Pin Vice For scratching

[Phaze]

This is probably not new but I just discovered it. I was scratching some hilights with my scalple and I wondered if there was something else I could use. I remembered my pin vice from my model building tools and thought I'd give that a try. For me, it was more comfortable and accurate and didn't scratch the paper. It would smoothly take off the paint, leaving the paper unmarked. Pin vices are pretty cheap.

I'd show a picture of the scratch but its part of my Paint Pal project so not yet

 

[Malky]

I've been searching for one of those for years, I could never find it because I had no idea what it was called, I just googled "pin vice" and immediately ended up at a website called Hobby King where I always bought my modeling parts and materials, the first one I saw was a double chuck version, damn handy tool for when when motorised drill can be too aggressive like soft plastics and stuff, I might just order me one, it cost only $3, it don't think it will help me with airbrushing but will certainly be handy in my little home repair toolbox

It's amazing what you can find fin when stop looking for it, when I was flying model plains I used to make my own little custom circuit boards and when I drilled holes in the board for soldering the shear power of even the weakest power drill would leave with a canyon instead of a hole.

Just checked again and @musicmacd they even have a K33 version and would you believe it's actually cheaper, I'm going to get two in case I break one here it is, you see the double chuck one in the bottom right corner.

 

[Vladimir]

I've got that double chuck for years But only last year I used it with some jeweler's bits and should say it's convenient for extreme detailing!
I've also have custom made.

 

[Phaze]

The chuck itself won't break, just the drill bits can. But they are pretty small and get lost easy

 

[jord001]

Great idea, now you just need to post up a pic of the scratching bit or did you use a drill bit?

Lee

 

[basepaint]

I used a scribe for scratching and it works well,and can be reshaped to suit your needs

 

[Phaze]

Great idea, now you just need to post up a pic of the scratching bit or did you use a drill bit?

Lee

I used a drill bit. It kinda has two edges, a soft one and a harder one. Where the drill starts is a bit sharper. I imagine you could file it down to a flat piece. Just was so happy with the control compared to the scalpel, I had to share

 

[JackEb]

Great idea, but if you hold the scalpel at the right angle and 'stroke' the paper rather than 'scratch' it, it will barely mark the paper

 

[Phaze]

I totally get that, but I found that when going around corners or even doing straight lines, with the scalpel I have to readjust my position of the scalpel whereas with the pin vice it doesn't matter what angle I'm at, it just works. And it works with even less pressure.

 

[Vladimir]

Here's what I've done. Two sided one is bought and other are custom made. They were done for use with jewelers bits. The bits are very different in sizes, shapes and materials they're made with. There are also metal brushes which I haven't done a photo, I think they also can be useful for some texture scratching.
What I like is that conic shaped one, it's good for extremely fine scratching. Another on the photo are only for the reference, personally I don't like them as diamond is very rough.

I think those jeweler's bits are worth to consider for texturing and to search among them something useful for us.

 

[JackEb]

Those are also known as 'dremel' 'rotary tool' or 'dental bits'
I bought some cheap dental bits that I use in the Derwent electric eraser -( bit of electrical tape to thicken it up for the eraser holder) used on synthetic paper for Dragon texture in my avatar. Also on steel (with the eraser turned off)