I am engaged in selling various decorative wood products on the Internet. I don’t earn millions, but it’s enough to live on. One of the most popular tools in my workshop is the engraver, which requires attachments that constantly need to be changed and increased in number. I realized a long time ago that homemade attachments are better than purchased ones - they are cheaper to produce, safe to use, and last much longer if they are made with high quality. Now I suddenly remembered all of this and decided to share it with you. So today we will look at how to make attachments for an engraver with your own hands.
Source sdelaysam-svoimirukami.ru
Types of nozzles
petal circle
To begin, take scraps of plywood and cut them into 9 small even circles with a hole in the center.
Next, fasten these holes together with glue, after which you need to level them by connecting them to the engraver and running them along the sandpaper.
Clamp the attachment in a vice and make eight cuts with a metal saw. Small square pieces of sandpaper with the grit you need for the job are inserted into these cuts.
Then saturate the pieces with glue or epoxy resin and let them stick out.
Finally, put the homemade flap wheel on the engraver and test the attachment.
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Engraver attachments - types, purpose, application features
In terms of its functionality, an engraver is very similar to a conventional drill or grinder, but its main purpose is to process parts of miniature size.
Using such equipment and special working attachments for the engraver, you can effectively perform various technological operations, which include drilling, milling, grinding, engraving, etc.
Cutting a steel pipe with a cutting disc for a drill
The list of materials that can be processed using an engraver is also quite extensive.
These are soft and malleable wood, hard steel, fragile glass or ceramics, various types of plastic and even bone.
Naturally, to process different materials with an engraver, different working attachments are used, differing in both design and material of manufacture.
What are engraver attachments?
Working attachments or tools used to work with an engraver are presented in a wide variety on the modern market. Their design includes two main elements:
- a shank with which the tool is fixed in the chuck of the equipment used;
- the working part, which performs the main functions, interacting with the material being processed.
The working part of these nozzles is designed for processing metal surfaces
The choice of working attachments for an engraver is influenced by the following factors: characteristics of the material being processed and the list of technological tasks that need to be performed.
Those home craftsmen and specialists who work with an engraving machine on a regular basis try to immediately purchase a set of attachments for the engraver, which includes tools of various sizes and purposes.
Depending on the needs and financial capabilities of a particular engraving artist, this may be a more modest set, including several dozen necessary tools, or a professional set, which includes attachments for performing various works on metal, wood and other materials.
When choosing working tools for an engraver, you should take into account that some of its models can be equipped with collet chucks that are suitable for attachments only of a certain brand. To use such equipment in conjunction with any type of attachments, you will have to purchase universal collets for the engraver, which are also sold in whole sets.
Diamond burs for engraving work
The most popular types of working attachments used to complete engraving installations include diamond burs for engravers.
The base of such a tool is made of tool steel, and diamond powder is applied only to their working part.
The mechanical characteristics of diamond powder make it possible to successfully use the attachment for processing hard materials such as steel, ceramics, glass, artificial and natural stones.
Expensive dental diamond burs have a long service life
Diamond burs (or cutters) are used primarily for finishing shaped holes.
As a rule, diamond consumables for engravers are sold in whole sets of 10–20 tools of various shapes and sizes.
When working with them, you should strictly follow the rules of their operation so as not to damage the diamond coating. The standard shank diameter of diamond-type engraving bits is 3 mm.
Abrasive tools
The most budget-friendly option for use in conjunction with a drill or engraver are attachments, the working part of which is made of rubber and abrasive material.
The diameter of their shank is 2.3 mm, and they are used mainly for work on metal, including stainless steel.
Abrasive tools are usually sold in sets of 6 pieces and have different working part configurations.
Abrasive cutters (aluminum oxide) for processing steel and non-ferrous metals
Some manufacturers (in particular,) produce abrasive engraving attachments in various colors, which allows the user to easily determine the category of the tool.
Thus, red abrasive wheels, intended for working on metal, are made of aluminum oxide, and green ones, made of silicon carbide, are used for processing stone, glass and ceramic products.
For the convenience of performing various technological operations, diamond cutters are made with different shapes of the working part, but their shanks always have the same diameter.
Using abrasive attachments for an engraver, operations such as boring holes, grinding surfaces, etc. are performed. These attachments are optimal for use at home; for a professional, their capabilities will not be enough.
Nozzles can be in the form of removable working heads mounted on the corresponding shank
Working attachments for grinding and polishing
An engraving machine, as mentioned above, can be successfully used for fine grinding and polishing of products made from various materials.
A roller cutter made of felt is used as a working attachment to perform such technological operations.
Since felt does not have outstanding abrasive qualities, such a tool is used only in conjunction with special polishing pastes.
Polishing discs can be used for roughing or finishing, as well as for finishing irregularly shaped surfaces
The choice of polishing pastes of a certain type, which differ significantly from each other in their characteristics and chemical composition, depends primarily on the properties of the material that will be processed with their help. Thus, grinding of hard metal surfaces is performed using pastes based on paraffin and polishing powder.
Special polishing pastes based on diamond powder of various fractions are intended for work on wood and glass. With their help, you can not only effectively remove scratches from the surface of wood and glass, but also bring the product into a perfectly smooth state.
Large diameter petal circle
The principle of collecting is the same as the previous one, but with some details.
You still need to take scraps of plywood and cut out circles, but larger ones.
