Push pins....help on how to make them.
 

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to go about making push pins with glass on the one side.....

what gauge wire/steel?
would you treat it the same as you would any other glass item and anneal it?
can someone help me out ....maybe if there is a tutorial out there somewhere?

thanks

hmm that would be fun to make :)

I would imagine it would have to be a pretty tough steel or hardmetal.

Might be worth a shot to play with 1/16th mandrels and sharpen the ends?

How about making bead on very end of 1/16 mandrel with NO bead release...

And as Wendyki said, just cut off mandrel and sharpen it...

Sure you can anneal it..... I would.

Dale

How about getting old "victrola " needles...

http://www.needledoctor.com/Victrola-Steel-Needles

Seem to remember the are about 1/2 inch long and very sharp... You could use pin vice to hold then while making bead....

Only thing is they may be to short....

Dale

Too bad tungsten is so brittle - if it wasn't, you could use it and sharpen the ends with Chem Sharp. (Not helpful, I know...)

Burgard used to make a kit, but they discontinued it. It was a pre-made pin with a small stem that you glued into a bead and then had a little thumbtack shaped part to glue into the top hole.

awesome idea on the victrola needles :)

Great ideas! Perfect teacher gifts.

~Michelle

Cool idea on the victorla needles -- $7 for shipping though. Could we do a mini-bulk buy on them?

But iof they are only 1/2 inch long.....i don't know if that would work, a normal push pin(the metal part that sticks out from the plasitc) is about 3/8 of an inch. so if the victorla needle is less than that i don't think the pish pin would stay in the wall/board. I would have to be at least 1/2 an inch....or more so you could either make your glass on it OR glue in afterwards.....

how can we figure out how long they are? and how thick?

i was thinking of making them for office people who may not wear jewelry or for men that like glaqssd but don't wear jewelry...but teacher gifts are good too......or a present for your boss....etc.....i saw them once while i was browsing online and throught it was such a nice idea.......

ok i talked with the people at the needle doctor from the web site that Dale suggested. The victorla needles are 5/8 of an inch long. and 1.5mm thick, which i think are perfect.....you would have approx 3/16 of an inch to put the glass on and the rest would stick out....

to ship here to canada would cost me $10......and i am not sure if i want to pay that much shipping.....i hate shipping cost to this country.....it is always more for canadaians then it is for Americans....

I would LOVE to do a bulk buy......i am sure if someone shipped them here they could ship them in an envelope and it would cost not very much.......let me know if you guys want to do this :)

Those victrola needles look great!

I'd never thought about doing push pins. Wow....great idea! I'd be all for doing a mini-bulk buy on these.

-Amy

I make my push pins from brads found in the hardware store. They are stiffer than a heated mandrel and so far I haven't had trouble with them.

Sorry the picture is a little out of focus.




I wire the nail/brad between six small mandrels to keep it steady while I melt the glass and then I can put the whole thing in the kiln.

Bobby

Bobby!!! You are (yet again...) AMAZING!!!! These look wonderfully perfect...and the brad holding idea with the mandrels wired together - wow! Could you give us the "specs" on the brads you use? (Length/Head diameter?) Thanks for sharing and inspiring us all!

I'm beginning to think you are related to the inventor of the wheel!!!! Is your last name "Jefferson" (as in Thomas - inventor of the Light Bulb!)?

DeAnne in CA

THANKS ! ! ! DeAnne
My muse wakes me up in the middle of the night for these things..............

The first brad on the left {longest} is
1.....1x22mm
2.....1x19mm
3.....1 1/2x21mm
4.....1 1/2x17mm

The heads are 3mm and 4mm across.

Before I wire the brad to the mandrel I tape the other end together to make it easier when I do wire the brad into the center of the mandrels. Keeps them from slipping all over the place. Just heat up the brad till you get a little glow and no more. Then add glass to the head first making sure you have it covered and then you can add more glass.

Oh...........6 of the 1/16th mandrels make a nice center for the brads to set in. Nothing slips or moves when it is all wired together.

Enjoy

Bobby

Would hemostats work to hold the brads?
I've alwyas made push pins by doing offhand cabs, etc and then glueing then on to regular flathead thumbtacks afterwards. I roughed up the glass on the glue side a bit with sand paper, then used a big glob of epoxy - enough to 'grab' the thumbtack. They've stayed together for 6 years now with no issues. - jen

all of these sounds like a good idea.......

the victrola needles are steel so small chance of melting
the brad nails are ? (worried about melting the nail)
gluing on a flat pushpin is nice also, if you can make off mandrel cabs/.

if anyone has more pictures i would love to see our push pins!!!!


also a bulk buy might be a good idea....the victrola needles are 25 for $6.00 (so about .24 cents each) with $10 for shipping here.....so everyone let me know how many you want and i will do the bulk buy....and then ship out accordingly.....

