Turbo Carvers

[stuglo]

Has anyone experience with or advice about the use and usefulness of turbo carvers for ship modelling -NOT specifically carving

[wefalck]

What are 'turbo' carvers ? Any picture or link ?

[allanyed]

Eberhard,

I found this website.  https://www.turbocarver.com/      Looks like a compressed air driven version of a Foredom et al.

 

Allan

[AON]

I just used similar rotary cutters for my figurehead.

My rotary driver was my 25 year old Dremel tool and flex cable.

The cable needs to be disassembled occasionally and greased.

You need to keep control of the tool as it sometimes wants to climb away!  So take small controlled bites off the work.

I found the cutters with spaces between flutes removed material best.

Smaller regular dremel style cutters worked great for tiny bites.

I recommend them, but keep your scalpel, carving knives and micro chisels at the ready.

 

It was my first successful time using them...as I just got the proper (spaced flute) cutter set.

Prior to that it was a mess... for me.

Others seem to have no problem.

[Roger Pellett]

I would assume that this is the same technology that dentists have been using for at east 50-60 years.   It was supposed to have revolutionized the experience for patients relative to the old belt driven drills.

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I would assume that this is the same technology that dentists have been using for at east 50-60 years.   It was supposed to have revolutionized the experience for patients relative to the old belt driven drills.

Absolutely correct. They are simply air turbine-driven dental handpieces packaged for use by jewelers and carvers and priced about the same. They aren't cheap and they require routine maintenance, primarily regular cleaning and lubrication. They operate at very high speeds, with make them great for dental work, but not so much for other applications. Their largest drawback for modeling work is that they trade speed for torque in their operation, much like a low torque high-speed internal combustion engine does on a vessel with a low pitched prop as opposed to a low speed high-torque steam engine with a high pitched prop. They take a lot of small bites at high speed instead of a few larger bites at slow speed. For modeling work, including drilling holes, sanding, buffing, and grinding metal parts and such, they are far better than a heavy, clunky Dremel tool, primarily because they have a smaller, lighter handpiece. At slower speeds, they stall out.

 

Similar in size and capability, but far lower in price (remember you have to buy a suitable compressor to run the air turbine handpieces,) are the electric  micro-motor handpieces. These suffer from the same drawbacks in terms of high-speed and low torque issues, although they are not as finicky about cleaning and lubrication as are the air-turbine handpieces. More expensive electric micro-motor units are available for professional applications, too. Most run on 12 VAC micro-motors and so have very light and thin power cords to the handpieces, which do not interfere with the operator's range of motion when in use.

 

Even if you have a steady hand and don't mind "high speed - low torque tools, if you plan to work with plastics or even metals that melt at low temperatures, the ultra-high speed handpieces may not be suitable because the high speed can cause heating that will melt the plastic or metal you are working on and also tend to then gum up your burs and abrasive disks.

 

The Foredom flex-shaft system is preferred over these high-speed, low-torque tools because it does offer greater torque and power at lower speeds.  They are also nearly bulletproof, although the shafts require lubrication now and then. The big advantage with Foredom is the wide range of specialty handpieces available, including powered micro-chisel handpieces. These have long been the industry standard for jewelers. On the downside, the flex shaft isn't as flexible as one might wish and that can be fatiguing.

 

Lastly, and most desirable according to the experts, are the "old-fashioned" (but still made) "dental engines." These are favored by many "old school" dental labs for making dentures, bridges, and crowns. They are the belt-driven Rube Goldberg articulated-arm dental drills some may remember from the dentist's office when we were kids. These dental engines can be slowed down to rather slow speeds without appreciable corresponding loss of torque and that permits fine work with maximum control of the handpiece. I believe they have a faster  top speed than a Foredom flex shaft with a max speed of 45,000 RPM.

 

The dental drills generally have collet-held standard 3/32" shanked dental drill burs and mandrels in a myriad of shapes and sizes. As with the Foredom system, handpieces with Jacobs chucks can also be readily sourced, or 3/32" shanked chuck or pin vise adapters can be used for 1/8" shank burs and small drill bits. One significant feature of the dental handpieces is that there are many specialty handpieces which provide features like angled drives that permit getting into places no other drill will. (E.g.: making drilling trunnel holes on ceiling plank an easy task. Remember, they are designed to work inside a patient's mouth.) These things are a lot like lathes and mills. You buy the basic machine and then can easily spend the same amount again on tooling! That said, when we're talking about dental equipment, the quality is such that it's going to last long enough for your grandkids to be using it.

 

Keeping a close watch on eBay for used dental equipment will turn up lots of used dental lab and dentist's office equipment of this kind. A used dental engine can be had for a few hundred dollars or less. For the whole range of what's available new from one of the major manufacturers of these tools, see: Handpieces - Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. Inc.  There are lots of others.

 

As it turns out, I scored a brand new Buffalo Heavy Duty Bench Engine and handpiece the other day on eBay for seventy-five bucks. Retail is around $750 for the motor and arms and another $200 to $300 for the handpiece selected. Amazingly, it was being offered as a "non-operational steampunk decorative piece!" (Sometimes eBay's algorithms screw up and stuff gets listed where you'd least expect it and is overlooked.) Careful examination of the photos revealed it was in pristine condition. After a quick call to the manufacturer, which confirmed all parts were available for that model, I figured it was worth $75 to try to make it run. When it arrived, it took me about five minutes to realize it was of recent manufacture, had never been used at all, and was in brand new condition, but only missing its belt, a pulley sheave (wheel,) and its  motor brushes, with one brush holder socket broken. I have no idea how the seller came by it. So, once I get the parts ordered and received, I'm good to go. My Foredom flexshaft may be gathering dust soon!

 

My new Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company Heavy Duty Bench Engine:

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

 It was supposed to have revolutionized the experience for patients relative to the old belt driven drills.

Yes, mainly because these air turbine-driven handpieces also feature air and water cooling options for the burs. The old dental engines had no cooling provision, so the extreme heat generated by the grinding was a significant contributor to the pain of the dentist's drill.