Heat-Set Insert Straightener and Flattener

Description

A simple tool for finishing off brass heat-set threaded inserts. 

Instructions for Use

Use a soldering iron to press the insert almost flush.  Then further press the insert fully flush using the metal face of this tool. This straightens and fully seats the insert, while also flattening the surrounding plastic for a clean, professional-looking result.

Parts and Assembly

You will need to glue a metal disc to the end of the tool.  I used a 13mm x 1mm steel disc from Amazon (here), although you can use other parts you may have on hand (see “Customization” below).   I used superglue, but I’m not yet sure how well it will hold up to repeated heat cycles, so if that doesn't work out I will try a two-part epoxy. In the supplied print profile I made the working end of the tool effectively solid by specifying 75 “top shell layers”, to add thermal mass and help prevent the plastic from overheating.  PETG seems to work fine, at least for installing a few inserts at a time.  For higher volume work, you might want to step up to ABS or ABS-GF.

Customization

In the supplied print profile, the opening for the disc is 13.4mm.  This can be easily scaled to a different diameter so that you can use other circular metal parts you may already have on hand, such as washers or cylindrical magnets.  You can perform this scaling in Bambu Studio, after downloading my print profile. Given a desired disc diameter D, the scaling percentage % is:   

                                                   % = D * 100 / 13.4