pipemakersforum.com

Hello All,

I am new to the forum--what an invaluable resource!--and to pipe making. And, like most who are new to the craft, I have questions about tools.

Though I love my excellent needles rasps (which which exclusively I have carved five pipes), I am looking to get a rotary tool to speed up some shaping, and for rustication. I will be getting either a Proxxon (like a dremel, but better, and made in Germany) or a Foredom. The Proxxon can be equipped with a flexshaft like the Foredom. The only real difference I can see is that the Foredoms are either 1/6 or 1/3 horsepower and the Proxxon is 1/8. Does anyone know if that power difference will much affect the tools use for shaping briar?--'cause the only other major difference is that the Foredom costs three times more!

Thanks for the help,
Peace,

Tom Haley

Hi Tom,

For shaping, basically, I use a Dremel 300I and it's a pretty good tool. Depending which bit you
use you can get very good results without asking too much from its engine. But if you want
something more from it, you can forget
Sometimes even the minimum rotation is too fast... take polishing as an example. I made a bit which
can hold a 2'' diameter polishing wheel. When running that, I need a smaller speed than 3000rpm to
have a more shine result. As the Dremel's engine is not that strong, it goes slower than 3000rpm due
to the heavy polishing wheel. It was doing what I wanted, but it also was heating up too much.
After 3 months doing that, I burned down my Dremel. Now I have a new one which is holding well...
but I know that I'll break it sooner or later

Then, recently I bought two Proxxon tools: Scroll Saw DS 230/E and Grinding + Polishing Machine SP/E.
Both are very strong and they do exactly what I was expecting. From the second one I removed a grinding wheel.
Instead, I made a wooden one that I can stick sandpapers. So, it became a Sanding + Polishing device.

If my new Dremel goes away again, I'll by a Proxxon instead

Cheers,
eder.

• • •
Eder Mathias
http://mrhydepipes.com

Tom,
You may want to check out a Wecheer Rotary system which closely resembles the Foredom but is considerably less $$$. I used a Dremel Advantage for several years with a flexshaft and it gave out a month ago. No replacement flexshafts were available so I went with a tool with some oomph. Tradtionalwoodworker.com has a pretty good price with replacement parts and accessories and their service ranks at the top. I've used mine for several weeks and very happy I made the purchase.
Regards,
Kevin

typo correction:

http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/

Kevin,

Thanks for the tip: that's a lot cheaper than the Foredom!

I assume that the Weecher accepts all the standard dremel bits, yes? And do you find the horsepower difference noticeably helpful?

Thanks,

Tom Haley