New Uses for Clothespins

New Uses for Clothespins
The ordinary clothespin can do a lot more than hold sheets on a dryer line! Here are five of our favorite RC uses for them. Share how you use clothespins for modeling in the comments below!
Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | New Uses for Clothespins

CLIP TIP
For electric RC pilots, keeping track of battery status at the field can be a challenge. It is easy to lose track of which packs have been discharged and which ones are ready to go. To solve this problem, get some wooden clothespins and paint some of them red and some of them green. When you remove the spent battery pack from an airplane, attach a red pin to its lead. When you have recharged the battery pack, remove the red clothespin and replace it with a green clothespin. You’ll never install a dead battery again.

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | New Uses for Clothespins

CLOTHESPIN CLAMP
It can be tough to securely clamp a shallow-angle glue joint. To make a clamp that won’t shift, cut off the ends of a standard clothespin’s jaws (where the taper ends). Through each end, drill a small hole just big enough to seat a pin, tack, or small nail. Position the pins approximately 1/8 inch to the inside of the clothespin’s pegs. When you clamp the clothespin onto the joint, the pins will bite into the wood and prevent the clamp from shifting as the glue dries.

 

 

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | New Uses for Clothespins

SOLDERING CADDY
Here’s a great little soldering caddy that’s made from a wooden box such as the ones once used for candies or cigars. Take the box (it can have either a hinged or sliding lid) and mount several clothespins around the top. Next, to prevent splintering, pre-drill a hole in the base of each clothespin and then screw it to the top of the box in any arrangement that fits my needs. The one shown will accommodate different soldering situations, and the screw in each clothespin lets me reposition or easily replace the pin. The box can also store your soldering iron, heat sink and solder.

 

 

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | New Uses for Clothespins

BRISTLE BUDDY
When you soak brushes in thinner, try using a clothespin to grip the paintbrush, then rest it on the edge of a small jar, so the bristles hang clear of the bottom. This will prevent the bristles from bending and getting damaged from the sediment in the bottom of the jar.

 

 

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | New Uses for Clothespins

LOCK DOWN
In the past, I have been plagued by broken servo gears caused when I’ve bumped the control surface against a hard object while carrying the airplane. So, I took a clue from full-sized aircraft control surface arrestors and made a model version out of plastic clothespins and some self-adhesive neoprene weather stripping. Two short neoprene strips are taped to the inside of the clothespin jaws. Now just clamp them to the control surface and any solid part of that surface to prevent that surface from moving.

 

Updated: November 29, 2021 — 4:26 PM

4 Comments

  1. Some may not be familiar with the old standard of reversing the clothespin parts in the spring for clamping use. Provides a longer reach and better access to smaller clamping areas. Just remove the spring and slide the wooden pins into the spring clamp from the back side.

  2. The common clothespin becomes an excellent clamp, readily fits into narrow spaces, and costs nothing, except to simply turn the wooden pieces end for end so the original “handle” is now at the “clamp” end!

  3. I LIKE THE LOCK DOWN IDEA. GOING TO USE IT WHEN I ADJUST THE LINKAGES SETTING UP MY NEXT PLANES CONTROL SURFACES.

  4. Nice ideas. I can use all of them.
    Thanks very much.

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