Leo Johansen
New Member
You might try cutting open an old carbon/zinc AA cell battery, it has a carbon rod inside approx. 3/16" dia. x 2½" long.
Heavy duty etc. is OK, but NOT alkaline. I have done it often, using a pair of small side cutters and cutting around the top edge of the positive end and peeling a strip off the outside casing. With a pair of pliers pull on the positive cap and the rod will slide right out. Wipe the grease off the rod and pull the cap off and you're all set. Works fine in my homemade tweezers.
I have also made a pair using carpenter's pencil leads, held in 1" long pieces of ⅛x¼" rectangular brass tubing.
That works as well and squeezing the tubing a bit with needle-nose pliers on the long side creates a friction fit for the leads and avoids the mess with the battery acid.
The old reprobate in London.
