Here it is!
The item you’ve all been waiting for! (Haven’t you?)
A retainer to hold those pesky pastry tips to that wonderful, work saving,
economical, exciting SDJ Wax Gun.
Best of all it can be yours for a few minutes work & a trip to the hardware
store.
The retainer is designed to work on most full size glue guns, you can adapt the
design (no sweat) to fit your glue gun. It works on mine.
Here goes.
Material List
18-24 inches (457-609mm) 20 ga steel wire (black or galvanized) Note: Sterling
or gold wire can be substituted in the Deluxe &
Super deluxe models.
1 1/2" ODx 1/16" thick rubber ‘O’ ring (about $.10 at the hardware store) You
might want to get a few, you’ll probably loose
1 or 2.
I checked pastry tips at several stores. They all seem to have the same nominal
dimensions, aprox 1.25" tall x .75" wide at the base. BTW, Wal-Mart has the best
price. Both glue guns & pastry tips are located in their ‘Fabric’ dept with the
craft stuff. The tips were from $.86 to 1.40 each. There is a small glue gun
available for $3-4, it uses 1/4" dia glue. If anyone can find 1/4" dia wax, let
me know.
Construction
-
Place the center of the wire over a 1/2" (13mm) mandrel.
-
Wrap the wire around the mandrel for 1 1/2 turns.
-
Wrap the ends of the wires around the ring. One wire should be wrapped at 3
o’clock, the other at 9 o’clock (position, not
time). -
With the ring lying flat on the bench, form each wire up, so it is at 90
deg to the bench top. -
Form an aprox 1/4" (6mm) loop on the end of each wire leg.
-
For best results, the wire legs should be work hardened. This can be
accomplished by grasping the loop on each leg (one
at a time) with a cup hook installed in a drill chuck.
a. Place the ring end in a pliers the flat way (both sides of the ring are
between the jaws), place the pliers as close to the leg
to be hardened as possible.
b. Grasp the loop on each leg (one at a time) with a cup hook installed in a
drill chuck.
c. While holding the wire taut, turn on the drill for a short duration. This
will cause the wire to rotate about its axis, hardening
it. Don’t twist the wire too long, or it will break. -
Place the rubber ‘O’ ring over the nozzle of the glue gun.
-
Place a pastry tip over the nozzle & ‘O’ ring. The ‘O’ ring serves 3
purposes: 1, it pevents the melted wax from flowing out
the back of the pastry tip; 2, reduces the amount of melted wax between
the nozzle and pastry tip; 3, it applies pressure
against the tip and retainer to keep the tip in place. -
Place the 2 legged ring over the pastry tip with the legs pointing toward
the back of the gun. -
Most guns have vent holes or slots to help cool them. While holding the
retainer and tip firmly in place, position a leg over
the hole or slot most convenient to the nozzle. Mark the position of the
leg with the forward edge of the hole or slot. Try to
keep the leg parallel to the center line of the nozzle. -
Remove the retainer from the pastry tip.
-
Grasp the leg on the ring side of the mark so the mark is 1 mm above the
pliers. Form the wire to the inside, so it forms a 90
with the leg. The bend should be 1 mm (aprox) closer to the ring than the
mark. -
Fold the end of the wire back on itself (away from the ring) so the leg
resembles a ‘T’ with 1/4" (6mm) and 1 long side. -
Fold the end of the wire back on itself in a 1/4" (6mm) loop (toward the
ring). Cross the leg of the ‘T’ and wrap 1 turn of wire
around the inside cross arm as close to the leg as possible. Cut off and
discard the excess wire. The loop is used to aid
latching/unlatching the retainer. -
Place the pastry tip over the ‘O’ ring and nozzle. Place the retainer over
the pastry tip and latch the completed leg in the
selected hole or slot. -
Return to step 10 and repeat steps 10 thru 15 for the second leg. Continue
at step 17 when the second leg is done. -
The legs may need individual adjustment to ensure they remain latched when
in use.
a. If the latches fail to remain latched, form the latch side of the 'T’
so it forms about an 85 dg angle with the leg.
b. If the leg appears to be too long, grasp it with a pliers an form it so
a little zig-zag appears.
Good luck to all you pastry workers (bg).
Ask away if, no, not if, when you have problems.
Dave Arens