Pin pusher. Help please

[Steve G]

Hi.

I'm new to this, but I bought a pin pusher (see pic), but I think the internal diameter is too big for the pins supplied in the kit.

 

Do they make them in different sizes or is there a way to use this for small pins

 

Ta

 

 

Steve

[Jaager]

A pin pusher is maybe theoretically a useful tool.  In practice, not so much for most of us.

 

For me, the tool that does exactly what you wish a pin pusher to do is:

 

Pin Insertion Plier
Item #: 85282

    Micro-Mark Pin Insertion Plier
    Pin Insertion Plier
    Micro-Mark Pin Insertion Plier

Micro-Mark Pin Insertion Plier
Pin Insertion Plier
Our Price $24.95

 

MM describes this as an exclusive product.

[Moonbug]

18 minutes ago, Jaager said:

A pin pusher is maybe theoretically a useful tool.  In practice, not so much for most of us.

 

 

   I've done more damage and used more profanity trying to use a pin pusher...  

  

    I either end up using a tool similar to the one Jaager has shown, or when possible I find a way to 'squeeze' the pin into place. 

[AJohnson]

6 minutes ago, Moonbug said:

 

 

   I've done more damage and used more profanity trying to use a pin pusher...  

  

    I either end up using a tool similar to the one Jaager has shown, or when possible I find a way to 'squeeze' the pin into place. 

Snap! - I also just can't use pin pushers like the one shown at the top, the hole diameter seems too big and the pin either goes in at an angle or bends, or flies out, never to be seen again! 🛸

Or it could be I'm useless with some tools..... 🤣

[Moonbug]

1 hour ago, AJohnson said:

Or it could be I'm useless with some tools

  I will totally be blaming the tool.  

[ccoyle]

I've never used the pins supplied in kits. I use push pins (the kind with plastic heads). I also pre-drill the holes to eliminate splitting and use a tack hammer to drive the pins.

[Bob Cleek]

3 hours ago, Steve G said:

I bought a pin pusher (see pic), but I think the internal diameter is too big for the pins supplied in the kit.

 

Do they make them in different sizes or is there a way to use this for small pins

Yes, you've correctly identified your problem. Pin, or brad, "pushers" are made in a variety of sizes to fit the brads and pins they are intended to push.

 

Here's an example of a pin pusher made for small ("lil") pins often found in ship model kits:

 

 

 

Model Craft PPU8174 Pen Grip Pin Pusher (activescalemodels.co.uk)\

 

and another:

 

 

Pin Pusher & 100 pins | eBay

 

The pusher you have purchased is designed for much larger brads or escutcheon pins. This size brad pusher is frequently employed by picture framers to push finishing nails into picture frames.

 

 

 

These pushers are handy if you have a lot of pins to insert, but holes must always be drilled in wood when inserting pins. Attempting to push a brad or pin in wood without drilling a pilot hole will usually result in a bent pin, a cracked piece of wood, or both. 

 

I've acquired a few pin pushers of various sizes over the years at garage sales and the like and I occasionally use one, but a more versatile and more easily controlled solution, as Jaager sagely notes, is a pin insertion plier.

 

 

Pin Insertion Plier - - Amazon.com

 

[sticker]

Hi steve g    ive used an AMATI pin pusher for the first time on my model  and found it fine   after a little practice on some spare plank stock  its alittle slimmer than the one you have   ( i have affiliation to amati )   the kit i'm on is an amati  so maybe the pins work well with this pusher than others   cheers    sticker

[Jasseji]

i just use my multitool's pliers as a pin-pusher, i also bought the fancy pusher from the 1st post and find it completely unusable

[Steve G]

Thanks guys, this is all very helpful.

[Jim Rogers]

I use needle nose pliers.

[Jaager]

1- I forgot to add that my pin pusher also works to remove a pin .

2 - It works bamboo dowels/trunnels up to at least #50.

3 - The tool that I used before the pusher became available also works -  a curved Kelly clamp. 

 

Curved Kelly clamp - I used the size most often carried by RN.  Save frustration and buy quality (European) to begin with - the ones sold on hobby sites are no bargain.  - with bamboo trunnels drawn from the softer species especially - the business ends of the clamps can be covered using used IV tubing.  If the local hospital or clinic are no help try a vet.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Jaager

[Moonbug]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I also pre-drill the holes to eliminate splitting

 

   This is a must in nearly every occasion...

[Bob Cleek]

4 hours ago, Jaager said:

Curved Kelly clamp - I used the size most often carried by RN.  Save frustration and buy quality (European) to begin with - the ones sold on hobby sites are no bargain. 

Amen to that! Do you have a recommendation for a reliable source of surgical instruments that aren't super expensive? The ones I see on eBay and elsewhere all seem to be the cheesy ones that are made in Pakistan.

[Jaager]

Bob,

I have no recommended source.  My father worked for a commercial laundry that contracted with small local hospitals - back when they were closer to what was seen in The Godfather film.   Interesting things were sometimes folded up in OR drapes.  Some came home.  I was also married to an RN and some equipment did not make it back to CS.   It is all +/- 50 years old or so, but the quality holds.   Even some of the sprung ones work well enough.  Which is probably why they stayed with the laundry.  Surgeons of that time had some really spectacular Ego demonstrations.

[Bob Cleek]

8 hours ago, Jaager said:

Bob,

I have no recommended source.  My father worked for a commercial laundry that contracted with small local hospitals - back when they were closer to what was seen in The Godfather film.   Interesting things were sometimes folded up in OR drapes.  Some came home.  I was also married to an RN and some equipment did not make it back to CS.   It is all +/- 50 years old or so, but the quality holds.   Even some of the sprung ones work well enough.  Which is probably why they stayed with the laundry.  Surgeons of that time had some really spectacular Ego demonstrations.

Yes, my mother was a "scrub nurse," what would now be called a "surgical assistant," I suppose. We had a fair amount of the same sort of things in everyday use around the house: bandage scissors, needle holders, hemostats, curved Kellys and the like. I still have a few pieces. Back in the old days, instruments were high quality and autoclaved and reused. Nowdays, a lot of them are disposable and correspondingly of lower quality because they are "single use" and don't have to last. A lot of the old-time basins and trays were monel metal, too. Now, if plastics will serve the purpose, that's what they use and then just throw them out. A doc I know explained that it was difficult to access used instruments these days because with the bodily fluid transmissible diseases like HIV and hepatitis everything is designated as "hazardous bio-waste" so it's disposed of following strict haz-mat protocols. 

[harlequin]

i use swann morton surgical scalpels and chisels....come in a big assortment of handles and blades.... 

[JeffT]

I use a small hobby hammer. Never had much luck with pin pushers.

[zoop]

I don't get on with pin pushers most of the time either.

So annoying that I can't find a supplier for the MicroMark pin insertion tool.

I've looked everywhere here in the UK. 

[allanyed]

18 hours ago, zoop said:

I don't get on with pin pushers most of the time either.

Welcome to MSW.  Please consider posting a little intro on the new members forum.  

 

FWIW, why use pins at all?  Planks that are preshaped/bent can be glued with any yellow aliphatic carpenter glue and held in place with fingers for a minute or even less and will stay in place.  CA is not my personal choice, but others do well with it and it takes even less finger holding time.

Allan

[OllieS]

I started with a pin pusher until I realised that a simple pair of hobby pliers was so much more controllable. You just hold the pin sideways in the jaws and gently push in the direction of the pin.