Tweeeezers!

[Markh_75]

Hi guys, i'm getting fed up losing (temporarily) tiny parts that have pinged out of the tweezers, i also have fine nose pointed pliers but they can be too clumsy, my tweezers are good ones with fine points; these ones,



They're good but tiny parts ping out of them; wot are the best ones i need for this to stop them pinging out and taking an age to find again?

I understand that some parts being tiny will ping out but i need better tweezers that wont let this happen so much. Any suggestions appreciated

[wokka]

Some of us don't use tweezers for small parts but a cocktail stick with Blutack or one of these pickup tools that have a sticky tip on the end.
This sort of thing:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modelcraft-Sma ... VJQZRVW61H;

[TeeELL]

Mark,
I have some really posh tweezers - they are every bit as capable of ‘pinging parts’ as any other tweezers. I think it would be fair to say That tweezers are distant cousins of carpet monsters and work together. The coctail stick with a dab of PVA glue or blutac or any other lightly sticky material is the way forward.

[Markh_75]

Some of us don't use tweezers for small parts but a cocktail stick with Blutack or one of these pickup tools that have a sticky tip on the end.
This sort of thing:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modelcraft-Sma ... VJQZRVW61H;

How does that stay sticky? how do i clean it (if i needed to)? How long will it last?

[TeeELL]

Well,
The PVA glue ‘tip’ will remain useable for a while and to clean it off a wipe with a tissue works well enough. There is a ‘sticky pen’ that you can buy and the tip is supposed to remain thus.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Actually the very fine point tweezers that look so good for small parts, are not - at least not until you train yourself to hold them right. Ask me how I know. The problem is that finger pressure will cause the ends to roll a bit and PING. I have gone to slightly wider/bigger tweezers to prevent that, but mostly the problem is applying smooth steady pressure on the tweezers and the part and not trying to do gymnastics with them getting the part into that hard to reach area. Slow, steady, gentle.

And, yes, this is a more appropriate place than a stray topic in the WW.

[Markh_75]

I understand this but having large hands that can shake a bit at times makes my problem worse. I am in awe of the details I can put on a kit despite my big hands that can shake; mostly when they shake I will do some breathing exercise along with hand clenching and that can help a lot but there are days when I just put everything down and come back later or tomorrow.

I’ve ordered a medium size of these pick-ups and will give it a try. I had been thinking along these lines earlier but did wonder what was available out there. Thanks everyone for your help and ideas;-)

[JohnRatzenberger]

Now this is totally dependent on what you are doing and manipulating, but I like to rest my tweezer hand on my other hand or a block, very similar to when trying to detail paint, helps a lot. It does add one more layer of complexity but might be useful.

[Markh_75]

I know what you mean here! I often do that when painting fire details, like cradling the item, and even joining my fingertips or as you say, using the work area or a block because it gives a sort of grounding on something solid, thanks for this idea too!
Cheers!

[fredk]

I take the rubbery grip off old pens and superglue pieces of it on the inside of the tips of my tweezers. It does need redoing every so often but it only takes a half-minute to do

[Markh_75]

Yes I had thought about that too but in a tweezer but couldn’t find them; this is a good idea.

[fredk]

I use a certain gel-ink type pen. It has a rubbery finger grip. When the pen is done I keep that grip piece as well as the plastic tube.



Cut a couple of small pieces off the rubbery grip and superglue to the tweezer tips. Trim to the shape of the tips. Takes about half to one minute to do all this. The black tweezers are 'electronics' ones. These I use for holding canopies to dip in Klear, thats why they are shiney



I've not had anything ping off since I started doing this
Do note; that some of the grips are more plasticky and not rubbery, even on pens from the same pack, eg I have 3 black, two are plasticky and one is rubbery

[Clashcityrocker]

Are you holding your breath and poking your tongue out? Seems to assist me ......... sometimes

Nigel

[iggie]

Wax pencils are great for placing small parts (similar to the cocktail stick & blu-tak approach) and can be sharpened to a really fine point, or blunted as appropriate. Very cheap on ebay from China
My favourite tweezers came from a Christmas cracker
Another tip for needle point tweezers is to make sure that the very tip of the points are meeting properly; over time they will get bent outwards and not grip properly. Bend them back together gently, and also sand them back to points, including a light sand on the meeting faces to get rid of any debris/paint etc that might prevent them meeting closely

[Markh_75]

Yes, thank you for this; i did see the wax pencils online but wondered about them. I do also take care of the points of my tweezers, after use they get a dip in the thinners i clean my brushes in and then wiped, there is a slight bend in the points of these which i gently return to the right position, i wonder if, in time that part will weaken? I would likely try to repair them but i can always buy the same ones (or better) for a very reasonable price either in a shop or online, thanks for your tip! (no pun intended, of course! )