Foredom repair service

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello all-

Help, does anyone know of a repair service in the Houston, TX
area for Foredom flex shafts. Mine is very sick and I need it
sooner than I can get back from the factory for repair. Thanks

Nancy

@nbwidmer

2

Help, does anyone know of a repair service in the Houston, TX
area for Foredom flex shafts. Mine is very sick and I need it
sooner than I can get back from the factory for repair. Thanks

Did you check the motors brushes? First, make sure you unplug
the motor. Remove the two black plastic screws on either side of
the motor. Pull or shake the spring with the carbon block on its
end out. If the carbon is worn down to nothing the brushes need
to be replaced. I not sure just how short the brushes can get
and still work, but they are usually the first thing to go.

Dick Caverly

3

nancy call lathrops and ask for ben averys phone number . he
fixes fordoms and steamers. we have had him do some work for us .
good luck

jack

4 
Did you check the motors brushes?  First, make sure you unplug
the motor. Remove the two black plastic screws on either side of
the motor.  Pull or shake the spring with the carbon block on its
end out.  If the carbon is worn down to nothing the brushes need
to be replaced.  I not sure just how short the brushes can get
and still work, but they are usually the first thing to go.

Thanks Dick - I did check the brushes, in fact I just replaced
them a few weeks ago when I lubricated the shaft etc. I was
wearing a mask and didn’t smell the motor heating up. When I
removed the mask I could smell the motor. Too hot to touch.
Next day it wouldn’t run. So I guess the motor is probably
frozen. I’ve had this one about 5-6 years and I probably run it
on average several hours a day. I’m kind of a work alcoholic.
My studio is in my home and I’m usually in the studio 12-14 hours
a day. I’m not sure how long these things are supposed to last,
but at appx 300 working day a year, running it say 4 hours each
day for 5 years that equals appx 6000 hours. Golly gosh darn,
didn’t realize how many hours till I just figured it up. I must
be a real professional flex shafter with all those hours!

Thanks for the advise though.

Nancy
Bacliff, TX USA
@nbwidmer

5

Hi, I have a friend who has a pawn shop who got in 2 Steam
Dragon steamers new , but they use distilled water only, how old
are they? and he said they list for $650.00 and he is selling
them for $350.00 , but then you have to use distilled water, so
maybe its not such a could idea? does anyone know the age? Its
from Gesswein. Chris

6

Thanks, Jack —

I should have thought of Lathrops, but didn’t. I’ll call Tues
(wish they were open on Mondays - that seems to be when I really
need them)

Went to your site and tried to sign guestbook - got an error
message that said I needed supervisor password. Great site
otherwise!.

Merry Holidays!

Nancy
Bacliff, TX USA
@nbwidmer

7 
   Hi, I have a friend who has a pawn shop who got in 2 Steam
Dragon steamers new , but they use distilled water only, how
old are they? and he said they list for $650.00 and he is
selling them for $350.00 , but then you have to use distilled
water, so maybe its not such a could idea? does anyone know the
age? Its from Gesswein. Chris

hi chris,

i’ve been pretty busy lately, poking my knuckles with gravers
and such, i was hoping someone else would answer this.

as far as i can surmise, steam dragons have been on the market a
relatively short time, no more than five years but most likely
less. they were conceived with shopping malls or places where
boilers would be restricted in mind because they are sans
boiler. they create ‘steam on demand’ much like a point of use
water heater. the water travels thru a bunch of tubes while it
is heated til it turns to steam. the reason it requires
distilled water is so the small diameter tubes don’t get stuffed
up with mineral build up. they are not using the water unless
one is using the steamer. a tube goes straight into the water
bottle. i’ve known some jewelers who use only distilled water in
their regular steamer. this is pretty over the top if you ask
me, but some do it.

the steam generated by the steam dragon was certainly good
enough and surpassed other ‘point of use’ steamers i’ve tried.

i don’t own one, i used one about a year ago.

best regards,

geo fox