Originally Posted by
Dennis
Here are some of my gadgets for flexshaft and their brief descriptions. As I don’t have interchangeable collets, they are all with 2.23mm shanks.
Burr Box 1. The round burr is the very king of burrs. It will make a seat for a round faceted stone in tube or sheet. It will bevel the edges of a hole, or make the countersink for a screw. In a small size it will quickly drill a hole through thin sheet, or make a pit to locate a twist drill in place of a punch.
Finally, if heated at the neck with a mini-torch and bent slightly while still red, the eccentric action will turn it into a texturing tool.
Stone setting burrs (top right) are size specific and will perfect the seat for a stone, begun with a round burr. As they are expensive, they are best used in a pin vice with a little oil to save on wear.
Cup burrs (top left) will round the ends of wires and prongs and also perfect the domes on rivet heads.
Burr Box 2. My twist drills (top) are all different lengths from re-sharpening them, but I rarely need a new one.
Diamond Points and Stones (mid right) are slow to cut metal, but safe to use as they are easy to control, have little tendency to run away, and are unlikely to damage fingers. They are also used by glass engravers.
Tungsten-carbide burrs (bottom right) are great for carving silver and other soft metals.
Burr Box 3. Cylindrical burrs with flat ends will improve the seat for small cabochons, which otherwise have a disconcerting habit of turning over during setting. Use by hand in a pin vice for this.
They are also very effective rotary files for shaping metal, but have a strong tendency to jump out of control so badly scoring your work, or worse your fingers. To spare you the gory details just avoid doing this.
Dennis.
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