I found this video and built the tool as DIY Engineering recommended. It works fantastic and so simple to make. I had to make some minor mods to the 3D printed handle to fit my soldering iron and that was it.
I am promoting David as a way to say thank you to him for his great idea.
Video on how to build the rig.
Many videos of David Johnson’s designs can be found here.
David’s Website.
Interesting but I’m not sure there’s a problem here that needs a tool like this.
I haven’t worked with heat melt inserts a lot (maybe a dozen times over the past ten years including with my Voron 2.4), but I have designed parts to use them and have never used anything to insert them other than an old Weller soldering iron that I no longer use because the tips are all tinned for lead solder.
For a the parts that I have designed to use 3mm heat melt insert, I put in a hole 5mm in diameter and 5mm deep with a 30 degree chamfer at the end. I heat the iron to an intermediate setting, place the insert into the hole and then apply the iron until the insert melts in. I’ve never had a problem with squareness doing it by hand.
I fast forwarded through the video so I may have missed his comments on it, but it seems to me that the tool assumes that the piece surface getting the insert is parallel to the surface the insert tool is mounted on - in the real world this isn’t always possible because the other side may not be flat. If the other side isn’t flat then you have to make a fixture/platform to hold the piece so everything is square.
Interesting but not something I’ve looked back after putting in some heated inserts and thought to myself; “Man, I wish there was a way to ensure the inserts go in straight.”
All of the inserts I use need to go in straight. I was struggling keeping them straight as my eyes are old now and not the best. My son-in-law runs a wood working shop and gets me to make a lot of jigs for him many of which require threaded inserts or drill bushings that must be straight.
I used to have to redo some of them as the bolts wouldn’t go in properly. Having to reheat it to straighten it out would weaken the hole around the insert. This rig keeps them perfectly straight every time.