# Scored A Faro Flex Shaft Grinder And Carbide Drills & Endmills



## samthedog (Jun 18, 2015)

I had bought a faulty Faro flex shaft grinder a few months ago and have only just gotten around to repairing it. It came with all the attachments - a reciprocating filer, disc sander / grinder, and a die grinder. It's a variable speed machine with a sliding foot switch to adjust the speed from very slow to 15000 rpm. It came with a bunch of sanding / grinding disks, diamond files, grinding stones, collets, tools and disk adapters:










The body of the foot pedal needs some work but everything works now. The problem was carbon dust from worn brushes shorting out the motor. I just gave her a good clean and checked the windings and bearings and it all works well now. In total it set me back $130 USD.

Next I picked up a bunch of end mills and carbide drill bits. First are the drill bits:






Some have coolant holes which is a nice touch. Sometimes you need carbide to drill through a HSS tap or snapped drill bit so these will come in handy.

Then I picked up a bunch of endmills - brand new 6 and 7 mm carbide 




Followed by an assortment of endmills in various sizes, all the way up to 20mm. I even got a couple new rotabroach cutters for good measure:



In total I bought 53 items for $320 USD - roughly 6 bucks a pop. I think I did OK considering they are brand new Quality carbide made by Walter of Germany. Today was a good day and I wanted to share with those who appreciate a haul (unlike my wife).

Paul.


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## samthedog (Jun 18, 2015)

Oh, I also scored a thread dial for my Chipmaster. It was a bit banged up and sorry looking but I have been looking for one of these for ages. The metric Chipmaster didn't come with a thread dial while the imperial one did. This was the original dial offered by Colchester so it will be a nice addition to my Chippie. I paid more than I wanted to ($125) but it's nice to be completing the Chippie with all the accessories it came with:


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## kd4gij (Jun 18, 2015)

Nice score


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## kvt (Jun 18, 2015)

Nice Score,


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## brino (Jun 18, 2015)

That's a really interesting filer, I've never seen one like that before.

-brino


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## samthedog (Jun 19, 2015)

brino said:


> That's a really interesting filer, I've never seen one like that before.
> 
> -brino



These are often used in the jewellery trade and also by engravers. They used to be much more common when mold making ws a bigger trade as often the molds would have to be cleaned up by hand. The example I bought was used for reconditioning pipe organs in churches. Once the pipes were cut, the inside and the edges of the mouth and tuning slides needed to be cleaned up and polished. 

I also ended up with a full set of organ slide adjusters as well as I figured these varying metal pieces could be used for other projects but I have not had the heart to cut them up. This trade is dying and it must have taken weeks to cut all these sfjusters to size then grind them to precise dimensions.

Paul.


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## Nammar (Jun 19, 2015)

Dear Paul, The reason that your "Chippie" came without a thread dial is because the leadscrew is metric. Thread dials only come on imperial lathes with imperial leadscrews and dials. My Colchester Bantam has no thread dial as it is a metric machine with metric leadscrew and dials. The Imperial Bantams are fitted with thread dials. I have to reverse the spindle without disengaging the half nuts, when screw cutting on this machine, even if I cut imperial threads, using the correct transposing gears. You will have to do the same.

Don't worry, you can mount it on a tool board next to the lathe. It looks snazzy and complicated to use. Your wife may even like the look of it. What I do is display a few dial indicators and snazzy things to distract the snooping nose from what I have recently acquired!!! Geoffrey.


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## samthedog (Jun 20, 2015)

Nammar said:


> Dear Paul, The reason that your "Chippie" came without a thread dial is because the leadscrew is metric. Thread dials only come on imperial lathes with imperial leadscrews and dials. My Colchester Bantam has no thread dial as it is a metric machine with metric leadscrew and dials. The Imperial Bantams are fitted with thread dials. I have to reverse the spindle without disengaging the half nuts, when screw cutting on this machine, even if I cut imperial threads, using the correct transposing gears. You will have to do the same.
> 
> Don't worry, you can mount it on a tool board next to the lathe. It looks snazzy and complicated to use. Your wife may even like the look of it. What I do is display a few dial indicators and snazzy things to distract the snooping nose from what I have recently acquired!!! Geoffrey.



