Help! How to deal with sharp shards from a burr cutter?

G

guy-montag

Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
56
I'm making a knife with a textured finish, using a dremel with a burr cutter. It works beautifully and produces an amazing texture. However, it also generates millions of tiny razor sharp shards of metal. Imagine a dremel cutter spitting out those hair thin spines you find on some cacti that are almost invisible but once you get poked with one... it's pure agony. Even worse if it gets stuck in your skin.

I've donned head to toe protective gear, but they still manage to find their way into everything. Surely someone has dealt with this before - how did you do it?
 
Work in front of a vacuum maybe?

I personally use puppy training pads as they seem to trap fillings, braided wire slivers, dirt, dust, and oil... little mist of water on the bottom and they suction stick to a flat surface pretty well and wont flap around on you.
 
SinePari said:
Work in front of a vacuum maybe?

I personally use puppy training pads as they seem to trap fillings, braided wire slivers, dirt, dust, and oil... little mist of water on the bottom and they suction stick to a flat surface pretty well and wont flap around on you.
Click to expand...

That'd help some of it, although it tends to spray out in a 360 degree arc which makes it problematic to cover all of it. Maybe I need to put it in the equivalent of a sand blaster cage where you've got a glove to reach into a sealed box...
 
Make a shield and work under it and have a shop vac sucking while you are doing this.
 
I've seen shields people have made out of soda bottles that they tape to the end of the Dremel tool with one side of the bottle cut out so you could still work with it the same way you normally would but the chips would fall out side facing away from you.I think I tried it once or twice in my shop and it seems to help quite a bit.
 
I know what you are talking about... I do a bit of Foredom work and the other day came in from the shop with my entire hand impaled with tiny Ti shards... I never had this happen until I switched to a new straight barrel shaped burr. Not fun! It was like I stuck my hand in a big Titanium Cactus...

I'm not really sure what to do... I was using my setup again on Thursday and noticed the shards were not getting me so I suppose the new burr is what throws them off. Maybe some sort of shield... clamp the workpiece and hide the grinding hand, lol.

Here's a fun link... has a good pic of a nice foredom station. http://www.lopacki.com/tips/
 
Y'all be real careful not to get that kind of stuff stuck in your eye.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Y'all be real careful not to get that kind of stuff stuck in your eye.
Click to expand...

That's a fact, I also suspect losing a burr at that RPM could go seriously bad.

I wear my full face respirator... after grinding stones before I did the knives i will never use any eye protection that a shard could get around. I also have some safety glasses that have a seal around them... they have a magnifier in them (like bifocals) so they are nice for detail work.
 
I like the glovebox idea, you could start with a cardboard box and a bit of glass or plexi.

I would also think that supplied air positive pressurized air would help blow stuff away from the eyes.
I'm thinking of that more and more.
 
I use a dremel a lot for texturing and other things, if you are getting that much spit out you have it at too high RPM's. Try slowing down a bit.
 
A cure for steel shards is to catch them with powerful magnets. Place welding magnets around the work area and also run a vacuum with the suction nozzle right behind the handpiece. On really nasty things, I have used a narrow tip nozzle ( called a crevice tip) on the vac hose and taped the handpiece to it so the burr is literally 1/2" from the nozzle.

I also have a down-draft table to work on for such tasks. It is a carving bench with a 1/4" mesh work top over a 4" deep work tray that has an exhaust fan system that draws the air down through the mesh. Wood/metal/steel dust and heavier grit is trapped in the tray while the fines get carried back and out to the filter element. It is great for carving and pyrography ( because it carries the smoke away from you). It has an overhead light bar that shines light on your work from four points.
 
Thanks...
Yes, it makes getting rid of the shards easier. Just fold the plastic bag inside-out and slide out the magnet. Dump the filings in the trash and close the bag back up on the magnet.
I buy the triangular welding magnets from HF when on sale. I have them everywhere.
 
David Stifle said:
I use a dremel a lot for texturing and other things, if you are getting that much spit out you have it at too high RPM's. Try slowing down a bit.
Click to expand...

My foot pedal just broke as I dropped a chunk of metal on it in the most creative way possible... I have been using it at high speed, I bet that is it.
 
Speed isn't the issue. I run some burrs at 30,000RPM. Most steel sculpting and texturing I do at 10,000-15,000RPM.

The burr shape, tooth size/type, etc. will all affect the size and shape of the shards cut away. Speed would mainly affect how far they were tossed. I find that I get smaller and finer debris when cutting at high speed. I also generally use a medium or fine burr. Coarse will chew up steel and toss the shards like darts. Coarse also tends to grab and "jump" easier. I like the control as well as the finish with finer burrs. I use carbide burrs whenever possible.
 
Thanks to everyone to for the advice, I ended up building an inexpensive biosafety style cabinet out of a sturdy cardboard box, some plexi, a roll of plastic drop cloth, and a pair of cheap Harbor Freight blasting gloves. About $15 and it eliminates all those shards!

coMP304.jpg



c2xbwOM.jpg



al0reHB.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top