Has anyone been successful in making their own head pins from gold fill?
You can do it, but the ball will be a new alloy, not gold fill, because you have melted it and mixed the metals.
When I needed 2 double-ended balled wires for a gold-filled piece, I
decided it was worth it to solder 14Kt balls to the ends of the
gold-filled wire.
I pre-melted 14Kt easy solder on each end of the g/f wires and then
heated the 14Kt. ball to temperature before touching the wire tip to
it. This produced a wire with a continuous gold surface, including
the solder joint.
Pam Chott
www.songofthephoenix.com