Bill Short Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Good day folks, I am an 'almost retired' fom my day job, ship modeler living in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Canada. My hobby is building 16th - 18th century wooden ship models. In the pursuit of this hobby, I do a lot of miniature carving of ornamentation for the ships. My chosen wood is European or English Boxwood and I am currently using a belt driven dental drill with 3/32" burs as my carving tool, suplemented with miniature hand chisels, gravers and Xacto knives. I have always had it in my mind to purchase a good quality micro-motor at some stage to add to my tool arsenal. As I mainly carve at rpm's under 3000, I am looking for a good quality tool which can handle this. Some of the units I have seen on the web are: NSK Volvere Vmax NSK Emax Ultra NSK Espert 500 Buffalo Dental X50 Brushless Electric Lab Handpiece Buffalo Dental X35 Oremium Electric Lab Handpiece system Buffalo Dental M35 Compact Electric Lab Handpiece system Ram NextGen Brushless Micromotor Foredom 1050 Micromotor Kit, Brushless, High Torque TPS Micromotor set 35,000 rpm I was wondering if I could get some opinions on these units. I have attached a photo of my ship stern with over 200 carvings on it. The height of the stern is approximately 10". Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Short Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Here is the photo of my ship's stern which is about 10" in height. Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Welcome Bill! Small carving indeed! Could you supply us with a little larger image or good closeups of some of the detail? My magnifying glass sees the pixels of the screen but not the details very well at this size. I met another small scale ship builder some years ago, and found this sort of work fascinating. I use the NSK Emax, and like it a lot. The motor in the handpiece with the coiled wire to the base controller is comfortable to use. The tools with a flex-shaft that is stiff, will swing with the suspended motor and will cause wrist strain, and is more difficult to have fine control. It is great to see you here. Do you have images of the ships in progress? Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kelso Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Welcome Bill. Really intriguing work. I agree with Janel that we want to see more and closer if possible. I have the NSK Presto and like it. It's higher speed but I think the NSK brand is good. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Short Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Welcome Bill! Small carving indeed! Could you supply us with a little larger image or good closeups of some of the detail? My magnifying glass sees the pixels of the screen but not the details very well at this size. I met another small scale ship builder some years ago, and found this sort of work fascinating. I use the NSK Emax, and like it a lot. The motor in the handpiece with the coiled wire to the base controller is comfortable to use. The tools with a flex-shaft that is stiff, will swing with the suspended motor and will cause wrist strain, and is more difficult to have fine control. It is great to see you here. Do you have images of the ships in progress? Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Short Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 The following are close-up photos of three of the carvings. They are all boxwood and the largest of the three is 1.5" x 1.5". I do have many photos of the ship in progress. Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StixnCanes Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Welome Bill, You couldn't have found a better place to ask questions and get information, (but not from me, I'm a novice). Great work on your ship and detail ornamentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Hi Bill, Do you stick the little carvings to something while you work on them? That is itty bitty work! Thanks for the detail shots of some of the carvings. Are these scale models of former ships that sailed the seas? Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Short Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Hi Janel, I usually have a small handle attached to each carving that gets removed at the finish. I use a maple cutting board as my carving bench. See Photo below of a carving in progress. The ship I am modeling is The Sovereign of The Seas (1637) which was built for Charles I of England. It fought against the French and was burned in harbour in Catham England in 1696. It was the most adorned ship as far as ornamentation is concerned. It was so expensive that a ship's tax was imposed to build her and that combined with other events led to a civil war and Charles I beheading. Regards, Bill Hi Bill, Do you stick the little carvings to something while you work on them? That is itty bitty work! Thanks for the detail shots of some of the carvings. Are these scale models of former ships that sailed the seas? Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ruslander Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Welcome. Amazing dexterity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Hi Bill, We have had some discussion about micro grinders before on the forum. Go here for one thread to read through. Use the SEARCH function for other leads. Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsterling Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Ditto on the NSK. I have two, and almost always use them at max RPM (35,000). Very nice work, also - welcome to the Path, Bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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