Homemade decorating tool

[Roland Martin]

For our club's October meeting, we were fortunate to have Nick Agar come in for a full day demo. I found him to be a great guy, a very good demonstrator and certainly very knowledgable. Part of the demo was on decorating wall art and plates with the Elf tool. After he got done, he passed the tool around and had my 1st look at it. I liked the small details that could be achieved with this tool.
This morning, I scrounged around the shop & found parts and pieces that I figured I could try to make one of these, so off I went on a tear. After I got it completed, I put a scray cherry board cutoff on the vacuum chuck and played. It apparently worked!! I'll need to look for a couple different Dremmel cutters for varying effects.
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[Roger Chandler]

Hey Roland, that is really cool! One of our club members just did the same thing with a similar tip as you did......he got the idea from the same place I guess, and have made two of these..............he showed them at our last meeting, and I think he now has orders for a couple.

Neat effect!

[John Keeton]

Roland, that could be fun to play with!! I bet different angles/speeds/etc. would produce different results, too. You should cut a small cove and see what it does.

[Peter Blair]

Hi Roland. Looks really cool. I wonder if you could expand a little on the details of you detailer? Does it rotate and if so how?

Pete
http://www.woodbowlsandthings.com

[Steve Vaughan]

That's a great little tool! Can you tell us how you've got the bit mounted in there so it rotates?

[Roland Martin]

A little run-down on how I made this, don't know if it's right, but it seems to work.
I turned the handle, fit and applied the 1/2" copper coupling. I then bored a 1/2" diameter hole about 7/8" into the handle. I inserted a 1/2" rare earth magnet, a 1/2" OD / 1/8" ID bearing a 1/2" diameter x 1/4" long aluminum tubing spacer and another bearing. That left about 1/8" from the last bearing to the end of the handle. I then turned a piece of ebony to fit snugly into the end to capture the bearing, and drilled a 9/64" hole through it. This whole piece was only about 1/4" long in order to expose the cutter enough. I used a bit of medium CA to glue that into the handle, done. Now you've got the ebony nose cone and two bearings holding the cutter pretty rigid, and the magnet keeps the cutter from falling out. Hope this is somewhat clear.

[Joe Watson]

Ahhh... clever, clever you are.
Thanks for the explanation.

[Baxter Smith]

Cool tool Roland and the results look real great!

[Tim Rinehart]

That's a well done homemade elf. I had recently discussed with a friend on making of these. Do you think there's any concern on the tool wanting to ride out of the bearings, or is application of it pretty much always going to put enough 'insert' force to prevent it from coming out? Could CA inner race of last bearing to burr...but that may be overkill. Nice job, really nice job. I like the blackwood insert at the end...not only functional, but looks great!

[Roland Martin]

That's a well done homemade elf. I had recently discussed with a friend on making of these. Do you think there's any concern on the tool wanting to ride out of the bearings, or is application of it pretty much always going to put enough 'insert' force to prevent it from coming out? Could CA inner race of last bearing to burr...but that may be overkill. Nice job, really nice job. I like the blackwood insert at the end...not only functional, but looks great!

Tim,
From what I gather, from watching it being used, it's always presented to the workpiece from 12:30 to 2:30 in an upwards presentation, therefore not wanting to pull the burr out of the holder. You would also want to change styles of cutters for different effects, so CA would not be a good idea.

[Norm Zax]

Nice job Roland!
Ive seen someone make the same without the bearings. Even the magnet can be skipped as you press against the piece while working but it is more comfortable (not needing to bend to pick up the burr between uses). If the bearings are skipped make sure the hole is same as shaft but with easy rotation and hole is in hard material (my friend used teflon. Soft wood will not work as the diameter may increase with use).

[Reed Gray]

While I haven't used one of those, I would think that you could chuck it up in a dremel or similar tool, and just not turn the power on, letting it free spin.

robo hippy

[Tim Rinehart]

While I haven't used one of those, I would think that you could chuck it up in a dremel or similar tool, and just not turn the power on, letting it free spin.

robo hippy
Now THAT is thinking outside the box! Reed, that's so obvious it leaves me laughing at why I didn't consider that! I suppose the ergonomics may be a little consideration in choosing to make one as Roland has. But shoot...what an immediate solution!

[Scott Hackler]

Hmmm. Reed, where was that suggestion before I laid out $30 on the tool? :)

[Roland Martin]

While I haven't used one of those, I would think that you could chuck it up in a dremel or similar tool, and just not turn the power on, letting it free spin.

robo hippy

That's way too simple, Reed :rolleyes::eek::D. We're turners, it needs to be turned:):)

[David Brimm]

While I haven't used one of those, I would think that you could chuck it up in a dremel or similar tool, and just not turn the power on, letting it free spin.

robo hippy

I've done this and it works great! I was going to suggest it but saw that you beat me to it, I guess great minds think alike haha... :cool:

[Andy Pogue]

Where did you find bearings? I have looked and all i can find are much too large.
Thanks!