Well, it's here. With all due gratitude to everyone who provided advice and guidance, I ordered up a Proxxon rotary tool, and it has arrived, as have a couple of rather nifty little work-stand/clamp/things. I have the safety goggles, the bright lights and the Metallica teeshirt (all right, this last bit is a lie) - I am ready to set about those Bavarian plumes, as a kick-off project.
I'm a little nervous about the bulk and the weight of the tool itself - it's certainly more massive than a needle file or a scalpel. If I have difficulties I'll treat myself to the add-on flexible drive, which means you can leave the main tool on the desktop (or on your lap, as shown in a YouTube demo I was watching - that makes me a little nervous too, but OK). The flexible drive means that the thing you hold in your hand to work with is rather like a dentist's drill. I could carry out root-canal work on the Bavarian army.
Might make a start tomorrow, but it all certainly looks good, and the variable speed turns down v-e-r-y s-l-o-w if you want - very quiet, no vibration. Now I need to work out the full details of my figure orders to 3 different suppliers, to make up my Stage 1 Bavarian OOB for 1809.
Busy-busy. Idle hands are the devil's playthings; an electric grinder in the hands of an idiot is kind of a dodgy proposition too, so I shall read the leaflets this evening. Onward and upward.
Wow, the Rolls Royce , or should I say Mercedes of miniature power tools. The flexi drive can be useful, but I find working on a unit of say 24 the weight of the machine does not bother me. Where do you get the nifty looking clamps?
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Thanks for the advice Roy - the clamps were a bit of a mystery - I was looking online and couldn't really find anything suitable, then suddenly I found two on Amazon - one hand-held, one on an adjustable desk stand - the latter one will also mount on a bench vice if you want. They have metal pins which fit in the holes, so you can clamp your subject, laying flat, and tighten the main screw a little. Check out
Deletehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=modelcraft+universal+work+holder
Looks very professional!
ReplyDeleteNo excuses left now - I shall have to shape up!
DeleteClassy! My old dremel sudden feels old and over powered..
ReplyDeleteNot sure about those clamps....hopefully annoying guests and service people won't be asked to "put your thumb in here please"
My Dremel was definitely underpowered after the battery died. It's all a matter of striking a balance.
DeleteI'll try and get a photo of the clamps in action sometime. Today i shall mostly be stripping, rather than grinding - I have a jar full of French cavalry enjoying a first soak, so I must give them a first scrub down and see what further soaking is necessary. Where are my disposable rubber gloves? - I wish it to be known, by the way, that the current lot of disposable gloves are lilac - I hope nobody wishes to make an issue out of that.
..I'm late to the party as I'm just catching up having been away for a week, but it strikes me that if the tool is too heavy you could just clamp it to the table, switch it on, and then just move the figure around the spinning drill head??
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