Micro motors advantages

Hi Richard, I had been looking to replace my low-end Gesswein micro motor for a couple of years, and was looking specifically for one that supported a hammer handpiece. The Badeco was way more money than I wanted to spend, but I was blown away when I was able to play with it at MJSA, so I gulped and put it on my credit card. The 4 quick-change handpieces are so easy to use, and the hammer handpiece works with Foredom anvil points. The variable speed foot pedal I believe is proprietary to Badeco–you’d probably have to play with a model to see if you can adapt one of yours to fit that plug. I’m shipping mine back to Otto Frei (it seems to be defective), so you should contact them in a week or so to see if you can get it at a discounted price to test if you don’t already have this model. I’m certainly not happy about having to pay so much more for the variable speed foot pedal (the one that ships in the box starts too fast for low speed drilling). HTH,
Makena

Many thanks Makena, and sorry for my late reply. It’s exam season already!!

The Badeco MX1 looks great, but at 1400 EUR, it’s a bit out of my price range…I wonder if it’s possible to get similar performance with a Saeshin + hammer handpiece! I will keep reading up as much as I can, since my local dealer doesn’t keep any Badeco in stock and barely had anything else on hand, so very hard to test in person! Any further recommendations for high to midrange motors (less than 1000 EUR!) would be so much appreciated.

Have a great day,

Emily

Hi Emily,
The Badeco is at the high end, but I needed something with high torque at low speed that also supported a hammer handpiece, so I had been shopping around for a couple of years, limping along with my old, half-broken cheap one (the foot pedal gave out and it wasn’t worth fixing). When I saw the demo with the other handpieces it supports I realized that it would vastly expand the range of creative possibilities for me, so I put it on my credit card and hope to pay it off soon. So it really depends on what you want to do. You can start with a cheap one like I did and go from there. Even with the foot pedal inoperable my old one is still useful for polishing. I can put the handpiece in a vise and use it like a lathe as well–it’s nice to be able to dial up or down the speed as needed. You don’t need to spend a fortune to get the benefits of a micromotor for most tasks, but specialized features don’t come cheap. HTH,
Makena

I’m sure the Badeco is worth every penny! I’d expect any recent Badeco, Techdent, NSK to be worth the investment to anyone working full time. I’m still a student so I should be reasonable. After lengthy research I’m aiming in the 300-800 EUR range, min. 4,5 torque handpiece, and maybe the hammer function can wait a year or two when I know better what to do with it (about to embark on a 2-year setting programme). Still haven’t been able to make a decision – my local shops (Belgium) don’t seem to know micromotors, so I’m looking at German, Dutch and French retailers and ebayers! Wish I could order from the US, way better offerings, but the customs charges are always horrific for even cheap things, so I can only imagine how bad it would be for a purchase this size. FML!

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Continuing to revive old threads that still have value…

Hi Emily, I’m also in the EU and now that I’m building a new studio from 0 I’m considering moving from a traditional flexshaft to a micromotor. As you say, the shipping and customs charges here are crazy for anything outside the EU so that changes things. I can often bring things back from the US, but I’m realizing that having non-indigenous speciality equipment here can be tough to find parts, accessories etc for. Is there a clear recommendation for high end and also entry level micromotors? I’d be using it as a primary drilling/finishing tool for a wide variety of projects, not just stone setting etc.

I found this place today, ships from Finland, but the prices and selection are surprisingly good. Mikroporakoneet (2) - SAR-Machine Oy

-Lawrence in Croatia

Lawrence - I have a Swiss made micromotor - high end - translated, expensive. Badeco - good machine and my preferred rotary hand piece. I have the hammer handpiece for it and it works well, maybe too well - for setting, I prefer my Gravermax. I still think I need a flex shaft for heavy work.
Judy H

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I tried one just like Judy has. I loved it so much I got one for Christmas this last year. It’s expensive, but it is the Rolls Royce of micromotors. I also have the traditional Flex Shaft for the use of the hand piece I use with my jump ringer. I highly recommend the Badeco system also with the hammer hand piece besides the normal handpiece.

Aggie

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Thanks Judy, the Badeco looks gorgeous. My own budget is fairly humble at the moment and since this is my first foray into micromotors other than a general purpose dremel tool, I’m finding the amount of info a little daunting. So many different manufacturers, levels, industries, purposes and must dos/donts from various skilled people, it’s a lot to digest. I might just pick a relatively inexpensive one and just start using it and learn from there. Here is Croatia it’s not easy to find them in shops or at conferences to try out and ask questions from sales reps.

One of the things I’m most interested in seems to be a very expensive niche item, the linear filer. Foredom makes one but their kit is about $1k and then it’s still a flexshaft. I have a vague memory of seeing something light, electric and handheld, from another industry entirely that I thought could easily be modified to take needle files, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. Anyone else know of such a device? A simple reciprocating motor?

I’ll keep my eyes open.

-Lawrence

There are pneumatic filers. Look at the Gesswein website. There may also be something in the engraving world that will be less expensive. If I find it, I will post it. Good luck…Rob

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Thanks Rob. I also noticed on the Geswein website they are offering a Marathon FMR mini filer handpiece but it’s fairly pricey as well. over $1100. I may well end up with one of those devices, but I’m not quite ready yet to commit so much of my tool budget to one function.

Keep looking.

I also always eye that filing function in the micromotor. These are the kind you mean? It works with a hammer hand piece and I don’t quite understand why it can’t work with any regular flex shaft hammer hand piece. I ordered one and it definitely doesn’t fit in my regular one but I kept it thinking maybe it would be modifiable…

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THanks interesting, I didn’t know you could use files in hammer handpieces. I was speaking about this…https://www.foredom.net/wp-content/uploads/distributors/FILERPg29.pdf

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Hi,

here is a link to ArtCo…they sell hand pieces called air filers…sir profilers…have a look…

julie

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Hi, thanks. Looks like good stuff, but another expensive piece of infrastructure is what I’m hoping to avoid. At the moment I don’t have any specific needs for a compressed air system otherwise. I’m discovering that working out of a small stone house in a medieval croatian hill town means keeping things as simple and condensed as possible.

-Lawrence

Sometimes I wish I didn’t read these discussions; I had no idea that “reciprocating profilers” were a thing and that I needed one!

Just logged on to say that I got my NSK (and 4 or 5 other) handpieces off Craigslist. It was sold with many bits, burs, drills, stones, a vacuum, 2 old articulated dental drills, foot pedals, 2 dust collectors, ultrasonics, wax pots with waxes, dental porcelain paints and too many other things to list. Keep a look out on resell sites for “used dental equipment”. I paid $700 for all of it, split up bits and burs with a friend and ended up paying about $350 for my part. I already had a compressor, so I was good to go.

I am primarily a gemstone carver and really thought that the dental drill would work better for me than my Foredom. Yes, it is ever so much steadier and accurate. Yes, it spins really fast. But compared to the Foredom it was really slow to remove large quantities of stone. The bits and burs are so small. It would be great for tiny details, but frankly, I’m too lazy to walk outside and start up the compressor and hook everything up to use it.

Anyway, just my opinion. I think it really depends on what you are going to use it for. I use the Foredoms all the time, and if I carve wood and need a lot of torque I have a Wecheer which is a monster. It takes it a full 15 seconds to stop rotating. Since I primarily carve stone, I have to keep the stone wet to keep it cool and not generate dust. The little micromotors that are sold for manicuring are not something I’d use as they don’t have a flex shaft.

I hope you have luck in finding something that works for you.