Foredom Bench Lathe Kit

Understanding and using updated materials will help you accomplish pre-finishing and finishing requirements professionally and efficiently.

Pre-finishing

The use of abrasives to remove a layer of metal, coarse tool marks and other imperfections.

Finishing

Buffing - the use of coarse compounds in combination with wheels to cut down a surface.
Polishing - the use of fine compounds in combination with wheels to add color and luster to the final stage of finishing.

Here's a brief overview of some new and established products:

The Foredom Bench Lathe Kit

The Foredom Bench Lathe Kit includes two tapered spindles (attached to the 5/16 th inch motor shaft on both sides), a wheel mandrel (B) and a collet holder with two collets. The motor is a workhorse and performs well for pre-finishing and finishing. It features a dial controlled variable speed from 1,800 to 7,000 RPM. The high torque 1/6 th horsepower motor is ideal for use with brushes and buffs ranging in size from 1 7/8″ to 4″ in diameter.

The tapered spindles are easily removed and the wheel mandrel is available for using with abrasive wheels, wire brushes and miscellaneous accessories that have 1/4 inch holes. The permanently lubricated sealed ball bearing dust-proof motor housing provides maintenance free operation. The base is made of heavy-duty cast iron with four mounting holes.

The unit is less than 6 inches in height and 13 inches wide with the tapered mandrels installed. Its compact size makes it an ideal motor for mounting on your workbench or at a side bench within your workstation.

Featured from Foredom's extensive selection of accessories is an assortment of cotton, muslin, felt, chamois and treated buffs. Foredom also supplies tripoli, red rouge and a new addition to the line is blue and white platinum polishing compounds. A wide selection of de-burring, grinding and finishing wheels are also available.

Among the optional equipment provided by Foredom for the Bench Lathe Kit are small left and right dust collection hoods with standard size dust collection hose connectors on the rear. These compact units are heavy duty and have rubber pads on the bottom. They can be placed at any location at the jeweler's work or wax bench making it handy to collect various waste materials generated from bench tasks. The Handler Super 62 II compact dual dust collector system attaches to the back of the Foredom hoods.

3M has developed a wide variety of abrasive products specifically for the jewelry industry. Among them are:

3M® Discs

3M® Radial Bristle Discs - Mounted on the left side of the motor and clustered below it is a selection of 3-inch radial bristle discs that are ideal for a wide variety of pre-finishing procedures. 3M® Radial Bristle Discs uses include cleaning, fire-scale removal, semi-finishing, blending, texturing and surface reduction. They are available in several grits and sizes and eliminate the need for wheels that require messy compounds to accomplish similar tasks.

3M® Diamond Discs - Featured in the right corner of the photograph, these discs are similar to the Flex Diamond Bands and are used when for precision pre-finishing of flat edged surfaces.

3M® Bands

3M® Flex Diamond Bands - Shown are diamond bands in several grits that are mounted on expandable rubber head mandrels. They are ideal for precision inside ring cleanup, shaping and general pre-finishing. The 3/32 nd inch mandrel mounts in Foredom's Collet Holder and can be installed on the motor shaft.

3M® Trizact Bands - The 3M® Trizact Bands feature a pyramid shaped aluminum oxide abrasive surface that cuts metal smoothly, reducing buffing and finishing time. Its micro-replicating technology wears evenly for long bench life.

3M® XK Metalworking Wheels

3M® XK Metalworking Wheels featured mounted on the right side of the motor (using the Foredom Wheel Mandrel) is a 3-inch 3M® XK Wheel. These wheels are much harder and cut faster, excellent for general surface flat reduction, sprue and mold line removal.

Foredom and 3M pre-finishing and finishing products meet most jewelry making applications. These products used in tandem with the Foredom Bench Lathe make performing pre-finishing and finishing tasks for the bench jeweler easier, quicker while improving quality and reducing waste.

This bench jeweler has several rounded wide 14-karat yellow gold bands to pre-finish. Here he's using a 3M® Radial Bristle Disc. Prior to this step, he used the 3M® XK Wheel to remove the sprue. The Foredom Lathe is mounted on a mounting plate so it can be moved from one bench to other shop locations for various needs.

For information related to the featured Foredom tools, equipment and accessories contact Michael Zagielski at 203-792-8622.