Okay fellow Make-Gyvers, what do you get when you cross a peripheral power cable jumper, a paperclip, springs, and some 3D-printed housings? DIY test lead clips.
Test clips are easily acquired, but where’s the fun in that? [notionSuday] started by removing the lead connectors from the jumper, soldering them to stripped lengths of paperclip, bent tabs off the connectors to act as stoppers, and slid springs over top. Four quick prints for the housings later, the paperclip assembly fit right inside, the tips bent and clipped to work as the makeshift clamp. Once slipped onto the ends of their multimeter probes, they worked like a charm.
In the video you also get a glimpse of a battery holder [notionSunday] made using a 3D printer and some more paperclips. Take note — if you don’t have a cache of paperclips in your workspace, you may be missing out on critical hacking materiel.
If you can never have too many testing devices, this impressive LED tester will tell you the needed resistor value to make sorting through that pile of LEDs you have collecting dust that much easier.
Reminds me of a fishing bobber.
I wonder if fishing bobbers would be useful for this role.
Me too. Some hang off a stem and are about the right size for good old chassis wiring.
Thanks everyone for the genius idea! I’m always in need of more test clips, and I always have way too many bobbers in my tackle-box. I can solve both issues with one project, I think!
Same and thought same as other comments as soon as seeing image, Getting out tackle box now.
Dammit, Fishing Bobber was my first thought too.
Fun! [notionSunday] has uploaded a lot of other videos as well.
No. Fail.
So… He 3d printed a shim so he could use pen parts to make a clip? Why not just you know, 3d print the whole thing and have control over the shape? Also, I’m pretty sure macguyver never had a 3d printer on his person nor the 4 hours to wait for it.
Good suggestion. Do it!
Victorinox Pocket 3d Printer… But no Grand Pappy story about him fighting off a bear and building a cabin and heater with it though.
WAAAAH WAAAH WAAAAH
This is Hackaday not Whineaday. We get stuff done here.
Very Nice, I have a lot of connectors like that, I will make 4 clips
Loads of fun. I’ve done a lot of this sort of thing down through the last 65 years. And I have a smokey past to prove it. n7net said that.
Should be made out of the barrel of a pen, and the spring, spent ink tube, etc.
If Macgyver had a 3D printer that show would have sucked.
Episodes would’ve went for 16 hours amirite
Or until the set caught fire.
I’ve always just used small alligator clips with the red/black insulators and slid my lead tips into them. Works fine…
I got Radishack clip sets for about $5 when RS had clearance after bankruptcy. They work great.
Product Code:278-039
This is clever and useful.
I too thought ‘bobber’ upon first glance. And also must agree with the snark that 3D printing, cool as it is, is not MacGyvering. Surely there was another more suitable meme to set up this post?
Minigrabber test clips from Pomona are perfect. But kind of pricey. Surely there’s a way to get that kind of quality at a bargain price, right? Cheap stuff from China? Make your own?
There’s not. Just get out your wallet and pay for perfection. If only every problem had such a simple solution.
I wanted to say something nasty, about the paperclips being useful in their original form, they will clip to resistor lead in the same way as they will clip to paper… but bladieblabla… the music made me calm and now I can only say: fun project, nicely done.