"Tools of the trade" for carving

[Bretts]

Thought it a good time to share a nifty dremmel carver attachment I came up with. These blades are used on metal lathes. I thought I might be able to find a way to attach them to a shaft for use in carving with a dremmel and had no idea it would all come together so easy. After the failed attempt to use a nut and bolt I found they fit straight onto the shaft that is used for the grinding wheel attachments of small die grinders.
Here it is pictured with the pack of ten bits and a couple of similar carvers from Graham Potter over in the UK. They cost me about $60 each I think which hurt more when I made my own for nothing just after they arrived. I remember Danica spitting that I could make these myself and I was, as if Danica

carve.jpg

Here is the part number to ensure you can get exactly the same as I have used.

carve2.jpg

I have bent a couple of shafts so far(after heaps of work). I have only used the shafts out of the two bob store kits though and I reckon there will be e better quality shaft out there that will take the punishment long term, Maybe dremmel has one or you could get your mate to lathe one up. Good chance he has these bits if he uses a steel lathe as well.
I have tried two different shafts so far and both have seated perfect into the bottom of the cutter ensuring that it is all balanced. Even the little washer on the top sits in nice and snug.

[anttal63]

Mad Max of Bonsai?
Great stuff Alpine. You ex chippies have all the know-how when it comes to tools!

[alpineart]

Hi Bretts,Thanks for the info .Shannon has a huge lathe "3.6 m" bed , and a milling machine i'm sure he has a heap of cutter material laying around as he recieved box loads of it when he purchased the Lathe .If he can't make it no one can .He is a very switch on young fella .He made some incredible parts for my Bike that even the fastidious buyer was awstruck with his accomplishments .Cheers Alpine

[Mitchell]

to right there mate, you could burn out as many grinders etc. as you like with a 3 year warantee and just keep getting them replaced as needed.
jamie

It's only one 3 year warranty, it doesn't get reset everytime it burns out. That use to be the case, but as you said people were just pushing the equip till it burnt out, then kept coming back for new ones for years on end.

[Rod]

Alpine I use the same ozito router as part of my carving tools, I have had it for quite some time now and it has been great so far , I do a lot of carving. I run a samuri in it as well as die grinder bits, I find it best to run the die grinder bits flat out , if you don`t they can jump around . I find the variable speed great when I am finishing off I like to use wire brushes for this I think they a more natural apperance These brushes should be run at a slower speed. Alpine I am keen to know more about these seco lathe bits ages ago I caught on to the idea that they where using these bits for these carving tools in the uk, I got a mate to see what he could come up with. Out of all the bits he got me none of them had a profile like these or a hole the same size as these. Does the number you supplied get these exact bits , or have you shaped the patten in these or is this the way they came ? What was the price of your ten bits, and did you buy them from an enginering shop ? The way I undersatnd it is that the dremmel mandrill fits straight on to them ? Cheers Rod......

[alpineart]

Hi Mitchell , i didn't buy it to burn it out but to wear it out .The warranty is a bonus Ozito has got my back Makita hasn't .The warranty on most good tools is 12 months but in my trade the newer machines dont last .I still have my original Makita 9 1/4 and its well over 30 years old yet i have burnt out 2 Makita drills in the past 2 years .

Today is a disposable society event the tools are .If for some reason it dies next winter its covered where as in say 14 months time a Makita wont be . I have managed to wear out {shari itself}an air die grinder carving trunks .Its like anything , their only as good as the components/ materials their made from .Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Rod , good to hear the Samari fits , yes as with all shapers and cutters they should be run at high speed .The rotary file that i have in the machine is what i run at low speed .In reference to the cutters Bretts posted those , maybe you can P.M him and ask for more info or he may read this and post the info . I'm sure others would be keen on these .Cheers Alpine

[Bretts]

Alpine I am keen to know more about these seco lathe bits ages ago I caught on to the idea that they where using these bits for these carving tools in the uk, I got a mate to see what he could come up with. Out of all the bits he got me none of them had a profile like these or a hole the same size as these. Does the number you supplied get these exact bits , or have you shaped the patten in these or is this the way they came ? What was the price of your ten bits, and did you buy them from an enginering shop ? The way I undersatnd it is that the dremmel mandrill fits straight on to them ? Cheers Rod......

They are as is Rod. Take them out of the packet and bolt them on although I figure a good machinest could alter them. I have found the actual part number in thier catalouge as being 16ER AG55 CP500. If you look here you can see that they are thread cutters and there may be others that also work or maybe work even better than these. A-A2 look even sharper although the one I have is sharper than the image they give for it.
http://www.secotools.com/CorpWeb/Produc ... nglish.pdf
I have not tried the dremell mandrill with them but as both cheap mandrills I have used fit I am only guessing the dremell one will as well.
Can't say how much they cost as these where a freeby from work. An engineering shop should be the go or you can contact them through here to see how to purchase them.
http://www.secotools.com/wps/portal/au/ ... EpKQzNVODU!/"
I gave a little demo of how they work when I was at the Peter Adams workshop. They thought it was pretty good

