Is it just me, or are these things just too long for many spray booth applications/painting sessions? I find, often, the part I’m painting (if clipped with one of these) is way too high and above the spray booth filter.
I went through three hacksaw blades (albeit, cheap blades) and over one hour of my time cutting three of these down from just under 7.5" to ~4.25". (The one with paint on it I cut quite a few months ago). Anyway, bottom line, what a pain in the butt.
It just makes sense to me that these ought to be available in a variety of sizes. If anyone has a source of these in various sizes I would greatly appreciate the intel.
Ahoy MM. You’re making this too hard. Hobby Lobby sells a dozen clips on wooden sticks for five bucks. Cut them to any length you want with a sprue cutter. Or, buy a bag of clips and mount them on toothpicks. A hack saw sounds like too much work.
I WAS making it too hard. Hence the post, asking. Who knew they’d use such hard steel on these things?
No hobby lobby in Canada that I know of. I’ll check out Michael’s. Would like to get the ones with the rubber tips but also regular clips as well. Thanks for your ideas. Will experiment with the toothpicks (or maybe skewers would be better, me thinks).
Not the best picture, but this is what I’ve been using for years. A block of wood full of drilled holes and gator clips attached to toothpicks. I don’t try painting the whole lot together in the booth, I paint them one at a time, holding onto the stick and then put them in the block to dry.
I made my own. I’ll be damned if I would pay someone for something I could make myself, and for a more reasonable price.
I bought a bag of alligator clamps online, and a bag of bamboo skewers at the grocery store. It was just a matter of crimping the ends of the clamps around the skewers to assemble them.
As far as plastic on the jaws is concerned, to protect any piece I need to stick in the clamp, I just wrapped a little masking tape-the regular stuff, not a modeling product like Tamiya tape-around each jaw.
I also made my own holder for the clamps. I noticed in a video or two that some used a little box that looks like a box lid filled with pieces of corrugated cardboard standing on edge to reveal the corrugations. Apparently these things are scratching boxes for cats. Well, since they looked like box lids filled with pieces of corrugated stock, that’s what I used, a box lid filled with corrugated stock. I cut the corrugated stock in strips as wide as the lid is deep, then lined the lid with white glue and stuck the strips in. Again, why pay someone for something you can make easily yourself?
I hope I’ve described it well enough; I don’t have any pictures available at the moment.
Wanting to hold these test mules, for practicing post-shading, on a somewhat vertical plane, but not so high that they’re way up by the spray booth ceiling.
Some great ideas here. I’m thankful for forums like this where ideas can be shared and learned.
It’s not so much being mechanically inclined or imaginative, or thinking outside the box. It’s more a matter of being Dutchy, as we say around here. Frugal. Cheap.
I can’t picture cutting the clips in any way, to get the effect of a coating to protect the work held in the clip’s jaws.
There used to be a product, in liquid form but that dried, to use to coat tool handles to provide grip. I can’t remember the name or brand, but I remember that you would dip the tool’s handles into the liquid and let it dry. Like a pair of pliers with bare metal handles, for example, or the tang on a metal file, the tang would fit into a wooden handle. You could dip those parts into the coating, for better grip.
If something like that is still available, I can see dipping the clips jaws into that, for a soft surface to hold the work.
Before I had a set of the metal clips, I glued tiny wooden clothespins to bamboo skewers with super glue and baking soda. they work well although their grip isn’t the strongest.
The rubber tips of most alligator clips comes off with just a tug. While I know the rubber is to prevent marring of the piece that is held in the clip, I find sometimes they are too big and cover up too much of the part I am painting, so I slide them off.
Thanks for the replies, fellas. Some great ideas, comments and references.
Despite having a Dutch surname, I guess I’m not cheap.
Re: The rotary tool…as in a Dremel, or something beefier? I have a Dremel, but honestly I don’t want to bother setting it up and trying it. (I rarely use it for anything). I guess I figure if a basic hobby hacksaw couldn’t do it, how is a Dremel going to fair? I still have 17 of the coated clips. I’m intending (tomorrow) to just procure (very un-Dutch like) a better hacksaw with bi-metal blades. Cut them down in a variety of lengths.
Re: The need for coated clips…no, not all. I’m good with the standard as well. Just wanting a variety. I bought some bamboo skewers on the cheap (wait a minute ) from Dollarama. Just need some alligator clips for those. I’ll be getting those tomorrow as well.
I use my rotary tool (in your case a Dremel) with a cutting disc to cut brass rod for making my inflight builds. I am sure it will do fine cutting through rods used for you clips.
As for using a hacksaw, it is your call, but I’ve used a hack saw to cut through rods for my builds and the rotary tool. Saved time and energy using the rotary tool. The key is making sure the cutting disc can handle making the cuts.
That’s better. Heavy duty hacksaw with a proper bi-metal blade was the answer.
And in the meantime, I learned of some other alternatives as well. Thank you.
Pennsylvania Dutch. Nothing to do with the Netherlands; they were the Germans who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1600 and 1700s from along the Rhine. The English had a habit of calling anyone who came from Flanders and east “Dutch”, so the term stuck. Some say “Pennsylvania German”, too.
Thanks, here’s the link https://a.co/d/1iMlwRj
It’s listed as " 120PCS Screw Thread Protectors 3mm ID Rubber End Caps Vinyl Flexible End Caps Round Tube Bolt Cap (Black, 120PCS)"
) from Dollarama. Just need some alligator clips for those. I’ll be getting those tomorrow as well.