Sharing knowledge for the art of artificial craft pumpkins.
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By shaft28
#68353
So for my birthday my wife got me a Dremel 4000 3-34 and the Flex Shaft 225-01. I have never used a tool like this but want to move my pumpkin (real and foam) carving up to a new level.

Any tips? Experiences on what attachments are best? Appreciate any input.

Thanks, Marc
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By sloaner
#68363
Where is Doh and Stoney when you need them lol. They will know all sorts of things regarding dremel tools. Pumpken is also very good with a dremel.
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By Doh
#68367
A keyless chuck is very handy.
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For rough material removal I recommend this type:
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and for finish work the pink stones from the Harbor Freight set are perfect.
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I hang my Dremels by the ceiling using bungee cords. This keeps them straight and the elasticity allows for perfect height adjustment. You must keep the shaft as straight as possible so that it won't heat up.
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You can see they hang at just the right height.
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I purchased a foot pedal that allows me to control the speed of my dremels...I then made a switch so that I could run both dremels from one pedal.

So since I got my variable speed pedal I broke out the old dremel that is stuck only on high speed. I now have two flex shaft dremels and one off brand with no flex shaft. I was working on my old POTC pumpkins when I got tired of unplugging and plugging in each dremel to the pedal when I needed it. I knew there must be a better way.

Trip to Lowes for 9 dollars worth of parts.
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On the electirical socket I removed the little tab on the hot side making the two sockets independant of each other.
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I took the hot from the electrical chord and wired it to the common on the 3 way switch. It must be a 3-way or no way. I took two short wires and wired them to the other two terminals on the 3-way switch.
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The two short wires went to the, now separated, hot terminals on the socket.
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The common wire from the plug went on the common terminal of the socket.
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I now have a switch on the wall that allows me to control each dremel with my foot pedal!
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And here they are ready for action!
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Small drill bits are a must. A good supply of 1/32 and 3/64 bits will help you carve foamies with even the tightest pointy parts like you see on a lot of Ryan's patterns.
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By shaft28
#68382
Thanks! Great set up and tips. I'm starting to carve this weekend so we'll see how it goes. Thanks again!
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By Pumpken
#68390
Not much you can add to Doh's response.

I think when you are first starting out you will want to use a pretty slow speed as you shave areas so you don't accidently make gouges or cut through. After you practice, you can speed up the dremel when you have good control of it.

You might think about going to Harbor Freight if you are near one and get a mini drill bit packet or two. They have REALLY tiny bits for the smallest pieces you need to cut out.

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User avatar
By macntosh
#68406
I bought many tips from AllProTools as they were really inexpensive on dremel bits, but they are closed as of January. Any advice on where to get Dremel bits, priced competitively :?:
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By shaft28
#68514
Thanks widget supply had a great selection and prices...and only $2.99 for shipping USMail. Perfect.

Plus I had to go with them once I saw they were in Albany, OR - where I got my chocolate lab 7 years ago. Not that it has any bearing on anything but sentiment...she's a really good dog.