Flex Shaft

They will be using Foredom tooling

Which is what I have.... and love them.

Ive installed them as live tooling on CNC lathes, Ive used them in my gunsmithing, in my Dads jewelry repair business....

They are the Industry Standard.

Grobet is also good

Pay attention to the HP rating of each unit. It really DOES make a difference on these commercial tools!

Then there are others....shrug

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766

This one may bear watching....

Not at all a bad deal...

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766

Thanks Gunner. I was looking at the Grobet and the Foredom already, but not really knowing anything about them I didn't really have any clue if they were worth it or not. Thanks again.

Foredom is THE standard for flex shafts. Lots more spendy than Dremels or Sears, but if you want it working 30 years later, it'll be the one. Motor brushes, shaft sleeves, shaft cores and lube are all readily available. I've got one, the handpiece uses a standard Jacobs chuck. You can get handpieces that use collets that are a lot smaller and lighter, collets aren't cheap, though. Some can use the special dental mandrels. I managed to find one on sale at a local hardware store decades back, they normally never are on sale. Get the one with the highest horsepower, you'll need it. There's a lot of loss in that shaft.

That said, I use mini-die grinders a lot more, the ones I have use Foredom collets and run a whole lot faster. Air cools the handpiece down, the Foredom just heats up the more it's used. Can be had from HF for as little as $9 on sale. So I just have a bunch with whatever tooling I need chucked up and swap tools as needed. You can do that with the Foredoms, too, but a spare handpiece will run you a whole lot more than a bunch of mini-grinders.

Stan

I have a Foredom and like it.

Steve

If you want the absolute best..that will be passed down to your kids..and probably grandkids...Foredom and Grobet are the ones to buy.

Tough tools that work very well. Keep the flex shafts lubed!

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766

Spare Foredom handpieces are about $40 on Ebay for new ones with a 5/16 chuck.

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766