Medical needles

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

After my operation I have 30 needles that have been used,trying to dispose them has been a problem as the chemist will not except them. Looking at them they look a good tool for a oiler on moving parts on engines and other uses. I have made a few steam lubricated and drilling a very small hole I have found that the oil soon goes as the hole is obviously to big but have drilled the recommended size. Would the needle if inserted in the lubricator be to smaller hole for the steam heated oil to pass.

I shall smash them up if this will not work.

Bob

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

You should be able to get a sharps disposal box on prescription (hopefully at no cost) then have it collected by the local council (hopefully again at no cost). Alternatively ask the GP if they will accept them for disposal if you take them in next time you are there.

Martin C

Edited By Martin Connelly on 24/10/2020 10:45:56

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Tried all that Martin. Shame as the tiny hole in the needle looked useful , I will keep a few and smash them up.

Bob

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

Hyperdermic syringes and the needles are certainly used for fine lubrication tasks in industry and we have a collection in our clock workshops…. Usually the sharp tips are ground off for safety during use…..the needles for medical use are cut on the slant to give a sharp tip and those in the workshop are flat tipped but whether this was done in house or they can be supplied like that, I don't know. They are an identical fitting to those that my mother used as a diabetic, albeit 50 years ago.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Posted by Bob Stevenson on 24/10/2020 11:22:10:

… those in the workshop are flat tipped but whether this was done in house or they can be supplied like that, I don't know. …

I have a flat tipped needle which was supplied by the hospital for flushing with salt water after I had a wisdom tooth removed, so they are obviously available like that. That said, it's no difficulty to grind the tip off a pointy one.

George B.

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Thanks for the replies.At the moment I'm cleaning a pendulum clock Bob, this is the second time I've done it as it stopped after the first clean after six months. I have put the problem down to a sticky balance after I used proper clock oil, I have recleaned it all with No 1 concentrated cleaning fluid. Putting it back I will use one of these hypodermic needles with a dash of 3 in 4 oil,hopefully that will do the trick, not clock oil.

Bob

[Dennis DParticipant @dennisd]

You can get flat-tipped needles off eBay. They are generally sold for refilling ink cartridges.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I got 5 of eBay, arrived flat tipped, I use 3 of them for , lube oil, cylinder oil & for dropping Loctite / studloc on to some of the smaller items that needed it.I use a bit of tape to seal off that one so air doesn't get into the barrel. I don't fill the barrels fully, the two 5ml ones are filled to only 2ml ( oils ) & the one for Loctite ( 2ml ) has only approx' 0.5ml in, as needed, all ideal for model making.

George.

[Bob RodgersonParticipant @bobrodgerson97362]

If I remember rightly they used to be used as burner tubes in model gas turbines.

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Seems like they are useful, I'll think I shall hang on to them.

Bob

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I use them in the workshop for various purposes, air and oil amongst them, both sharp and blunt. I think I'd probably just sterilise them and keep in a box safe somewhere until you find a need.

I also keep new sterile ones in first aid kits etc. as they work well as tiny scalpels for removing splinters and swarf from finger ends.

Bill

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by peak4 on 24/10/2020 13:56:17:

I use them in the workshop for various purposes, air and oil amongst them, both sharp and blunt. I think I'd probably just sterilise them and keep in a box safe somewhere until you find a need.

I also keep new sterile ones in first aid kits etc. as they work well as tiny scalpels for removing splinters and swarf from finger ends.

Bill

Good idea on the splinters Bill, I never thought of that!

[Jeff DaymanParticipant @jeffdayman43397]

Needle cannulae / tubes when blunted and silver soldered to bits of drilled sheetmetal make excellent scale hinge parts. Bit of tiny music wire for the pivot, and Robert is in fact your Mum's brother.

(the silver soldering heat will take care of any biological matter or microbial / viral beasties in or on the tube)

[BizibilderParticipant @bizibilder]

Try "Blunt dispensing needles" on your favourite auction site – Brings up lots of them.

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

I buy my blunt needles, in quite a range of sizes, from ebay, along with syringes. very handy for oiling and gluing.

My doctor showed me the hypodermic trick fr getting splinters out 35 years ago, always kept some in my toolboxes since.

Jim

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

I am down to my last two hyperdeemic nurdles and have found them very useful over the years. It had never occured to me to use one for sucking splinters – thanks Jim, much more precise than a solder sucker. You've got me thinking now about solder suckers and blackheads, would that work I wonder?

Rik

[John Paton 1Participant @johnpaton1]

I use all the needles I can get for my 'micro flame' type fine work blow lamp as they quickly burn back if you get the flow rate wrong. ( the type of blow lamp that uses electrolysis to separate oxygen and hydrogen from demineralised water and then recombine them to give an oxy -hydrogen fuel which burns at high temperature without creating soot)

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

The medical ones are excellent for filling ink cartridges. I have used them for years for that application and also have a couple filled with oil. for the tiny jobs.

regards

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

If You have some of the larger sizes They are excellent for blowing chips out of tapped holes. Silver solder one to the end of a standard grease fitting that has 1/8" pipe thread and it will screw into the end of a blow gun.

[Simon CollierParticipant @simoncollier74340]

I use them for painting fine lining on gauge 1 locos. Decades ago there were boxes of all metal ones at my lab, the reusable kind. I'd love to have those now. They were thrown out.

[Martin ThomsonParticipant @martinthomson36607]

I do not post on here often, but this is not OK. Your local council has a legal obligation to collect sharps on request.It doesn’t matter what the source of those needles is, even if you were a druggy, it shouldn’t matter, you ask for a sharps box and they provide it and collect it – that’s the law, due to the danger such things represent.

If this isn’t your experience, then you’ve not spoken to the right people, and you need to complain, A LOT. Seriously, this is a big problem…

Having said that, new unused needles are a good source of of high carbon tube in small sizes. But used needles are too much risk. Dispose of them properly…

[BrevaParticipant @breva]

John Paton 1,

That sounds an interesting kind of torch. Is it something that an average bloke can have in his shed or is it rather specialised?

John

[BOB BLACKSHAW 1Participant @bobblackshaw1]

Correct what Martin has said about the council collecting these needles, I have telephoned them but they didn't reply back, I suppose they are working from home. Reading these posts I would rather keep hold of them, I can inject my moving parts with oil.

Bob

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