Mosiac Pins

[hopinjon]

I am experimenting with making my own pins. The biggest frustration occurs after they are glued together, and i cut them to length. My cuts are not well defined. The metal design is not clearly defined. I use a dremel with a cutting wheel. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Hop

[Ray Rogers]

I'm not sure I understand the problem, Hop. It sounds like you're saying that when you cut the mosaic rod with your cut off wheel the cut ends have a 'smeared' look to them. If so, I can imagine that might be the case. Cut off wheels create a good bit of heat.

But, after you take the pin to the belt grinder for some clean up with a slow moving belt of moderately fine grit (say about 220 ) the pin should look as clean and sharp as your building skill will allow.

If you don't have a slow belt sander, use files or sand paper to do the clean up. You might try a hacksaw or jewelers saw with a fine toothed blade to cut the pins. That will still require clean up but it will eliminate the heat problem ...

[Osprey Guy]

What Ray said....

When you cut the pins to the approximate size it shouldn't matter in the slightest if the cuts are clean or not....because you're gonna be grinding/filing/cleaning the ends after they pins are installed. Just make sure that you're cutting your pins oversized. Once they're installed, you simply grind off the excess and clean up the ends as Ray described.

The Dremel will work fine for that final step. Use sleeves (on the rubber drums) to sand down the pins flush with the scales, and then clean up with sandpaper. Most Dremel kits come with 1/2" sanding drums, which will work. But in the long run, I think you'll find that the larger drums/sleeves such as 3/4" or 1", will serve you better for the sort of work we do. You can purchase them at many industrial suppliers, or hobby suppliers (make sure you order drums with a 1/8" shank).

Dennis