Lathe toolpost holder for Dremel flex shaft

[morsa]

There are lots of adapters for mounting the Dremel (or other high speed rotary tools) into the lathe toolpost (lathe tool post grinder), but very few for mounting the Dremel flex shaft; a nice example of these last is that by PJs (Dremel holder).

The holder I show here was made with a 1/2 x 20 nut (thread of the hand piece cap of the flex shaft), and a 6 mm square bar. Two segments, one short and one large, of the square bar are welded to the nut, so the upper face of the long segment is aligned with the center of the nut, and both with the center of the headstock, once mounted in the toolholder.









Regards, morsa.

[Mike _of_Clermont]

Thank you for this interesting post. I often saw posts describing grinding accessories on a lathe and i am wondering if the discharge of abrasive particles is very
good for the health of the lathe. Maybe a protection would be useful.

[morsa]

Thanks, Mike_of_Clermont.
Not only is convenient to protect the lathe ways, but is a must. In the picture shown the Dremel flex shaft and the point in the chuck are mounted just for demonstration. Of course, afterwards I've used this device (protecting the lathe ways), with good results.

[PJs]

Thanks Morsa for the link to my site. I hadn't seen this until today as I've been out of pocket so to speak. Nice build and you are right about the dust protection being a must. I find I don't take off huge amounts so the dust isn't tremendous. If I'm doing a lot with it I have rigged a little hose support for my small shop vac with a small nozzle and especially if I do wood like my Scraper Handle. It's a bit noisy but very effective for the most part. It still requires a good cleaning afterwards though, which is par for me after any job. I also made my way covers for the Mini very early on from old place mats...but not sure what you could use on the Unimat other than a drop cloth of some kind. Paul would probably have some good ideas. Thanks Again! ~PJ

[Hans Pearson]

Most machinists and hobbyists are loathe to grind on the lathe, with very good reason, like cleaning a lathe or other precision machine with compressed air. Even the thought of turning wood on a metal lathe feels wrong to me.

[Hemi]

morsa,
Thanks for posting this! I too will be making this same attachment for my Unimat as well. I ALSO have the nut to make the same tool holder to hold the whole rotary machine from Dremel as well. ( I have 2 Unimats, and I got a Microlux 7X14 as well, which is probably where the whole Dremel rotary tool holder will be used.

My biggest issue right now is that I don't have a welder to weld the nut to a un-used tool bit, which I have to either find a welder, and or have someone I know with a welder weld it for me....

[Paul Jones]

Morsa,

I like your ideas for the Dremel tool mounting on the Unimat. I also appreciate the link to PJs website/blog.

In regards to Hemi's dilemma about not having a welder, that can be easily solved. The nut and shaft can be joined with silver soldering the steel parts (I like this old technique because it is more an art than technology) or making solid piece from aluminum (or steel) and drilling/tapping the thread using a common drill press. Spindle nose on Dremel is either 3/4 x12 or 3/4 x 16 with the 3/4x 12 being the most common. Buying the HSS tap is the most expensive part of the whole assembling but the tap will last you a lifetime for other Dremel adaptation projects.

Regards,

Paul Jones

[Hemi]

Morsa,

I like your ideas for the Dremel tool mounting on the Unimat. I also appreciate the link to PJs website/blog.

In regards to Hemi's dilemma about not having a welder, that can be easily solved. The nut and shaft can be joined with silver soldering the steel parts (I like this old technique because it is more an art than technology) or making solid piece from aluminum (or steel) and drilling/tapping the thread using a common drill press. Spindle nose on Dremel is either 3/4 x12 or 3/4 x 16 with the 3/4x 12 being the most common. Buying the HSS tap is the most expensive part of the whole assembling but the tap will last you a lifetime for other Dremel adaptation projects.

Regards,

Paul Jones

Paul,
I'm not sure silver solder would be enough to hold it... I TOO thought about that way of doing it but I thing a weld to the nut onto the unused tool bit be a stronger bond..... I have a couple friends local that I'm going to take both nuts (one for the flex shaft, and one for the whole rotary tool) to them with 2 unused tool bits to have them welded.....

Doing a threaded attachment, might be difficult too just because the vibration would eventually loosen the threaded rode into the flat side of the nut, so..... -Maybe I'm not thinking of how it was mentioned here.... -Enlighten me if you would, (I think Marv, made that suggestion there of)

[mklotz]

It's also easy to single point the 3/4-12 thread if you can find someone with a screw-cutting lathe.

[Paul Jones]

Marv,

Great advice. I am sure the Microlux 7X14 owned by Hemi can swing at least a 3.4" long rectangular steel part and single point thread a 12 pitch thread part with the correct change gears. This would be a great way to learn the technique and with a few side shims could do this in a 3-Jaw chuck and no need for a 4-jaw chuck. The Microlux also has a faceplate and this may be a safer way to hold the part. That is how I originally learned how to do single point threading with a little experimentation.

Paul