Bench Drills and Handpieces.

[Nick martin]

Hi Lucie,

I can highly recommend the Foredom setup, although mines the pendant motor and not the micromotor version. I wouldnt bother with the dedicated Foredom drill press however, and I opted to get a decent quality seperate bench / pillar drill. Its more flexible, sturdy, not to mention accurate. Ok.. you cant use the Foredom handpiece in it, but you can use any drill bit but with more control.

I also have the hammer handpiece and its superb. Great for thick bezel setting duties and texturing once you get the hang of it. Only thing to watch out for is that you dont spin it too fast otherwise it'll wreck the cams inside the handpiece. It can be used perfectly well with a Foredom SR motor ( mine - high speed ) or you can opt to use the higher-torque LX version which is arguably better suited to the hammer handpiece. Alternatively invest £50 or thereabouts in a Foredom speed control which lets you set the RPM regardless of how much the foot pedal is depressed.

Nick

[Lucie]

Hi Nick. Thank you very much for the input!
I have the Foredom SR, but just have the #20 handpiece which is great, but not very flexible.
I think I'm going to do the same as you and opt for a separate bench drill. Did you go for any one in particular?

Thanks for the advice about the hammer handpiece too. I'll definitely look into the speed control. Prices seem to vary considerably between suppliers.

[Nick martin]

Hi Lucie,

You dont 'need' a speed control but if you dont have one, and I personally dont, then you just have to have a steady foot and be mindful of the speed of the motor.

As for bench drills, then I just got mine from Machinemart on the high street. Think I paid about £100 for it and its spot on. Then just get yourself a half decent vice and away you go.

Nick

[Dennis]

Some of us have opted for the Proxxon, which is space saving and can be used with the collets provided, or for impatient operators like me, with the optional three jawed chuck. http://www.proxxon.com/us/micromot/38128.php Dennis.

[Stacey]

I bought my Proxxon from this site ... it only took two days to arrive. The price (including shipping) cannot be beat I found. All I needed to do was buy a "visitor to the U.K." electrical adaptor.
http://www.reichelt.de/PROXXON-28128...on+bench+drill

[Lucie]

Hi. Thank you very much for all the advice everyone. It's been very helpful in putting together my shopping list

[Dai]

Hi Lucie. A nice little video example of stone setting with hammer. On YouTube, Embed a gem in the gold bezel setting. Watch full screen and HD if possible.

[china]

There is no link?

[ps_bond]

Nope, because members with fewer than 5 posts can't post links (when it works) - it's designed to slow down spammers.

This one might be the right one:



Or, it might not...

[Dai]

Yes, that's the one. I didn't attempt to post link as im new here. I wasn't aware of how many posts before adding a link..I do now thank you Mr Bond.
Enjoying this forum, plenty of knowledge and friendly helpful people.