Big Morning

[Robweja]

Finally after waiting for what seemed an eternity my Dremel 400 arrived. It took me a little while to sort through all the attachments and instructions, get it all together and run a test cut or two. I found the flex shaft to be very dry and noisy and on inspection found it to be somewhat lacking in grease. I greased it properly assembled it again, ran it for a while then dissasembled and wiped excess grease off again and it runs so sweetly now.
This morning I took a fresh start and got to carving. I am working on three pieces. A dolphin, turtle and butterfly all in Red Cedar which I find challenging due to it's celery like grain structure.
After 3 1/2 hours all three pieces are taking pleasing shape but I had to give up due to seeing in triplicate, the chair was feeling like a concrete slab and the constant whine from the Dremel added to the eye strain was giving me a headache. I was in heaven getting back to carving and I over did it somewhat. So next session is one hour and not a minute more!
After a break now I am ready for session two tonight. I just have to check into the bearings in the handpiece first.
I was fascinated by the tingly fingers from hanging on to the flex shaft and was wondering if anyone else gets this?
Finding burrs is a challenge and I find it confusing as some are listed Carbide and others Tungsten Carbide. I have to assume there is a difference?
My next challenge seems to be working out at which point in detailing I should revert to hand tools.
I would have to say "so far so good" and that I am just glad I got started carving with hand tools and Genes tutorials first then moved to power. It is in my unlearned opinion a great way to start.

[Nancy-G]

Best wishes Robweja ... I wish I could do that. Power tools are beyond me.

[Claude]

Yes - the tingly sensation is because of the vibration. BTW, don't coil up the flex shaft to store it. Let it hang straight up and down so it won't develop a "memory" curve and premature wear out. Also, I hope you are wearing a good dust protector/mask. I hold the shop vac hose with my legs, so the dust from the rotary tool is (mostly) sucked into the vacuum - but I still wear eye protection and and decent duo-canister dust mask.

As to carbide - I suspect any "carbide" tool is generally going to be tungsten carbide. I have no idea about shipping costs, but this site Wood Carvers Supply, Inc. has hundreds of carbide burrs. I have purchased burrs from them - fast reliable service.

Hope this helps,
Claude

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by Robweja

Finally after waiting for what seemed an eternity my Dremel 400 arrived. It took me a little while to sort through all the attachments and instructions, get it all together and run a test cut or two. I found the flex shaft to be very dry and noisy and on inspection found it to be somewhat lacking in grease. I greased it properly assembled it again, ran it for a while then dissasembled and wiped excess grease off again and it runs so sweetly now.
This morning I took a fresh start and got to carving. I am working on three pieces. A dolphin, turtle and butterfly all in Red Cedar which I find challenging due to it's celery like grain structure.
After 3 1/2 hours all three pieces are taking pleasing shape but I had to give up due to seeing in triplicate, the chair was feeling like a concrete slab and the constant whine from the Dremel added to the eye strain was giving me a headache. I was in heaven getting back to carving and I over did it somewhat. So next session is one hour and not a minute more!
After a break now I am ready for session two tonight. I just have to check into the bearings in the handpiece first.
I was fascinated by the tingly fingers from hanging on to the flex shaft and was wondering if anyone else gets this?
Finding burrs is a challenge and I find it confusing as some are listed Carbide and others Tungsten Carbide. I have to assume there is a difference?
My next challenge seems to be working out at which point in detailing I should revert to hand tools.
I would have to say "so far so good" and that I am just glad I got started carving with hand tools and Genes tutorials first then moved to power. It is in my unlearned opinion a great way to start.

A couple of things I did to my Master Carver unit was to wrap the hand piece with 'wimp wrap'.....this stuff is a fabric that when wrapped around something it sticks to itself. My vet uses it to wrap bandages around animal leg, because regular tape won't stick to hair..

and the other thing is to wear a glove, this too seems to help curb the vibrations.

[Robweja]

Originally Posted by Dull Knife

A couple of things I did to my Master Carver unit was to wrap the hand piece with 'wimp wrap'.....this stuff is a fabric that when wrapped around something it sticks to itself. My vet uses it to wrap bandages around animal leg, because regular tape won't stick to hair..

and the other thing is to wear a glove, this too seems to help curb the vibrations.

