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WidowMaker

Dremel Brand Drill Press

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I  need to modify a jig mold cavity so that it will accomodate a larger sized hook. The primary thing I want to do is deepen and widen (and possibly elongate) the hook eye section of the mold cavity so that it will accommodate a larger size hook.
(Concerning enlarging the hook shank section of the cavity. I can enlarge it by placing a straight wire shaft into a drill press with the wire inserted into the cavity from the bottom side of the mold and then slowly rotating the wire.)
I am considering purchasing a Dremel Brand Rotary Tool and the Dremel Drill Press to do this.
My question is has anyone here had any experience with the Dremel Drill Press and will the tolerances of this tool allow me to do that without there being any undue excessive side to side movement and or wobbling of the Dremel Rotary Tool?

I do realize I might have to build a small platform surrounding the Dremel Drill Press deck for the mold to set stationary on and to be secured to.

 

Edited by WidowMaker
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I have the Dremel drill press.  I purchased it to modify molds with.  I found though, that it has too much play in it to do what I wanted.  As soon as your bit touches the mold, it would skip and not hold steady.  I also tried to perform this on my drill press with the same results.  I ended up buying a Unimat mini lathe and this has done the job perfectly because a lathe runs true with no skip.

You might save yourself a lot of time and money by trying this little trick.  Lay your oversized hook in the mold in the exact position you want it.  Carefully close the mold clamping the hook in place.  With a heavy hammer, hit the mold in the spot where the hook is clamped.  This imprints the new hook and enlarges the old hook cavity.  You may have to hit it several times to finally seat the new hook.  After a few hits the mold should be able to close completely and ready to pour.  Hope this works for you.

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I tried a Dremel drill press years ago, to be honest, it really has no good uses.  It does not have the accuracy for carving out aluminum molds. You're better of like mentioned above , get a good drill press with a  vice, or smack the mold with a hammer with the hook inside, giving you a profile on where and how much you need to cut.

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I bought a small drill press from Harbor Freight many years ago and it has served its purpose time and time again.  Fits on the bench nicely and is easy to work with.  Steady hand and sharp/new bits help.  Mark what you want to remove, go slow and refit often until it fits correctly.

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When I was playing with different spindle ideas for my first little toy CNC mill I looked at Dremel tools, Dremel flex shaft tools, and Craftsman versions there of.  I was not particularly impressed.  Too much run out, and not great spindle nose support.  Basically barely suitable for very light duty hand work at best. 

Then I looked to proper flex shaft drive rotary hand pieces and found them to be a head and shoulders step up all the way around.  At the time Harbor Freight had one for about $50 with motor, shaft, and hand piece.  (no longer available) I bought two of them.  They had a little drill chuck on the hand piece the bearings were decent, and there was amazingly little slop and runout.  I still have those hand pieces and I still use them from time to time.  When I decided to take the next step up I bought a couple Foredom hand pieces.  I found they actually had a little more slop than the HF ones so I contacted Foredom and they said they were a little loose so they would not heat up as bad and would last longer, but they had a tight tolerance heavy duty hand piece that might work for me.  I got one, and its a freaking tight, fast awesome piece of art.  I never did actually use it as a continuous duty fixed mount spindle, but I did mount the HF hand pieces.  In fact I mounted both of them.

I made a mount that held one in a fixed position, and allowed me turn up or down the other one and then lock it in place.  That allowed me to cut two mold blanks at the same time on one machine.  I cut atleast a dozen molds that way before I decided that little toy Taig just wasn't up to working that hard. 

I wouldn't hesitate to use a rotary hand piece as the spindle for a "home made" drill press for high speed drilling and maybe some milling (as you guys seem to be describing), but the Dremel tools I have are just taking up valuable space on my tool wall.  I think I'll take them down and toss them in my gar(b)age sale box.  I have not used them for anything in years. 

Edited by CNC Molds N Stuff
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FYI:  Dental burrs may be a cheap option for slot cutting operations.  I've been told you can find them for less then a dollar apiece in bulk lots, but I usually see them from 1.50-2.50 each on Ebay.  Its still cheaper than a carbide end or ball mill for somebody who is doing light hand driven passes and is likely to break a few. 

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