Are the brads coated with zinc?

This thread gave me a v8 moment ... I made a mandrel to make tacks with heres the result ... the nails are what I had in the shop they are 1/6" x 1" (and rusty) I'll have to get some new ones before I make more tacks ... I phoned my local industrial fastener supply and they are available in stainless steel, he did not know the price off hand but guessed around $10 a Lb that would be about 1500 nails ... when he gets back to me on price I'll let you know ... the next mandrel head I will make shorter, this one is 2" long and throws off the balance and the 1/8" stainless mandrel does not need to be removeable, the nail is held in place with a set screw that can be loosend with an allen wrench and just droped into the kiln for annealing.

That looks promising, Mark.
I also would prefer the stainless steel so I'm not breathing the zinc fumes.

jhana
most (not all) small finishing nails do not have zinc on them it can discolour some hardwoods you can remove zinc by soaking in ascetic acid (vineger pickling is stronger) or in citric acid that can be obtained at most health food stores in a dry powder form and mixed as needed.

Thanks.
I'm thinking it might be easier to just find them in stainless steel at a marine supply store,no?

if you have a marine supply store near you that would be the way to go ... I would also look to see if they had brass or bronze ones and see if they would stand up to the heat ... I'll will be looking for myself on monday thanks for the tought prompt :)

I've been thinking of the same thing lately. Push pins and magnets. You know for people who those organization boards in their home office or at work. the kind that has magnetic dry erase on one side and cork or the other.
I've experimented with just glueing a magnet to the flat back of a bead. It looks o.k but of course you can see the hole running thru.
I don't know how to do off mandrel work so that's all I have for the magnet idea but I couldn't get my mind around the push pins. I think I'm going to head to the hardware store this weekend and see what I can find in the nail section.
I think it's funny when some of us get the same idea at the same time. How cool is that?

It's actually not that hard to do off mandrel work, and kind of fun once you get the hang of it. You'll learn better heat control which helps with on mandrel work, too. For the pins I made, I just squished a lolly pop of glass, puntied up to the back of it & melted of the rod I used for the lolly pop. Now you have a flat round bit puntied to a rod, like a T . Then just decorate the top of the round how you want, being careful not to over heat the back. If you start to lose control, you can use a cold tool (like a stump shaper) to chill the back a bit and get it into shape. It's a great way to practice puntying because screwups aren't so bad, no one is going to see that part anyways & you can always dremel it down, so you don't lose pieces because of punty marks.

I personally don't like the look of nails, I know they are cheaper but if you look at the back of any nice tack/pushpin the taper/point is smooth.. I would also hate it if they started to rust or oxydize ....

the victrola needles are nice and smooth,....here is a picture


if anyone can come up with a better idea that is a bit cheaper i would love to get some feedback.

Anybody know what straight pins used in sewing are made of? I have some older ones that area actually brass, but they've got to be something that won't rust, I would think. They have that nice little head to hang on to the glass, and they would be smoothly tapered and sharp.

Mark!!!!

Completely awesome!!! I was thinking of trying this with a pin vise...do you think it might work? Also, are you going to do a little "production" run of these tack mandrels? If so, I'd love to get in line for one!!! (:wink: + nudge)

Also, if you end up purchasing a bulk amount of the tacks, I'd be interested in buying a portion to help off-set your cost...hope you'll keep me in mind!

Thanks,
DeAnne in CA

DeAnne

I will be making at least a couple more :) I'll post here when they are ready as to the tacks that too I will post when I find a price. If I do a miny production run of mandrels I'll include a hundred or so tacks with them we'll have to see how my machine work on the lathe turns out :rolleyes:

p.s. yes a pin vice will probably work as long as it is one of the steel ones not the cheap aluminum ones they will last about .5 sec if you accidentally "flash" it in the flame :( don't ask me how I know

Storm

Victrola needles are just plain steel and will rust thats why they used to be kept in a felt lined box to keep the damp away


I just reread this post and realized I came off as really condiscending, I did not mean it that way I'm sorry.

What I do mean is that no steel is rust proof some just rust slower than others. Even stainless steel will rust, a lot slower than regular carbon steel but it will rust, until you get into the stainless blends that the areospace industry uses that cost thousands of dollars per lb there is no steel that will not rust.