"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
A common tool in a mold shop (I am told) is a siide hammer pin
puller. I don't have one, but I have had to pull a few pins. If the
end of the pin has a flat what I have done is drill and tap it, then
drill and pilot drill a larger piece of stock to make a pulling
sleeve. One hole is large enough to fit over the pin, and the next
is clearance size for a machine screw. I hold the sleeve, and screw
in a machine screw. This draw the pin right out of the hole. Works
similarly to a bearing or wheel puller.

There are a couple problems. First is its slow, and often I can't
find the last one I made and its faster to just make another one.
Next is that often there is little or no flat on the pin I need to
pull. For alignment pins in molds I put a radius on the end so that
the molds go together faster and easier for the end users.

I can quite often get a grip on a pin with a pair of vise grips and
twist it, but its extremely difficult to twist it out. What I have
heard of, read, and been told a couple times is that lot of guys
will take a pair of Vise Grip pliers and make a slide hammer out of
them, by replacing the adjusting screw with a piece of decently
tough rod like 4140 with a knob on the end. Then put a slide weight
on the rod. They grip the pin with the pliers and knock it out with
the slide hammer portion.

I can certainly make the slide hammer as a replacement for the
adjustment screw, but I wonder how long the slide bar needs to be to
be effective. I imagine if its to short you wont be able to get
much striking force without straining yourself, and if its to long
it will be awkward to use and to store. If I were to hold a small
mold in my hand I can't imagine being comfortable with more than
about 16 inches of rod. Maybe 10-12 inches of hammer travel. If I
clamp a larger mold to a bench I might be able to go a bit further,
but striking up could be awkward if its to long.

Then there is weight. I'm pretty comfortable with a 3lb cross pien
hammer. When I need to move something with a hammer that's the one
I reach for, but this is a whole different movement. Would 2 pounds
be more easy to control? Would 4 lbs deliver more usable force due
to limited striking distance?


https://www.amazon.com/OTC-Reversibl.../dp/B000O809QI
5 pounds, 27" long, protective hand grip flanges on the weight.

Some models come with Vise-Grip adapters;
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....19mlVVOzYL.pdf

The adjuster screw thread on my old Vise-Grips is 7/16-14.