:-I was thinking about Hypalon like that used on car roof racks or more probably fishing rod handles (fishing my other vice).
I would have thought the "wimp wrap" was used on livestock because the standard elastoplast does stick to hair and it hurts getting ones head kicked removing a horses bandage. We used the standard tape when I was working with thouroughbreads and it used to draned near take off all the hair upon removal. I have never come across this marvelous sounding non sticking tape but aim to find out about it soonest. First thought would be to painlessly tape my wonky thumb for carving sessions with the knife and I am sure there are hundreds of other applications.
Thanks for the inspirations.

[Sharon of the Dell]

Robweja, I get the tingling thing too. When I remember, I wear a wrist wrap but not to tightly.Don't wear the ones with the hard strips in them. 99% of the time I wear ear plugs. So it sounds like you like the 400. I've had mine for a couple of weeks and am pretty pleased with it for the most part. Mine came with the little planer which I really, really like.It also came with the little jigsaw attachment which I think I tried cutting to big of wood with. I use double cut carbide burrs(recommended by Claude), kutzall burrs and high speed steel burrs for most of my power carving.I also use the diamond bits for finishing and finer details. some pictures of your carvings if you haven't already, would love to see them.

[Robweja]

Originally Posted by Sharon of the Dell

Robweja, I get the tingling thing too. When I remember, I wear a wrist wrap but not to tightly.Don't wear the ones with the hard strips in them. 99% of the time I wear ear plugs. So it sounds like you like the 400. I've had mine for a couple of weeks and am pretty pleased with it for the most part. Mine came with the little planer which I really, really like.It also came with the little jigsaw attachment which I think I tried cutting to big of wood with. I use double cut carbide burrs(recommended by Claude), kutzall burrs and high speed steel burrs for most of my power carving.I also use the diamond bits for finishing and finer details. some pictures of your carvings if you haven't already, would love to see them.

Working on the carvings but keep getting sidetracked playing with the Dremel and doing other things with it. Big Bloke-Little kid with new toy same same lol.

[midnightcarver]

One of the things I have found with flex shaft to help reduce the vibrations is to grease up the inner coil. The first time I used my WeCheer the same thing happened. luckily a little grease ( VERY little, or it will overheat) reduced the vibrations substancially. As far as the bits, It's trial and error. I could tell you every thing I learned over the past 8 years, but ultimately you will have to find out which bits work for you. Many of them are over priced and the all will dull eventually ( unless you get the burrs) there are ways to extend the life of them, such as dipping them in acid and regrinding them with the small grinding wheels. However, you may never need to use these little tricks. HAve fun power carving. I've used Dremels for most of my carving business

[Robweja]

Originally Posted by midnightcarver

One of the things I have found with flex shaft to help reduce the vibrations is to grease up the inner coil. The first time I used my WeCheer the same thing happened. luckily a little grease ( VERY little, or it will overheat) reduced the vibrations substancially. As far as the bits, It's trial and error. I could tell you every thing I learned over the past 8 years, but ultimately you will have to find out which bits work for you. Many of them are over priced and the all will dull eventually ( unless you get the burrs) there are ways to extend the life of them, such as dipping them in acid and regrinding them with the small grinding wheels. However, you may never need to use these little tricks. HAve fun power carving. I've used Dremels for most of my carving business

The first thing I "had" to do was grease up the flex shaft. I could hear it was running dry out of the box. I greased it as lightly as possibly then ran it for a few mintues to spread the grease then dismantled again and wiped the excess off and it is running oh so sweetly now.
A slightly firmer grip further back up the handle seems to have stopped the "tingle fingers" but then again I also reduced session times.

[Whittled Thumb]

I find myself using both my dremel and hand tools when i carve....if the dremel makes things easier I will usually use it. Today I was working on a tiny sailing dinghy thats only 2.5" long and has a little figure that I hand carved each body part and put him together with straight pins and glue...no pun but i went a little overboard on this one LOL. I used the dremel to hollow out the boat and smooth out the hull. I say utilize all tools you have!