"New sculpting tool" Topic

Hi,
some times ago, I invented a sculpting tool that uses a mechanical pencil as a holder for sculpting tips and posted some pics here.
You can find more about this here:

picture

Now I made a new sculpting tool in two versions.
In my eyes the new one is better than my "old" pencil-tool.
Here you can find pictures an a description.

picture

Please tell me, what you think about it

RingerT

Looks like an interesting idea. If you want to send me a couple I will pass them along to my sculpting buddies and see what they think of them in use.

Have you noticed any problems with the tool head slipping?

Just curious? Interesting enough concept that i might have to give it a try.

to Jana Wang:
I would send you a couple of this tools, if I would produce them in large amounts, but I only made 4 for me and some friends. So if you know a company who is interested in producing such a tool, please let me know:-)

to Lone Eagle
With the older Pencil-tool there was a problem with the tool head slipping in the beginning. Especialy the curved tool-tips sometimes rotate during presseng them down because the grip (clamp) of the pencil wasnīt strong enough.
But this could be avoided by 1. take a pencil with a metal-clamp inside (not a plastic one) and 2. flatten the tooltips where they sit in the pencil-clamp, so they arenīt "round" anymore. By doing this, they sit much stronger into the pencil.

With the new tool, this isnīt an issue, because you can control, how strong the tips fit into the handle, just like you can with the blades, that are usually placed into that clamps.

RingerT

How did you make the tips? Did you heat the wire, I thought Piano wire was hard and brittle,to soften it, then did you anneal them? Are you a machinistdid you turn the handle yourself?

No, Iīm not a machinist. In fact I havenīt got any technical background. Itīs quite easy to get the pianowire into shape by heating it up over a flame and using a hammer and an anvil or another hard surface. The most work is done by using a dremel-tool to gind and polish the pianowire. Dan Perez made a tutorial for that. You can find it here:
link

RingerT

I use a pinvise with my own tips that I make.

Thanks for the link, that took care of my questions.

Ashamed to say I do about 90% of my sculpting with a toothpick sanded to a finer point… The rest uses a bog-standard ex-acto.

Iīm thinking about producing a small amount of the two sided sculpting tool (maybe about 50 pieces).

But Iīm not sure, if it is worth the work, cause everything will be "hand-made" from the handle to the sculpting-heads.

So I would like to know, what you might think, would be an acceptable price for such a tool.

Hi, I still use the pencil tool that I had made manufactured by Amanindia in 07. Due to a problem into the ordering process I wasn't able to get the money to order the 3000USD they were asking.

So what I was thinking is to make an ordering group (the pencil tool was about 7$ each )

So Gerhard you should send your new design and ask them for a price. I'm sure they will tell you some good news !

Hi Simon,

what do you mean with ordering group?

To produce the tool in larger amounts might be interesting, but the problem is, that an investment of 3000 $ seams to be too much for this small market of sculpters. If I understood right, this was also the problem for you to produce the pencil-tool, right?

And for the Pencil-tool, only the sculpting heads has to be produced, cause the pencil was already available. For my new tool now, also the handle with the two clamps has to be produced. This might double the production costs easily, I think.

Do you really think, enough tools could be sold to justify these production-costs?
On my question about an acceptable price for these tool, I placed here in the forum, I got no replies, so the interest in this tool might be a little limited :-).

At the moment I made the tool by hand and by now, I sold 12 of these tools from the 20 Iīve made, but I had anounced it only on a german forum and on 1listsculpting. It wouldnīt make much sense to do a big advertising on all internet places where mini-sculpters meet, if I just have a handfull of tools to sell :-). This weekend Iīve made another 20 handles for the tools, but the sculpting heads still have to be made.

RingerT
(Gerhard)

With a pin vise like that (2nd or 3rd) at amanindia was 50 cents US.
picture

Buyer group. You sell the tool at the cost price to all people who will want to join the group. You can order 1 time tho. The small tips where around 4$ US and the Larger was about 5$ US. so the tool (less shipping) would be about 10$ each. So you will have 300 unit for 3k USD.

So all you have to do is add the shipping cost and the final shipping. I also think that maple industries would make them for a little less.

Like I said you should still ask for a quotation. it cost nothing.

Yes, those pin vices are interesting.
Unfortunately most of these pin vices (including the ones on your picture) are not ideal for using them as a holder for the sculpting tips. The reason is that they are too thick (the diameter is too large). Thatīs because of the method they use to hold the drills (or other things). Most of them have a clamp, that closes, when it is pressed down by screwing a nut-like part on the top down. Because you need that nut-like part over the clamp, it makes the whole thing quite thick.

The clamp-system I use, is from those hobby-knifes and it works in a different way. Here the clamp isnīt pressed down by a nut, but the clamp itself has a thread and "pulls" itself into the handle while screwing it. Because here you didnīt need a nut, those system makes the whole thing thinner.

The good thing is, that a few weeks ago, I found a double ended pin vice, that uses the same clamp system like those hobby knifes. The downside is, that it is a little heavy (about 31 g) and still a little thick (about 8,9 mm diameter instead of the 8 mm I would prefer). But with this it could work.

If anyone here knows a double ended pin vice with a round handle (not hexagonal) and with a diameter of about 8 mm, please tell me.

And about the tips.
If a small tip is 4 $ and a large one 5 $ and if I want at least 4 different tips (by now, I sold 7 tips with the tool), it is at least 17 $ just for the tips, no?

How many tips (and which one) have you planed for the pencil tool)

RingerT

4$ for 6 tips not just one ! and same for the large one !
Sorry it has been a long time just fond the prices in my load of emails.

a. 1mm Bits 6Pcs 2.40US$
b. 2mm Bits 6Pcs 3.00US$

So just for the tips it would cost about 5$

Ah, ok,
That sounds like a really interesting price.
Have you also talked with Amanindia about making a handle or a special pin vice?

And do you think, all those tools could be sold?

There are few people who do sculpting and even fewer who will buy such a specialised tool, I think.

I was more expecting jewellers to get a tool like that tho. I didn't ask Amanindia for the "Pinvice" handle ! I'm letting you do that job ;)

I think what you could do is order 1k first and then order more has it goes. I was aiming for 3k but it was really because I wanted to make tons of money with it. A big mistake of mine.

If you start an ordering group I'll be more than glad to advertise it.

Hi Simon,

do you have pictures of the 1mm and 2mm bits that were produced by Amanindia?

Gerhard