Probing Pliers

thingiverse

When testing wires in a wiring harness, probing them individually can be a huge advantage, even with everything still connected together. The best way to do this is by using a pin to probe each wire - service manuals often recommend this technique. However, I have been doing it the hard way up until now, literally pushing a straight pin into the wire. This isn't the safest or most convenient method, though. You can accidentally short something out, get stuck with the pin (ask me how I know), or maybe just don't have any straight pins lying around. That's where my Probing Pliers come in. Simply connect the lead to your meter, lay the wire you need to probe in the gap, and squeeze. To assemble these pliers, you'll need a single strand of CAT-5 with the insulation stripped, a push pin, and a length of 24-gauge hookup wire. **UPDATE: 12/10/19** Per request, I've added a version 2 of the upper half that includes a smaller cutout deeper in for smaller gauge wire. Print whichever upper half you need. ----- **Assembly** * Break the plastic off the push pin and snip the upper end (opposite the point) off to remove whatever means held it in the plastic. * Using a pen drill, drill the upper hole in the jaw to the size of the push pin. * Using a small hobby file, round the end of the CAT-5 wire (otherwise it will get stuck in the next step - trust me). * Feed the CAT-5 wire through the lower hole in the jaw back down towards the handle. * Solder the hookup wire to the CAT-5 cable. * Pull the CAT-5 wire (and by extension, the hookup wire) back through the pliers as far as it will easily go. * Wrap the CAT-5 wire around the push pin about 5mm or so from the pliers and solder it in place, holding on to the wire with a heat sink (pliers, forceps, alligator clip, etc...) to prevent heat from creeping back up the wire and melting the plastic. * Push the pin into the hole you drilled out earlier, securing it with either epoxy or super glue. * Pull the hookup wire back out enough to take up any slack in the CAT-5 wire. * Trim the hookup wire to whatever length you want and attach an alligator clip. * Finally, using your adhesive of choice (I prefer https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HNFLMY for PLA), glue the two halves of the bushing together through the pivot point in the pliers, keeping pressure on the bushing until the adhesive has fully cured/dried/set to ensure a snug fit amongst the pieces. Voila. Probing Pliers. --- **Note** *Due to either a Thingiverse bug or (more likely) shadowbanning, my models no longer show up under the [Newest] listings. If you want to see more of my models, please be sure to 'follow' me. **If you print this, it would really help if you'd post a 'make' so that others could find this model**.*