The Pen Is Mightier Than The……… Horn?

10 May, 2011

The adage 'the pen is mightier than the sword' can be true in many circumstances; for my blog today I did not want to focus on the pen itself but rather the pen clip. As most of us do not carry pens in our shirt pocket we sometimes overlook the usefulness of an item such as a pen clip.

I have a 98 Honda Civic and for the past 3 years I've been driving with no horn. Driving without a horn is not just a bad idea its usually illegal; so I'm going to bite the bullet and wire it up. I started by looking at posts from other members of the automotive community to see how they setup their horns. Overall the write ups were good but a lot skimmed over the most important section; the 'shoe horn'. A 'shoe horn' can be one of two items, it could be that plastic spoon looking thing that helps your grandfather get his loafers on; or it is a small metal piece which conducts power to the brass ring behind your steering wheel hub.

Having a vehicle originally equipped with an airbag meant that I did not have this piece, the community suggested ordering the part from Honda or  a variety of alternatives from hair pins, strong piece of wire or a pen clip. I opted for a pen clip off of an old tire pressure gauge.

After taking it off and flattening out the base I started to see what I was making, I wrapped the wire around and tapped it up tight before drilling a hole in the base for mounting (got my new drills a few days ago). Once the hole was there I was able to fasten it securely to the windshield wiper control case and bent the new power rod upwards to make contact with the brass ring; this would send the positive power to the wheel. The key to the setup is that the pin needs to touch the brass to make contact but requires enough spring to allow the wheel to turn without hesitation (imagine a needle on a record player).

After connecting all the wires and re-assembling the hub and wheel it was time to test out the horn; to my amazement it works without any problems. This install could have been done another way but it wouldn't have been as satisfying without the pen clip.

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