Any Foredom rotary tool owners?

I’m looking at trying some light carving of decoys, etc. There seems to be several different models, past & present. Can you recommend a good starting point? The only requirement I have is it has to be able to take a ¼” burr/bit.

I bought the Woodcarvers KIt as a base unit. It has collets for 1/8, 3/32, & 1/4 drives. I bought mine ordering thru Home Depot with free shipping to my home was the cheapest option @ ~ $315.

There's a carver's forum here. They'll help you spend you money wisely. I have Foredom and several hand pieces. I like the foot operated control. Your basic choice is high speed (not like a Dremel 30,000) or more torque. Depends on what you will carve. I opted for more power, less speed. If you want to spin a 1/4" burr, you may want more power. That's a big burr. Good luck in your search.

Note: If you ever want to upgrade...try getting an NSK micromotor.
Sometimes, you can buy them cheap on ebay when dental students are graduating.

Thanks Kyle, I guess the caffeine wore off.. I moved this to the Woodcarvers forum.
Don, the HD unit is the one I’ve been looking at. Is the foot pedal control adjustable, i.e. can you limit the pedal to a chosen motor RPM?

I have a 1/3 HP Foredom. The foot control of mine does not have a way to set a max RPM, but if one is handy, I don't know why something couldn't be rigged to limit the pedal travel. I don't think I'd do that to mine, as being able to vary the speed on different parts of the carving while roughing it out is handy. You can get a table-top dial control to set a specific RPM within it's range.

I also have a micro-motor that came with a pedal, but it's still in the box. I use the dial to fix the speed. I use this for detail work... not a lot of torque, but very easy to hold and use.

I have several hand pieces for the Foredom. The largest one houses the 1/4" collet and can be replaced with one of the 6 or 8 collets I have in a set, but never use. Again... still in the box. For smaller shanked bits, I have other hand pieces I use for them. One has a flexible spring in the middle that makes it easy to do detail work. A third hand piece has a keyed chuck, that makes it very easy to change bits of different sized shanks. One of them is a WeCheer brand, and are interchangeable with Foredom.

These machines are great carving aids but, as with any tool, needs to be used with caution. The carbide bits/burrs (Kutzall, Saburrtooth, etc.) can remove skin as easily as wood. I'm right-handed. I wear a glove on my left and thumb protector on my right. Both need to be made of leather. Other carving gloves (Kevlar, for example) made of woven fabrics can, and will, wrap up on these burrs in the blink of an eye. Speaking of eyes, don't forget the face shield. I also wear a 3M N-100 dusk mask and sit in front of a dust collector when using.

Have fun with this and be safe!

Bruce, I have not used the foot pedal with mine. I use it on my bench and space doesn't allow currently.