Shortening a heavy bur

I have a questions concerning shortening a heavy bur. In the book
‘Making the Most of Your Flex-Shaft’ by Karen Christians,

http://www.ganoksin.com/item--Orchid-in-Print-Vol-1--flexshaftbook

she says that any heavy bur should have its shank shortened by about
one-third in order to seat it more deeply into the handpiece of the
Flex-Shaft.

So, I want to shorten the shaft of my bur, but what is the best way
to do this? I would appreciate any help in this matter. Thank you.

Jaynemarie

So, I want to shorten the shaft of my bur, but what is the best
way to do this? I would appreciate any help in this matter. 

I generally use a jewelers saw for cutting them short, which is
pretty quick. If the steel is too hard for the saw (unlikely) then a
separating disc will do it.

best
Charles

any heavy bur should have its shank shortened by about one-third in
order to seat it more deeply into the handpiece of the Flex-Shaft. 

Try a collet handpiece. It provides a better grip and makes
shortening the shaft of a bur unnecessary Rio has an entire page of
collet-type handpieces in their tool catalog.

KPK

Hi Jaynemarie,

So, I want to shorten the shaft of my bur, but what is the best
way to do this? I would appreciate any help in this matter. 

Here’s how I’d do it.

Put the bur in a pin vise.

Mark the spot the cut will be made.

Put a new cutoff disc in your flexshaft.

Cut the bur off at the mark. When getting close to finishing the cut
hold the bur end with a needle nose pliers so it won’t go flying off
to never never land.

Clean up any burrs left on the cut end of the bur.

Dave

Jaynemarie, You can use miniature abrasive cutoff discs like these

http://tinyurl.com/ygsbnut

running in a rotary tool or in your flex-shaft. Be sure to wear eye
protection.

:slight_smile:
Mark B

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a rotary tool for your jewelry projects? We recommend:

Jaynemarie

the best way to shorten the shaft of the bur is to wear thick safety
gloves and hold that bur in you glove incase of heat. start to rotate
the bur ever so slowly, why? this way you won’t have any build up
excessive heat and ruin the bur…immerse the heated bur into water
after after every contact to the bench 3 1/2 inch grinding wheel…if
your bur is starting to discolour this means that the steel is
starting to soften. rotate your bur slowly while applying contact. do
so until the ground area is thin enough to bend and break apart with
your fingers.

once this done, you can gingerly remove the pointed section of the
bur shaft. once done you can remove any rough edges of the shortened
shaft to your likening…

hope this helps you…Gerry!

Depending on the hardness of the shaft it may be possible to put the
shaft in the vice and use a hack saw.

A junior hacksaw can be very useful in the workshop anyway, just
make sure the saw blades are top quality.

If the steel is too hard hold hold the shaft in a pair of parallel
pliers and carefully use a cut off disk in your flexi. Wear mask and
goggles.

jewellerydavidcruickshank.com.au

couple ways I would do this, first you could figure how much you want
removed, go to the bench grinder with a wet paper towel & proceed to
grind the excess off by running / grinding a ring around the shank
to remove the excess, or, you can clamp it firmly in a bench vise &
expose the portion to be removed again make sure it is clamped firmly
& whack the exposed portion smartly with a med. ball pein hammer, the
end will break off and you can grind the rough end smooth. the wet
paper towel will prevent the hardness/ temper from being removed and
unlike a rag if the wheel happens to catch it , it just tears away
with no effect.

happy New Year,
mtlctr

I would use a cutoff wheel. If the resulting angle isn’t precisely
90 degrees it isn’t critical. A cutoff wheel will do it fairly
quickly without bending or deforming the shaft.

Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Alliance, OH