Bringing a Harbor Freight Wire Twisting Pliers Into Usefulness

[rgsparber]

I had a lot of wire to twist and Harbor Freight had a locking pliers designed to do the job. After a bit of modifying, it has actually become a useful tool.

If you are interested, please see

http://rick.sparber.org/HFWT.pdf


Your comments are welcome. All of us are smarter than any one of us.

Thanks,

Rick

[Frank S]

Rick I had a couple pairs of the as you call them the $35.00 pliers one pair bought off a Snap-on truck Bluepoint branded the other pair off a Matco truck. Straight out of the box neither performed perfectly but at least as you said the handles did have sufficient springiness to allow locking and unlocking the issue with both pair was in the Yankee drill feature. The fix was simple enough on both pair I applied liberal amounts of the messiest stuff known to man, powdered graphite then pulled and pushed on the knob with the jaws locked on a ground down shaft of a mini cam follower bearing clamped in a vice this allowed the pliers to spin while being held in one position after a few minutes of this which would probably amount to the equivalent of tying 1000 wires both pair preformed flawlessly
I suspect if you would do a similar action to your set they pull knob will function as you want or feel it should

[Jon]

Nice. Many HF tools are a modification or two away from greatness. And I would not miss an opportunity to plug my previous post with 86 modified Harbor Freight tools: Homemade tools made with Harbor Freight tools

[rgsparber]

Frank,

I have gotten better with this tool but in the application I have, still can’t use the pull knob. It isn’t a problem with the tool, just the application. I have 2”x 2” tubing with a hole drilled through just under one face. The wire runs through the hole. On the face I have 4 rope lights each ½” in diameter. The goal is to wire down the rope lights without excessive pressure from the wire. If I form bends in the wire near the center, I can twist them together as long as I don’t also pull on them. Do you see any other way to do this?

Thanks,

Rick

[Frank S]

Except for looks I am partial to rebar tie wire and a dummy stick

[Gadgeteer]

Would something like this work?

ClampTite Clamp Making Tool - J. S. Enterprises - www.clamptool.com

[rgsparber]

Gadgeteer,

I'm afraid not but it is in the right direction. I can't have any lifting of the wire as it is twisted. The hardest part of this task I just finished was fishing the wire through both holes in the square tubing. About 5 turns of the pliers and I snipped off the excess. That was quick.

Thanks,

Rick

[DIYer]

Thanks Rick! We've added your Wire Twisting Pliers Modification to our Miscellaneous category, as well as to your builder page: Rick's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Wire Twisting Pliers Modification by Rick Sparber

tags: pliers, modification