papNal
Member
Someone once said that "necessity was the mother of invention" you can also add "old age & laziness".I've noticed lately that my fingers are having a harder and harder time holding pens to disassemble,especially the clip end.I made a contraption that works pretty good (surprising),someone might have already solved the take apart problem,if so just disreguard this post and log it under senior moments that didn't pan out.
Anyhow here is what I cobbled together,(I can't do the pix stuff yet,so if anyone can figure out what I made and make one to get a pix to post that would be great).The tool is just an extension spring mounted in a block of wood which can be clamped to the work bench.The top of spring has a short bolt glued into it to provide a striking surface .
Parts: 2"x6"x3/4" any hardwood
3/8"x4" extension spring (looks kinda like a screen door spring only smaller) Any hardware store has them.
5/16"x1" carriage or any type bolt
epoxy glue
I drilled a 3/8" hole in one end of the wood and after cutting the loop off one end of spring epoxied the spring into the wood.You now have about 3" of spring sticking up.This length will be cut off depending on what length dissembly rod you use.I used the set from HF and cut spring to about 3" above wood.I ground down threads on bolt until it would just go into the spring and epoxied it in this gives you a handle to grip when you pull back on the spring .WOOPS!! almost forgot,you also need some sort of retainer sleeve to fit over the spring to keep it from deforming when its pulled and stretched.The prototype spring got twisted and warped when stretched.I just got a plastic 1/2"coupler it has about a 3/8"hole in it that just fits the spring OD.Cut it off a little shorter than spring and put it on spring before gluing in bolt:frown:,This sure is long winded just to actually make a sorta slingshot.Clamp wood to something that allows access to spring hole,put rod into clip end or whatever you're taking apart(put something on floor so parts don't get lost in sawdust etc)pressrod up against bolt ,It should put some tension against bolt bottom.Hold pen part firmly,pull up on spring and let er loose.It should pop the clip or nib right out.It works for me,but all guarantees expire the day before you build one.:tongue:
This sounds much worse than it is,one can be slapped together in about 20 min.+glue drying time.Cost about $2 for spring & $.45 for coupling. Good luck,your fingers will thank you.papNal
Anyhow here is what I cobbled together,(I can't do the pix stuff yet,so if anyone can figure out what I made and make one to get a pix to post that would be great).The tool is just an extension spring mounted in a block of wood which can be clamped to the work bench.The top of spring has a short bolt glued into it to provide a striking surface .
Parts: 2"x6"x3/4" any hardwood
3/8"x4" extension spring (looks kinda like a screen door spring only smaller) Any hardware store has them.
5/16"x1" carriage or any type bolt
epoxy glue
I drilled a 3/8" hole in one end of the wood and after cutting the loop off one end of spring epoxied the spring into the wood.You now have about 3" of spring sticking up.This length will be cut off depending on what length dissembly rod you use.I used the set from HF and cut spring to about 3" above wood.I ground down threads on bolt until it would just go into the spring and epoxied it in this gives you a handle to grip when you pull back on the spring .WOOPS!! almost forgot,you also need some sort of retainer sleeve to fit over the spring to keep it from deforming when its pulled and stretched.The prototype spring got twisted and warped when stretched.I just got a plastic 1/2"coupler it has about a 3/8"hole in it that just fits the spring OD.Cut it off a little shorter than spring and put it on spring before gluing in bolt:frown:,This sure is long winded just to actually make a sorta slingshot.Clamp wood to something that allows access to spring hole,put rod into clip end or whatever you're taking apart(put something on floor so parts don't get lost in sawdust etc)pressrod up against bolt ,It should put some tension against bolt bottom.Hold pen part firmly,pull up on spring and let er loose.It should pop the clip or nib right out.It works for me,but all guarantees expire the day before you build one.:tongue:
This sounds much worse than it is,one can be slapped together in about 20 min.+glue drying time.Cost about $2 for spring & $.45 for coupling. Good luck,your fingers will thank you.papNal
. I also have some Kudzu pens I need to display.(I'm eliminating kudzu one pen at a time):biggrin:BTW if anyone needs any kudzu cuttings to grow your own blanks let me know!! papNal