I read Alan Revere’s tip in his book “101 Bench Tips” about turning
hypo needles into tiny torch tips and I must be missing something
because I don’t understand about how to connect to torch end.Maybe I
just need pictures, I seem to understand better when I see a picture
or someone showing how. Can someone help me with this maybe explain
it better? Also what is the best gauge of sheet metal (gold filled,
sterling silver and copper) to use for making pieces of filigree for
pendants and earrings? By the way, this is my first questions on
this site and I’d like to tell everyone involved about how refreshing
this site is about exchanging info and know how. I live in a small
town where people guard their knowledge about jewelry making and
metal craft like it’s top secret So what knowledge I
have now is from books,online videos, trial and error, and sites like
this. Please keep up the excellent work!!
you just shove it on the end of the torch, provided of course that
the end of the torc is tapered enough to accept the hypo tip - also
it is better to use the stainless reuseable hypodermic needles like
you can find in the veterinary section of the local farm supply
store, here in ohio it would be “tractor supply” - goo
I don’t know how the “101 Bench Tips” tells you to make a hypo
needle into a torch tip, but here I have to impart the story of my
first torch. My dad made it for me. A good friend of mine was a
surgeon - she gave me some spinal tap needles that had metal collars
(big tubes/ no plastic parts). My dad got some fishtank airhose
valves made of brass and soldered them, together with the spinal tap
needles, to some copper tubing to fashion two torches for me.
They worked really well. I used the first one for years (it blew out
one of the valves eventually, making a tiny fire, very dramatic). I
used the second one for years. It never blew up. I replaced it with
a little torch. I replaced the little torch with a Hoke. Still use
that. Still have the second “homemade” torch. Pretty little thing.
Very functional. Perfectly suited to gold and small silver pieces. I
framed it. Hung it on the wall. Ingenuity is fabulous. Especially
when your dad is intimately involved with providing the raw
ingredients of your lifetime pursuit. He just made a little thingy in
the garage. Imagine how proud he is of his contribution…
Dana Carlson
I know I used them on a hydro-torch many years ago…at the time, I
was in Europe and a Polish friend brought back some from Poland that
were still all metal, not plastic with a metal tip. That made great
flames for super small repairs like fine chains.
Jeanne
jeannius.com
The hypodermic needles come with a female luer fitting. see:
You can find all sorts of adapters here or search “luer fittings” It
will be easy to fit adapters for for the little torch since the tips
already use standard compression tube fittings. I think someone has
adapters for the Meco or maybe it is the Hoke torch to use hypodermic
needles. I used to have a bunch of adapters in my junk to do this but
entropy has had its inevitable way.
Look at the Swiss torch at Otto Frie… It is probably better to use
the premade needle tips than modifying needles since you should get
better flames.
jesse
I can’t say about how to attach hypo needles to a torch, but I have
been using them lately as great little applicators for flux, just as
an idea if you have them. Sometimes using a brush seems to move
things that I’ve very carefully placed, bumping them out of place
with the bristles, and that’s really annoying, but to just drop the
flux down onto the area where I want it works really well. I’d guess
there are things you can buy for that, but I unfortunately have an
unending supply of needles (with the very tip cut off, of course) and
it works well. Use whatcha got!
Regarding filigree, I’m not sure what you’re wanting to do, but you
usually use wire for that, not sheet. Unless you’re wanting to
pierce the heck out of the sheet to have a filigree look? For doing
it with wire, there are two good resources. For the Russian Filigree
style, you need to go to www.victorialansford.com, Victoria has a
wonderful DVD. For a different style, go to Jean’s book “Silver
Threads”. OK, so I’m connected to both in a way, but they are both
great resources! 
Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher