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Dremel (flex shaft) question

Discussion in 'Original Phlatprinter MODIFICATIONS' started by Jnida63, Jun 10, 2009.

  1. Jnida63

    Jnida63 Member

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    Has anyone tried using the flex shaft for one?
    My cutter is in a spare room as I have no basement or garage and would love to stick the dremel in an enclosure and use the flex shaft to follow the gantry movements.
    I believe the MKII is set up like that. (I may be wrong).
    I need to bring the noise of the dremel down some.
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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  3. Jnida63

    Jnida63 Member

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    Well, i pulled the trigger on the flex shaft, but not for a dremel, none of mine would accept a flex shaft :(
    I had an old RotoZip laying around and went and got a flex shaft for it.
    Stay tuned for updates on the mod

    BTW, i took my Z gantry apart today to put in the Acme rod and bushings and noticed quite a bit of charring around the dremel where the cooling air circulates, I am not sure how fire retardant our foam is but it concerned me a bit, so the flex shaft actually looks like a really good thing to do.
     
  4. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm curious to see what you come up with, because I've been thinking about doing this myself.
     
  5. Jnida63

    Jnida63 Member

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    Ok, here is the setup, still need to tweak top bracket but you can get the idea for a flex shaft mod

    Attached files [​IMG]
     
  6. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Looks good Jeff!
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    Jeff, that looks good! :cool:
     
  8. s009smj

    s009smj New Member

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    Here is our mount. Just a note on the flex shaft, make sure you relube the cable inside with speedometer cable lube, weedeater cable lube, or graphite powder(which we used). Our cable hardly had anything on it. I found a step drill at harbor freight that was about the same taper as the flexshaft "handle". I drilled a hole in 3/4" mdf using the step drill and then cut it in half, one for the top and one for the bottom brackets. We also have been using a router speed control from Rockler to control the speed of the Rotozip.

    Phil and Scott, Cincinnati
    Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  9. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Nice work. I like the stand too!
     
  10. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Phil and Scott,
    Man you guys are doing a great job this looks fantastic! :p
    Nice work
    Thank you for sharing
    Mark and Trish
     
  11. gumppy

    gumppy New Member

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    I have the RotoZip 20 and Flexible shaft ready to mount on my printer. I have tried to duplicate the mounting from Phil and Scott and have screwed the flexible shaft to the gantry. But I wonder if the cutter will extend into the cutting slot as far as the Dremel allowed in the original. It appears short to me. Has anyone started cutting with the RotoZip/Flexible shaft solution yet? Is there sufficient exposure of the cutting tip to cut a quarter inch of foam/balsa?
     
  12. kyyu

    kyyu Active Member

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  13. Jnida63

    Jnida63 Member

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    15k is all i run my rotozip at (it has a 2 speed switch)
    It is a very intersting thing if it could accept a collet on the motor side for an overhead gantry device :)
     
  14. gumppy

    gumppy New Member

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    Re: My earlier post about flexible shaft mounting too short on Part 2 of 'Z' gantry:

    Laid a Dremel 200 series tool next to the flexible shaft at the stock position on Part 2. Found the RotoZip flexible shaft collet/chuck was about half an inch short . Moved the mounting holes for the 'U' bolts forward approximately half an inch beyond what Phil and Scott show and it seems to be near the level of the Dremel collet/chuck. Next made sure the axis of the Flexible shaft was parallel to the face of part 2 along the center line so any plunge upward will be perpendicular to 'X' and 'Y' axes.

    Now we'll see the result when we get more of the printer built. Might be time to start taking pictures.

    Mike
     

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