I made a little plug spinner today.
The tools I used were a Dremel, some pliers, and a propane torch. I also used a drill, but it’s optional. A small vise would help too.
Here are the materials I started with, a piece of half inch copper water pipe, a piece of electricians fish tape, and a spring that was left over from something else. All these things could be found at a local hardware store.
The spring is about 6 inches long, and fits inside the pipe. The fish tape comes in a long roll. I think the whole roll cost $20. You need a piece about 3 inches longer than the pipe.
I decided to drill lightening holes in the pipe, it’s really not needed. It does give you a better grip. I also cut a couple of slots in one end of the pipe, the same width as the fish tape. In the other end you also need a small slot that the hook on the spring will fit in. I heated the fish tape up to a nice red color and it bent easily.
You can see on the right side in the picture above are the slots in the pipe for the fish tape to fit in. On the left is a small hole. This needs to be a slot with the Dremel, not a hole. To brighten up the piece and to remove the burrs from drilling I used a vibrating sander. You can also remove the burs with a small knife. The copper is soft and cuts easily.
Put the spring over the fish tape and hook it in the handle.
Notice the hook in the free end of the spring. Cut this off with cutters or the Dremel and bend the spring to make a hook that faces outward.
Now the spring is like below. I bent the spring cold with the pliers.
Now just put it all together.
The spring is under slight tension when the tool is not being used. To use it just hold the copper pipe in one hand and pull on the fish tape handle while you wind it a couple of turns in the desired direction. The tension on the spring will hold the fish tape in the slots and the tool is ready to use. Hold the piece of pipe in one hand and guide the pointy end of the fish tape into the keyway. Then push the pipe slowly towards the lock. The handle end of the fish tape will be pushed out of the slots and presto the plug will spin.
Don’t wind the handle too tight. For improvements, you could cover the pipe in Plasti dip (tool dip) and spray paint the fish tape so it won’t rust. It would also be nice to cover the sharp hook in the spring with some heat shrink, so you don’t jab your hand.
I thought about making the whole thing a bit smaller and using aluminum tube with a smaller spring and wiper blade inserts instead of fish tape.