Then fasten them and make eight cuts with a metal saw. Pieces of sandpaper are still inserted into these cuts, but then they are compressed with an elastic band and impregnated with glue or epoxy resin.
Let it sit and dry, then start testing a homemade large-diameter flap wheel for an engraver.
Source mozgochiny.ru
Homemade cutting wheels
Now let's look at how to make the most common homemade attachment for an engraver.
To begin, take a cutting wheel for an angle grinder, a regular compass, but better with two needles at the ends, an awl and unnecessary scissors or metal scissors.
Using a compass, draw small circles (slightly larger than the standard size of the cutting wheel on the engraver attachment), then cut the circle into pieces from which it will be easier to cut out your circles and, in fact, cut.
Right in the center of the cut out circles, you need to make a hole with an awl using rotational movements. The diameter of the hole should be equal to the diameter of the screw from the engraver on which the nozzle is attached.
Finally, sharpen the homemade wheels on an unnecessary sharpening stone, putting them on the engraver itself.
Such cutting wheels are cheaper than purchased ones, and they last longer than non-reinforced ones.
Homemade cutting wheels for the engraver are ready.
Source mozgochiny.ru
Brief overview of brands
Today, finding engravers and working attachments to equip them on the domestic market does not present any problems. At the same time, the variety of equipment and tools available for free sale allows you to choose them to suit your needs and financial capabilities.
Professional grade attachments
Those craftsmen who engrave wood, metal and other materials at a professional level and already have the appropriate equipment at their disposal should pay attention to working attachments produced under the Dremel and Dexter trademarks. The high cost of such equipment for an engraver is fully justified by its exceptional reliability and durability. Another important advantage that a milling cutter, cutting wheel, drill, as well as any other tool of these brands has, is high processing accuracy.
High-quality consumables are purchased by both professionals and home craftsmen who respect their craft.
When choosing Dremel or Dexter working attachments, keep in mind that one such tool can last as long as 10 Chinese-made attachments. The fact that in the assortment of these companies you can find nozzles of various purposes and standard sizes speaks in favor of purchasing fairly expensive but high-quality products from well-known manufacturers. So, these can be various cutters for a drill or engraver, drills of different diameters, disk tools, as well as any other types of cutters designed for working on wood, metal, ceramics, and glass.
Budget models
Cheap, but decent quality attachments are offered by the domestic manufacturer. At affordable prices you can purchase sets of attachments, including up to 180 tools of the most popular types, designs, sizes and shapes. These sets contain tools for drilling, cutting discs for a drill or engraver, milling attachments, diamond and abrasive cutters, and much more.
All attachments included in the Zubr brand set are placed in a plastic case, making it easy to both store and carry to the job site.
Nozzles from Chinese manufacturers
There are two opinions about Chinese-made nozzles. On the one hand, their quality and reliability are in question, on the other hand, they cost significantly less than branded equipment. A Chinese milling attachment for an engraver, a cutting disc or a drill bit for drilling will not last long, but it won’t be such a shame to throw them away, given their cost. If a professional works behind the engraver, then even a cheap Chinese cutter will not prevent him from doing the job efficiently (although he will have to change such a tool more often).
Chinese attachments for a drill or engraver can be recommended to beginning engravers, who can use them to acquire their first skills in this matter.
Affordable prices of Chinese attachments allow beginning engravers to purchase large sets “to try”
Ground cylinders for engraver
For this attachment you will need a thin but durable cloth, glue, a tube of the same diameter as an engraver attachment and sandpaper.
To begin, wrap several layers of fabric 12 millimeters wide around the tube and soak it with glue.
Attention, do not use wood tubes or superglue for gluing. Superglue sticks the fabric and the tube together too much, it will be difficult to tear it off, and you shouldn’t glue the fabric even with regular glue on a wooden tube, because the glue will be absorbed into the tube and stick the fabric to the tube itself, which will again make it difficult to tear them off.
Cut strips of sandpaper, shaped like a parallelogram, and the width is the same 12 millimeters, the length should be such that the strip covers the entire tube.
Next, wrap these strips on dried fabric, then soak them in glue again and let it sit.
Carefully remove from the tube, put it on the already prepared engraver attachment and you can test.
By experimenting with tube diameters, you can make different sized cylinders to suit different needs.
Homemade grinding cylinders are ready.
Exploitation
In order to show the “abilities” of the Dremel, you can come up with a lot of scenarios. I have 2 cats “on the farm”, or rather a cat and a male cat, since we live in the private sector, they are left to their own devices and roam freely. If the cat is not yet particularly active, then the cat is a real CAT. It may take a week, come back thin but happy. And so that during these spree times his mistress would not add gray hair, I decided to try to make a sign for the collar, on which the nickname and our phone number would be written, if someone finds this beast when he goes crazy from hormones and cannot return home, they will call “his family.” In general, there was already an attempt at such signs, I ordered them from an advertising agency, they were made of plastic and they swore that they were of high quality... Here they are
But in fact, they served no more than a week and were lost and chewed to pieces.
I got very high quality stainless steel strips, 1mm thick.
But the trouble is, I tried to drill a hole, and... I couldn’t do it, 5 dead drills, from different manufacturers and 0 effect. I thought that a fiasco awaited me here too. But the Dremel pleased me. Loaded the cutting disc and let's cut
