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Flexshaft Goodies

Jewelry Discussion
#1

Hi Orchidians.

I thought it would be cool to share a neat flexshaft bench tip. One
finish I like is using 0000 steel wool. Since I had about 50
brooches to work on for a production run, doing each by hand looked
daunting. I thought, hey, why not use the power of the flexshaft!
I wound some steel wool around a large drill bit and voila! My own
homemade rotary steel wool tool. This was perfect for patinated
pieces that had lots of curvy detail or specifically for etched
pieces.

So what is your favorite flexshaft trick either commercial or
invented?

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

#2

hi Karen OUCH!!! Just one thing to watch out for and that is the
flying particles that might be thrown off of the handle. I suggest
using a pair of “safety glasses”, immediately! Flying steel and the
soft lens of the cornea of the eye, do not make "good friends"
especially in the hospital emergency room…did I scare you
all…GREAT !..:>( I’ve seen too many setters with steel shards in
their eyes, not too bloody pleasant!! “Gerry, the Cyber-setter!”

#3 
    hi Karen OUCH!!!! Just one thing to watch out for and that is
the flying particles that might be thrown off of the handle.
"Gerry, the Cyber-setter!"

Hi Karen and Gerry; I agree. Steel in the eye is awful. And what’s
worse, you probably won’t even feel the real tiny particles right
away, but within hours, they’ll begin to rust. That will definitely
send you to the emergency room. But they won’t be much help unless
they happen to have an opthomologist on duty. So you’ll have to wait,
and time will seem to stand still. I know; I had a small bead of
metal that bounced off a table I was grinding on fly up under my face
shield and in my eye. It was the weekend too, so no help till Monday
morning. Misery, but all’s well now.

David L. Huffman

#4

Gerry, I always wear eye protection and a dust mask. I just thought
that was a given. Guess not. Folks, make sure you are safe. Also,
you should make sure that your sweeps drawer is clean. Steel wool
contaminates your work. I use a little magnet afterwards and pick
things up. Great for sawblades too.

Gerry, do you have a favorite flex shaft tip?

-k
Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

#5 
 Steel in the eye is awful.

And, if you ever need an MRI you should tell them you have been
exposed to steel chips, apparently, if you have a piece of steel in
your eyeball in an MRI machine it could whirl about thus blinding you

here is a reference:

Kelly WN, Paglen PG, Pearson JA, et al. Ferromagnetism of
intraocular foreign body causes unilateral blindness after MR study.
Am J Neurol Rev 1986;7:243-245. .

best
Charles

Charles Lewton-Brain/Brain Press
Box 1624, Ste M, Calgary, Alberta, T2P 2L7, Canada
Tel: 403-263-3955 Fax: 403-283-9053 Email: @Charles_Lewton-Brai1

#6

I had a saw blade break off and stik in my eye it was just a smalll
piece of it and it was embeded in the cornea David is right their
wont be an opthamoligist at the emergency room you will have to go
to a specialist that will strap your head in a fixture while he
slugs back a can of Mountain Dew and then carefully takes a scalpel
and scrapes your cornea with the blade to remove the foriegn object
while giving you a lecture about not wearing eye protection, then it
gets better once the object is removed he then scrapes the whole
area to remove the rust, and if that doesn’t give you the willies
you get a shot after all this yes a shot but at this point you are
ready to pass out from the experience so you will just go uh hu and
take it like the big dodo head you are for not wearing those safty
glasses.

Sincerely Kevin Potter {big dodo head}

#7

When I had my two MRIs, I had to undergo eye x-rays to check for
metal particals prior to the MRI tests. I was told that this was
routine procedure.

Donna