Q-tip shaft diameters

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Jeff Piazza
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by Jeff Piazza »

Here's an update, most of a year later:

I replaced the box of oversized Q-tips in the master bathroom, since it had minimal utility for PWD. As I mentioned in another post, I found enough well-sized Q-tips in an old-style box to get us through last season.

Over the summer, I found a nearly-full box of Q-tips in the kids' bathroom, in the new-style packaging. I measured these out of curiosity, and found them to be the desirable .095" shafts. I appropriated the box.

I recently looked again at the box in the master bedroom (which may or may not be the same box I returned there a year ago -- my wife uses an inordinate number of Q-tips, and I find it's unprofitable to ask a lot of questions on the subject), and measured the shafts there at .095".

I have three competing hypotheses:

(a) Some boxes or batches are oversized, but most are not, so just wait for the next delivery; OR

(b) Shaft diameters may change over time (humidity?); OR

(c) I was out of my mind when I made the first observations.

I suspect (b) is the most likely, as I think the master bedroom box probably IS the same one I measured to have large diameters a year ago. I would be really interested to hear of others' experiences. What I'd really like to hear about is: if you have some Q-tips with oversized diameters, can you shrink them? E.g., with a hair dryer, or leaving them on the radiator overnight, or even putting them in the oven briefly? If not, what happens if you leave them exposed to the air for a few weeks or months?
wonderer
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by wonderer »

Jeff Piazza wrote:...What I'd really like to hear about is: if you have some Q-tips with oversized diameters, can you shrink them? E.g., with a hair dryer, or leaving them on the radiator overnight, or even putting them in the oven briefly? If not, what happens if you leave them exposed to the air for a few weeks or months?
I'll be buying some Q-tips soon. If they are oversized, I'll check out whether they will shrink with drying. If they are small enough to work as is, I'll check whether they expand over time.
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by wonderer »

Just picked up some Q-tips over lunch. I got Q-tip brand as well as Walgreen brand. Both were oversized for our purposes. The Walgreen brand swab I measured was consistently 0.98 to 0.99 down the length of the shaft, whereas the Q-tip brand varied from 0.96 to 0.99.

FWIW, Q-tip brand seems to have worse quality control, so maybe smaller ones could be cherrypicked, although the variability in OD isn't really desireable.
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GravityRacer
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by GravityRacer »

In all fairness to J&J, I doubt they expect us crazy racers to measure their Q-Tip "handles", especially since they even tell us not to even put them in our ears (I do, anyway), and I HOPE your earholes are bigger than the shaft diameter!
mbb
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by mbb »

Soon to be on ebay: .096" shaft Qtips, $.25 each!
SubnetZero
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by SubnetZero »

I can only imagine he look of confusion on store clerk faces as an army of PWD Addicts invade stores throughout the country with calipers and 10X Loupes in hand asking to be directed to their Q-Tips... LOL....
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by wonderer »

SubnetZero wrote:I can only imagine he look of confusion on store clerk faces as an army of PWD Addicts invade stores throughout the country with calipers and 10X Loupes in hand asking to be directed to their Q-Tips... LOL....
ROFL

I got the hardware store to let me go through their boxes of PWD wheels looking for mold #'s. Too bad they seal the boxes on Q-tips, or someone would find me sitting on the floor of a drugstore with calipers in hand and a dozen open boxes of Q-tips scattered around me. I'm a grown man obsessed with building cars out of a bit of two by four, some nails, and some cheap plastic wheels. I think people looking at me as if I'm a bit crazy is probably warranted.
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bigtex
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by bigtex »

Just try explaining to your wife when you come home with 6+ different brands of Q-Tips and have spent over 20 bucks... some interesting silent "looks" to say the least.... :shock:
mbb
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by mbb »

Well, if anything this is at least a CHEAP way to spend time, at least compared to boating, fishing, hunting, radio control toys, etc. A wife should be glad.
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FatSebastian
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by FatSebastian »

I acquired Doc Jobe's bore polishing kit within the last year. It came with 5 or 6 "cardboard polishing rods/shafts" (Q-tip handles - still some cotton fibers on the ends). Instructions say "Use all white [unmarked] cardboard shafts unless a wheel has an undersized bore hole they won't fit into. If so use the slightly smaller shaft with the red mark on it." The red-marked undersized shaft measured 0.095" while the others measured 0.097" to 0.099". I found that only the 0.095" shaft fit into the wheels I had (several sets worth), which was a problem because only one undersized shaft is supplied and it cannot be reused. In this case Doc further instructs the user to essentially whittle away at the Q-tip with a razor-equipped box cutter or utility knife (not something I would have kids try and unwilling to do myself). While disappointing from a consumer standpoint, this seems to provide expert confirmation that only select Q-tips will fit select wheels, and that some variation may be expected.
Last edited by FatSebastian on Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Pinewood Daddy
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

You can sand the diameter down easily.
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FatSebastian
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by FatSebastian »

Pinewood Daddy wrote:If they're a bit oversize just [s]and them down! We've actually reused some just sanding them with 320 grit while spinning in the drill press.
Yes, thanks Pinewood Daddy (I had noticed your earlier post, too.) You seemed to have no concerns of contamination due to grit shedding based on your experience, so I wonder why Doc recommends using a razor, which seems harder?
Measuring and sorting Q-Tips by size seems like an excellent rainy-day activity for a motivated Cub. ;)
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

FatSebastian wrote:
Pinewood Daddy wrote:If they're a bit oversize just [s]and them down! We've actually reused some just sanding them with 320 grit while spinning in the drill press.
Yes, thanks Pinewood Daddy (I had noticed your earlier post, too.) You seemed to have no concerns of contamination due to grit shedding based on your experience, so I wonder why Doc recommends using a razor, which seems harder?
Measuring and sorting Q-Tips by size seems like an excellent rainy-day activity for a motivated Cub. ;)
I use emery paper, I don't think it sheds much. It's a dark grit so it would be noticeable on the white q-tip shaft.

{OT} This is our 7th years of PWD coming up, I don't worry about small details like that (PWD burn-out). We've done well enough to win the District race the last 2 years. I've found many shortcuts in the past couple of years that will allow us to build a winning car in less than 3 hours, excluding fancy woodworking, fine sanding and painting.
AlabamaDan
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by AlabamaDan »

We've talked alot about the q-tip shafts for polishing bores. Is there a seperate thread about what to use for a bore polish with a q-tip shaft?
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FatSebastian
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Re: Q-tip shaft diameters

Post by FatSebastian »

AlabamaDan wrote:We've talked alot about the q-tip shafts for polishing bores. Is there a seperate thread about what to use for a bore polish with a q-tip shaft?
This thread followed by this thread contains seemingly relevant discussions; also this thread suggesting plastic polish with Qtips. But more recent discussions have emphasized Sporty's newer bore prep method, which uses carbon rods and adhesive Micro-mesh for polishing, followed by fluffy pipe cleaners and graphite for "burnishing".
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