Rod are you saying the Samuri you have fits the 1/4 inch collet ? Mine is definatly 6mm which is .35mm smaller than the 1/4" and it is loose in that collet. I bought mine of ebay for a bargian and wonder if they have different shaft sizes? Thats all i can guess as I seem to be the only one to have had this. Not a big deal as many of the tools come with interchangable collets but I have become curious!
6mm is the norm where they come from but maybe they make a different size shaft for Australia to fit the 1/4" and mine was a back door model

Alpine if you get the Samuri I would watch you don't over do the revs. They are rated at 14000 and I don't think they are a tool that you should push past it's limits

[Mitchell]

Hi Mitchell , i didn't buy it to burn it out but to wear it out .The warranty is a bonus Ozito has got my back Makita hasn't .The warranty on most good tools is 12 months but in my trade the newer machines dont last .I still have my original Makita 9 1/4 and its well over 30 years old yet i have burnt out 2 Makita drills in the past 2 years .

Today is a disposable society event the tools are .If for some reason it dies next winter its covered where as in say 14 months time a Makita wont be . I have managed to wear out {shari itself}an air die grinder carving trunks .Its like anything , their only as good as the components/ materials their made from .Cheers Alpine

I didn't say you bought it to burn it out, I was talking about tradesman that abuse cheap tools.

What range were you Mak tools from? Chinese, Japanese, trade grade?
I know what you mean though, my 30 years old mak drills out do anything these days quality wise.

I checked out the oz router just then, thinking of getting one and setting it up like you have.

I find Bosch blue (trade range) the most acceptable for trade use, infact they are just about the only range that gets a warranty for trade use, most of mak and the rest is just home use warranty.

[Rod]

G`day guys sorry for the muck up, I thought alpine had posted the info about the seco tool bits not Bretts. Thanks for the reply bretts I think this is a fantastic idea and will be chasing it up myself,what a cheap way to get some good carving bits . Guys my samuri was purchased in oz and it fits straight into the ozito 1/4 inch collets, you may be right about the backdoor model. Alpine I am the same with my rotary rasp I dont run it too fast, I find it can burn if it is used like that and it dosen`t cut as well. Thanks for your help guys, Cheers Rod.....

[alpineart]

Hi Mitchell , don't get cranky , "i'm haven a lend of ya".No mate i'm sick of purchasing top quality tools to have them let me down on the job .In my trade i only buy quality , now retired i buy a cheaper items and test them as i do with Bonsai .If it fails , i will give my opinion "straight up ".
Like i said i would rather spend $60 on a machine then lash out on a large set of quality cutters.

How many young fella's /new commers to Bonsai would go out and buy a $400 die grinder to carve a few trunks . I spent <$70 to carve around 100 trunks and 50% of those are 150 -200mm .Mind you i'll cut loose with the Chainsaw first .Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Bretts , i never exceed manufacturers recommended speed limits with cutter, well maybe sometimes .Best to follow the instructions thats for sure .Next trip to Albury i'll check out the tool store .Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Rod i find the rotary file is for metal work rather than what we're doing .Yes i tends to clog and smoke , does a nice job at scolling around knots .Cheers Alpine

[Mitchell]

Hi Mitchell , don't get cranky , "i'm haven a lend of ya".No mate i'm sick of purchasing top quality tools to have them let me down on the job .In my trade i only buy quality , now retired i buy a cheaper items and test them as i do with Bonsai .If it fails , i will give my opinion "straight up ".
Like i said i would rather spend $60 on a machine then lash out on a large set of quality cutters.

How many young fella's /new commers to Bonsai would go out and buy a $400 die grinder to carve a few trunks . I spent <$70 to carve around 100 trunks and 50% of those are 150 -200mm .Mind you i'll cut loose with the Chainsaw first .Cheers Alpine

I'm not cranky, I thought we were having a conversation. My last post was just quick in my lunch break, so may have come across wrong.
Same here mate, i've bought "quality" tool to have them smoke out on the first use. Now I generally buy cheap and mod them how I want... Like the other week I purchased a Ozito drop saw, chucked the bad blade they give you and wacked in a irwin 60 tooth thin curf blade. As long as I am careful I can do some beautiful work with it.
I have ozito- dropsaw, dremel copy (burnt the flex lance out carving though), drill 240v, cordless drill, Planer, gluegun, biscuit cutter. I've found most come with atleast 1 design defect, but it's easy to work with given the price of them.

I just remembered then, I have that ozito plunge router in my shed too. Looks like I don't need to buy one now.

[Jamie]

gday mitchell

i know about the warantees, i was saying that in the three years it can be replaced as needed, not that i try and smash my tools anyways

i got the ozito rotary tool aswell its an older one though, mine is the ozito "blue" machine (not named blue but actual colour blue, not like the grey they are now) and have found it to be brilliant, its max speed is 35000-38000 i think and slowest is about 10000-15000 not sure exacts, but have found it to be brilliant under strain, the onlything i had go wrong with mine was the original flex shaft too, the locking system for the collect eventually chews out and needs replacing, i found a good one online without a prob though

cheaper tools will work as long as people understand to use them a little easier and what they are for, if that is done they will work and last

jamie