: very nice. How did the curve work for your picking?

BroPaul: I've found that the longer you smush the clay up before molding it, the more finely grained and therefore strong it gets...when I'm using wiper blade inserts I work the clay for at least 30 minutes before molding and I've never had a problem with breaking or loss of rigidity (with the inserts, anyway...with just the wire, the handle flexes and feels rubbery).

-steve

[femurat]

my pick sucks

The curve works very well for lifting the pin for all its length but I think I used a wire too thick. I've a very long pin and I can't put the tip of the wire over it without oversetting the external pin. I need to make another one with a smaller diameter wire.

Cheers