Haha... good one. Yep, I know the metric machines didn't come with a thread dial however this item also doubles as a measurement device. Each graduation is 1mm so it provides you with a pretty quick and rough way to check measurements without a DRO. I am trying to keep the Chipmaster original so I have not added the DRO so this will still come in handy.

The interesting thing about this thread dial is that it does not engage the leadscrew at all. It has a bearing that rolls along the bed that rotates the dial. I spoke to an old gent with a metric Chipmaster and he had one and said he used it every time he cut threads. Exactly how I am not sure...

Paul.


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## samthedog (Jun 24, 2015)

Well there was a little hickup today. I was called in the evening because someone had assumed the thread dial followed a lathe that was sold by the same seller. To cut a long story short, the buyer made such a fuss about it and the seller felt so bad I drove out with the thread dial to return it so that they could get rid of the buyer who was trying to bully the seller. They felt awful about the fact I paid, cleaned up the dial and was happy I finally found one that matched the machine that they asked me if they could throw together some stuff to make up for the money I paid, inconvenience and for the disappointment I felt.

Anyway, I didn't want to milk it at all as the seller is a genuinely nice guy and I had to firmly say to him that what they had offered me was more than enough and they needed to stop adding to the pile. In the end I scored a decent little multimeter, a variable temp soldering iron (a nice German made unit), some machine feet, a Mitsubishi 1.5 kW VFD, about 30 more new carbide endmills, a really beautiful little drill press / mill vice (super smooth with oil ports and no visible wear), a laptop wall mount and a little bit of HSS. The gent even threw in some batteries for the multimeter.




I hate to admit it but I think this stuff will come in far more use than the thread dial. Especially the soldering iron as I have been trying to find one for ages for a reasonable price but have only come across cheap Chinese rubbish.

Paul.


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## kvt (Jun 24, 2015)

Nice second score.   oh by the way now you seem to have made it to the

BTW,  You Suck club.   I think you made out good the second round.   Is there anything left for you try for a 3rd round.


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## george wilson (Jun 25, 2015)

I have been using the Di Profiler filing head for about 40 years. They are still sold by Gesswein,and are pretty expensive. They have adjustable stroke,and will accept the handle of needle files,which is very handy.

They do get too hot after while,especially if run fast. I now have a unit from Gesswein that oscillates at 3000 times per SECOND. That is per second. It uses miniature stones to polish surfaces. Intended for mold work. 
It tends to spray a fine mist of oil out of its rear end. I wasn't about to pay the $150.00 each for stone holders,so I just made myself a few. I also make the stones by belt sanding down pieces of Arkansas stones.


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## hman (Jun 27, 2015)

samthedog said:


> Well there was a little hickup today. I was called in the evening because someone had assumed the thread dial followed a lathe that was sold by the same seller. To cut a long story short, the buyer made such a fuss about it and the seller felt so bad I drove out with the thread dial to return it so that they could get rid of the buyer who was trying to bully the seller. They felt awful about the fact I paid, cleaned up the dial and was happy I finally found one that matched the machine that they asked me if they could throw together some stuff to make up for the money I paid, inconvenience and for the disappointment I felt.
> 
> Anyway, I didn't want to milk it at all as the seller is a genuinely nice guy and I had to firmly say to him that what they had offered me was more than enough and they needed to stop adding to the pile. In the end I scored a decent little multimeter, a variable temp soldering iron (a nice German made unit), some machine feet, a Mitsubishi 1.5 kW VFD, about 30 more new carbide endmills, a really beautiful little drill press / mill vice (super smooth with oil ports and no visible wear), a laptop wall mount and a little bit of HSS. The gent even threw in some batteries for the multimeter.



What's there to say, other than that good people dealing with good people inevitably leads to good outcomes.  
Congratulations ... on many levels!


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