I putter around with diy electronics from time to time, and I was working on a project last weekend that involved dropping some tiny screws into holes on a circuit board. I’ve done enough of this kind of work that I have a collection of small tools, so I reached for my tweezers to gently lay those screws in the hole. It didn’t take long for the task to turn into drudge as I had every pair of tweezers I own laid out on my work table. The magnetic ones wouldn’t let the screw go; the fine tip ones wouldn’t hold the round screw… You get the picture, right? Well, they don’t get much love, but we have a pretty varied selection of tweezers here at KC Tool, and some of them have features that can really make a tough job easier.
A brief scan of our catalog reveals that we have tweezers made out of steel, stainless steel, plastic, titanium and even carbon fiber (well, the tips anyway). Stainless and titanium tweezers obviously won’t rust, are usually non-magnetic, and are resistant to many chemicals and acids. Plastic tweezers are usually less expensive, non-conductive and won’t scratch or mar delicate surfaces. A special series of stainless pliers with replaceable carbon fiber tips provides a durable body with tips that are non-conductive, ESD-safe, and resistant to many acids. There are even plastic coated models that are insulated for use near energized circuits.
While materials may vary on many of the models, the majority are steel, and what it comes down to is the tips, right? Here’s where things get complicated. Obviously there are tips ranging from needle-sharp for ultra-fine work that might involve just a bit of digging around to the widest (“spatula”) tip models that are super useful for grasping everything from a nut to your favorite delicately placed pea shoot on top of a salad (just kidding). Tips can also be angled up to 90 degrees, hook-shaped, or serrated, which prevents slipping, but can mar delicate or fine objects.
Beyond this, there are also specially-shaped models such as positioning tweezers, whose cup-shaped tips allow secure grasping of round objects either horizontally or vertically, or even smaller versions designed for placing tiny surface mount components on circuit boards.
Specialty designs that aren’t as well known include centering pin tweezers, which have a pin halfway up the body on one leg that mates with a corresponding hole on the facing leg. When squeezed, the pin prevents the legs and tips from twisting when grasping an irregular object. Cross-over tweezers are unique in that the resting position is closed and squeezing the legs together opens the jaws. This means that the tweezers will continue to grip an object even while there is no pressure on the legs. Cutting tweezers have machined and ground tips, perfect for trimming fine copper, silver or gold wires or cutting leftover sprues from molded or 3d printed parts. Finally, stripping tweezers are designed to strip the enamel insulation from magnet wire used in coils, transformers or motors.
We’ve all probably got a few pairs of tweezers around the house or in our tool kits, but sometimes using the wrong tweezers can really be the same as having no tweezers at all. Why not take a peek at our selection. You might find out there really is a tool for that task that left you flummoxed.
