I Got Fed Up With This.

[Patstone]

Well Dennis perhaps you should sell, the stuff you make is beautiful. I "do" a craft show once a month but am thinking of stopping as I dont sell much and its way underpriced, just covers the cost of the silver etc. You must have a huge stash, I know I have and you have been at it longer than me.

[AndyP]

Andy, what Dennis and I are referring to here when we say Dremel is this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Engr...engraving+tool

It's not a rotary tool but a percussion tool with a reciprocating head that performs a crude type of hammer action. Obviously a proper hammer handpiece used with either a pendant motor or micromotor would be better, but it would be many times more expensive, and you have to have either a pendant motor or a micromotor to begin with, of course, for it to be useable.

I bought the Dremel engraver because I was having trouble pushing over bezel walls in sterling (thicker ones, at any rate) just using a hammer and punch. This tool has made life much easier.

My main tool for jewelry work is a Foredom K1070 micromotor. I have a Dremel 4000, but keep it for rough work such as reshaping silicone polishing wheels. I don't use it to make jewelry.

Ahh.... Thanks I see! I couldn't see how a rotary Dremel tool would be able to hammer. The engraver does seem a good, value option.

By the sound of it, you've made a replacement tip then with a flat end. I guess if you have a lathe you could make yourself a variety of different sized flat tips.

Thanks for the info.

Andy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Paul Kay]

Ahh.... Thanks I see! I couldn't see how a rotary Dremel tool would be able to hammer. The engraver does seem a good, value option.

By the sound of it, you've made a replacement tip then with a flat end. I guess if you have a lathe you could make yourself a variety of different sized flat tips.

I have the same, but there is no need for a lathe to make replacement tips for bezel setting, just get some steel or brass rod the same diameter as the engraving tip (1/8" or 3.1mm approx I think) cut to length (20mm) and either semi-smooth or polish the end to your preferred profile.

[Patstone]

How does the Foredom hammer work, and don't say up and down. Is it a good purchase or a waste of money, use my motor a lot.

[Aurarius]

Is it a good purchase or a waste of money, use my motor a lot.

If you do a lot of setting, particularly with bezels, then I'd say it's a good investment.

How does the Foredom hammer work, and don't say up and down.

In and out.

I have the same, but there is no need for a lathe to make replacement tips for bezel setting, just get some steel or brass rod the same diameter as the engraving tip (1/8" or 3.1mm approx I think) cut to length (20mm) and either semi-smooth or polish the end to your preferred profile.

I didn't have any rod in the right size, but I did have some slightly oversize. All I did was put a section in my Dremel 4000 and use this as a "lathe", holding the spinning rod against some wet and dry paper to take down its diameter to the right thickness.

[Dennis]

If you are short of a steel rod and don't want to invest in a lot of stock, you might consider the stem of a 3.2mm twist drill, available singly from local ironmongers, which fits exactly and can be cut to the required length with a carborundum cut off disk.

If you want the end flattened like a traditional bezel pusher, you can forge it with a hammer on a steel block when heated to red hot. Dennis.

[josef1]

3.175mm is an 1/8" may be easier to find and for all intents the same size

[Susie]

Andy, what Dennis and I are referring to here when we say Dremel is this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Engr...engraving+tool

It's not a rotary tool but a percussion tool with a reciprocating head that performs a crude type of hammer action. Obviously a proper hammer handpiece used with either a pendant motor or micromotor would be better, but it would be many times more expensive, and you have to have either a pendant motor or a micromotor to begin with, of course, for it to be useable.

I bought the Dremel engraver because I was having trouble pushing over bezel walls in sterling (thicker ones, at any rate) just using a hammer and punch. This tool has made life much easier.

My main tool for jewelry work is a Foredom K1070 micromotor. I have a Dremel 4000, but keep it for rough work such as reshaping silicone polishing wheels. I don't use it to make jewelry.

How do you reshape your silicone wheels?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Susie]

How do you reshape your silicone wheels?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ah forget that question. Just found a you tube vid of someone using a drill and a file. Doh!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Faith]

The silicon/rubber wheels are pretty soft, I do as Dennis suggested, using diamond sharpening plates (I got a set of three for about £8 from ebay - the kind that look like a giant nail file rather than the kind that look like a cheese grater). Just run the wheel up in the dremel (or equivalent) and touch to plate. It does obviously produce a bunch of powdery rubbery dust, so I probably wouldn't do it with a file I was gonna use for my silver - just because I expect it'd be irritating to unclog the file.

Faith