Power carver. Which to buy??

[joaz hill]

Hi all, I am a new carver, and new to this forum. I am looking to buy a power carving set up with chisels and and control unit.
I want to carve on turnings. Need your advice on best unit to buy and best people to deal with. I have dealt with Packard woodworks for years and trust them completly but only for turning tool.
The also carry the Forsom brand but am not sure if that is the way to go.

Thanks in Advance

Joaz

Wood Turning by Joaz Hill Stonington, Maine

[Peter Wright]

The Foredom SR tool package would not be a bad choice, check around for prices.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Welcome to the forum.

Dave

[Dicky]

I agree with Peter. Full disclosure - That is the unit I have. I would recommend the table or bench top speed controller

[carver33]

Joaz,

As I've recommended before, the Foredom 5240 unit is a great place to start. It can be purchased from Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers at a price that can't be beat:

Foredom 5240 Kit

This is a rotary kit, but you can buy a reciprocating handpiece for it in order to use gouges.

[1Poet]

I hope I'm doing this right, but I also want to get the right equipment. I have been studying the various equipment and need some guidance. I want to do some detail carving on a specialty line of wooden crosses. The pneumatic turbo units from SCM and TurbocarverII look good. However, I can't get a good handle on the quality of the TurbocarverII. Also, SCM seems to have two grades of handpieces, the regular and the 400SX. Is the regular a good piece?
Then there are the Foredom shaft units and the micromotor units. ????? My budget is $500 or below and I can't afford to make a mistake. I live in the Houston, Texas area. Your opinions will be much appreciated.

[PMBurgess]

FOREDOM And small rotary tool for detail work you can get both for that money

[Dileon]

Foredom SR..you can not beat the quality.... detail can be done with a dremel and good carbide burrs. Later.... save money and get the micro motor if you want to do pro with the details... check prices in various places ... I order from foredom.com that is Blackstone industries, but they are not always the cheapest. I love Smokey Mountain and shipping is free if it is over 150 dollars... I know they are good cause they are number one in book for shipping to Hawaii.. Di

[Marci MN]

I have had the Turbo2. I got rid of it. Its a pain. You have to purchase an air compressor to go with it, and if its a small air compressor, you have to stop every few mins and wait for five to let air compressor fill back up. You have to figure out how to set air pressure to a certain pressure for the tool to work properly. Its very loud to have both air compressor and the Turbo2 going in your house, so late night work isnt an option if you want to let your family sleep. And then the spitting of water from the air compressor.. I had to buy another something to stop that. The spitting of water would make your lines disapear or the wood got wet and then you had to use a hair dryer to dry that too. Ugh.. it was a pain of a tool for me. I wish I would have known about Foredom back then. I'm saving up for getting one myself. Right now I just use a Dremel with the hand attatchment. And the burs I got when buying the turbo 2.. they work in the dremel hand attatment with the right collet. Those burs.. I will say I have liked and use often for very fine detail.

Just MY experience with turbo2

Marcia.

[Dicky]

If you are looking for smaller hand held units, check out Wecheer at Chipping away. I am sure there are American distributors as well. They are not overly expensive. I use the old blue model but it has its limitations and has been improved with newer models.