I’d like to share a handy tip, which provides two handy solutions in one.
A lot of pendant motor accessories like felt wheels have a gnarled bit of shank where it joins the head, and no matter how careful I am, sometimes when polishing, the felt slips or gets dragged round and the gnarled shank marks the piece. I had taken to wrapping a bit of electrical tape around the gnarled bit to prevent damage if it did slip, and very recently I also decided to colour code my polishing accessories with different nail varnishes to prevent any mix-up between different compounds. The tape is a bit of a faff though (and so is the nail varnish to be honest) but today I remembered I had some heat-shrink tube and luckily had some in just the right size to slip over the shank. I didn’t even need to heat it as it pushed snugly over the slightly wider part of the shank nearest the head. The heat-shrink is black though so I’ll still need to colour code them with the nail varnish, but it turns out you can get coloured heat shrink! So I’ve ordered several colours and next time I need to colour code and/or cover the gnarls of a shank, it’ll only take 10 seconds to snip a short length and pop it on! It could also be very handy for colour coding other pendant motor accessories, like marking burrs that are too dull for some uses but usable for others…
What type of store sells heat-shrink tubing? (I live in the Middle East.)
Can it be shrunk with a hairdryer on High or do you need a special kind of hot air source?
You can get heat shrink in electrical/electronics and maybe DIY stores, but I found mine on ebay.
I just did a test with a travel hair drier that I have (1200W) and it didn’t work, though a more powerful one might. But the easiest way is just to hold a lighter flame under the heat shrink for a moment or 2.
An electrical supply or a hobby store if they are about in your part of the world should have heat shrink. Amazon may be your best bet. A hair dryer won’t have the heat to do what you need but a heat gun would/should. The type use as a paint stripper. However, a small butane torch should easily do the job.
@tinkerSue That’s a great idea of yours too! I was using a lozenge graver recently and the edges were quite uncomfortable - had to wear rubber grips on my fingers.
