[telecarver]

Tito,

It's true that the price of a tool is relative to the economy that the carver lives in. A Dremel can be a miracle tool to a carver that has to use tools made from a screwdriver. The way in which the tool is used will also affect it's longevity. I live in the USA and the requirement of making a living in our economy requires a larger income than of those living in a third world economy. Granted, the expected life style that we have grown accustomed to in this country is more wasteful than those of many folks in less "developed" nations. I say this with tongue in cheek because I try to live my life in a sustainable way and I don't believe that the wasteful lifestyle we engage in is desirable.

That said, as a professional wood carver, in order to make a meager living, I find it necessary to produce commissions at a pace that requires speed. I push my Dremels hard. Consequently, they wear out quickly. This is not the case with higher quality tools I also use. Because of their relative cost I view them as throwaway tools. I buy reconditioned tools directly from Dremel for $29. When I finish with them, I give them to my son who takes them apart and rebuilds them by mixing the good parts. I can push my flex shaft tools hard with very little noticeable wear. I prefer the Mastercarver Pro Flex over the Foredom because of the higher RPM. I use the Dremels when I need the portability of moving around while working on larger pieces. Because of the high cost, I treat my micro motor tools different and only use them for fine detail work at which they excel.

Tito, I would be willing to send you some of my used Dremels for you to take parts off of. You can probably make a good tool out of two or three of my used Dremels.

Hand Carved Doors Fireplace Mantels Architectural Carving

[torpidhummer]

Tell you what, I have used dremel rotary with flex shafts,makeing long bows and other hard woods for over five years before graduating to foredoms tools. On a trip I made to Mexico last year, I was fortunate to visit with some Seri Indians making a living carving animal,birds & human figures out of Ironwood. These figures were very realistic, sizes differed from one inch to twenty five inches. Most of their dremels were actually kept together with black electrian type. Had I not got fancy and had extra bucks for buying toys before I retired, I would still be using dremel tools. We all know how it goes, at least me " monkey See, monkey does". That is if I had better tools, I just might carve better, so I have ended up with an assortment of power tools in the higher price bractet, I purchased a foredom,wecheer with different hand pieces, two micro motors, a wecheer 3k rpm and a ram 45. Thank God, I finally realized ( I'm a slow learner) it's not so much the tool one uses but the knowledge and ability learn to carve what you intend to carve. You see my first thoughts were that speed in the machine is what made great carvers, man!, I was looking to buy one of those"cagillion) rpm turbo carvers. My humble amazement was observing those poor indians in Mexico working wonders with their dremels on ironwood just to make a living.
Make a long story short, I enjoy both my wecheer and foredom tools as I work with them enterchangeably with different size hand pieces for roughing
and the ram 45 for detailing and the wecheer micro motor for stoning.
Coining Foyd Scholz' statement there is no right way or wrong way, what works for you is best. Who knows maybe after I am able to attend one of Falconer's seminars, I will be singin another song. Oh yea Jeff what did you sa the name of that other miromotor was!
Oscar

[Ron T]

I finally broke down and ordered a Wecheer high torque engrave/micro motor last night. It has the adjustable chuck 0 - 1/8" so I can use the 1'16" dental burrs I have. I've been using a Dremel w/ flex shaft but my hands get very tired fighting the tension on the shaft for any length of time and it's almost impossible to control when using the really tiny burrs. I'm hoping it will allow me to extend my carving periods.

[mateo]

Oscar, your just the guy I was wanting to hear from. Yes I get the point of your message and I agree but, what about the difference between foredom and wecheer. I was about to buy the wecheer 1/3 horse power model. about $150. Do you have this one? You like or don't like. It seems to be less than the Foredom 1/6 horse. How do they stack up?

[mateo]

Ron T, I've been greatly inspired by you. Good luck with your new micro when you get it!

[torpidhummer]

Hey Mateo,I finally enjoy both the wecheer & foredom,some folks believe the wecheer gets hotter with constant use, My take was the same when I first used it and I had trouble with the foredom's shaft always get a crink and breaking 5 times. It wasn't until I met a friend that carves decoys, he showed me something they don't explain in instructions enclosed on both models. After learning this trick or procedure he used, I had no problem with either machine. You see when I purchased both models, I lived in an area where no one knew anything about rotary tools and basically it is like anything else, it's learning how to maintain and use your equiptment. Purchasing equiptment online may be easier and sometimes cheaper but when you don't know anything about the machines you purchase may cause some dificulty. Then you swear to the high Goddes of rotarty tool carving that the dang thing don't work.
I hope this little horse sence helps you out, there a whole lot of folks on this web that knows one smell of a lot about rotarty tools than I do.

Oscar

[DiamondWillow]

Oscar

You mention a tip about handling and maintaining:

After learning this trick or procedure he used, I had no problem with either machine. You see when I purchased both models, I lived in an area where no one knew anything about rotary tools and basically it is like anything else, it's learning how to maintain and use your equiptment.

Would you please elaborate just a bit more. I have had a Foredom for a number of years and have not had one oz of trouble with it. Think I only broke one shaft in all of that time. But, any info you can give to further enlighten us would be appreciated by all, I am sure.

Thanks
Gene

[Ron T]

Mateo, thank you. One difference3 between the brands is what you want to use them for. The bigger motor will let you hog out wood a little faster.

Oscar, what is the secret?

[falconer]

For what it's worth, if I were you I would trade in the Dremel in for something a little higher on the tool chain. I mostly use my foredom for roughing out the big stuff (lifesize) and most of the time I use my Brasseler micro tool for everything else. The technology has come a long way in the past few years with these machines and the bits you can use in them. If I'm carving a 10" inch mini raptor, I will normally rough it out with my micro tool with a typhoon bit and it works really well. Now, I'm not saying to go out and buy one, all I'm saying is you have other options than just the foredom. I have used the RAM 35 with great results and still use it now and then as a backup.

Welcome to Sierra Creek Studios

[telecarver]

I have the the Ram 35, the Mastercarver Micro-Pro, and the Gesswein micro motor. At 45-55000 RPM, depending on the unit, the bearings are receiving much more wear per hour than at 26,000 RPM. Even with double bearings that these units have, I find that they don't last very long for roughing out. The High RPM is great for detail but at a cost of $300 for the least expensive units, I would not recommend using them for roughing out. Jeff, are you using tupelo for your carvings? I would possibly make an exception for wood as soft as tupelo.

I would highly recommend trying the Mastercarver Pro-Flex. It travels at 26,000 RPM rather than the much slower 18,000 RPM of the Foredom. It is good for hogging out with the Stealth hand piece. The faster speed combined with the !/2" wide detail-pro hand piece for detail makes for a very functional all around tool.

Another rotary tool I like is the Proxxon Micromot. It is smaller and more maneuverable than the Dremel, has less run-out so it carves smoother and outlasts the Dremel while costing roughly the same for the handpieces. I use the multi tool transformer so that I can have two tools set up with different size collets. This also allow for just purchasing the hand pieces instead of having to buy the whole unit when the hand piece wears out. This is a pretty good low cost substitute for the other, higher RPM and more expensive micro motor tools. I use it for heavier detail work and some roughing out and I believe it outlasts the more expensive tools even when I push it harder.

Hand Carved Doors Fireplace Mantels Architectural Carving