I will take your advice and dismantle an old NSK air handpiece I have tucked away for spare parts…should give me a better understanding of what’s going on inside the unit. My Esprit 500 should be back next week with new bearings. Looks like the actual attachment needs taking off and regular cleaning, as the gunk was collecting in between the attachment and the motor. I am going to try some type of spray guard, will let you know if I invent something good.

Looks like our “Coast Garde” collective is penciled in for a show in Feb 2011 at Form Gallery in Christchurch. Would you like an invite when the time comes…it would be great to meet you, and I’m sure we would all appreciate your comments/feedback on our work.

Cheers, Jason

For years I’ve had two hand-pieces going. The main carving was pneumatic and the other a micro-motor. Both of these were regularly stripped and rebuilt in the workshop and on odd occasions parts turned to expedite an emergency repair. Learning to dismantle, replace and rebuild your own hand-pieces gives a tremendous freedom and have always considered this an imperative aspect of maintaining an efficient carving studio.

In the saying of this the NSK is presently giving me problems and am exploring the practicalities of self maintenance and repair or simply carry a spare hand-piece or parts thereof and be done with it.
At this point I am inclined to hang in with the Esprit 500, allowing for all of the maintenance issues.

Whatever the case hand-pieces are a crucial tool and the understanding and maintenance of them will ease the path no end.

Cheers …. Donn

After seeing your post on this site about the NSK Espert 500 (I used one at the Polytech in Greymounth but a different model with no vents). I decided to move away from my maintenance intensive and noisy NSK air handpiece . Wow…how quiet and smooth the electric one is to use and the control of a foot pedal to boot.

But after 6 months of use I have had to send it back to the supplier for new bearings, it had got water and stone slurry inside the housing, the corrosion was quite bad for such a short usage. I was slightly worried when I purchased it, that it had the two air vents and thought the water and slurry could get sucked in…and it did. The supplier says one of his customers in the glass industry puts a non-lubricated condom over the whole handpiece..reckons it works well….Have you struck this problem, any solutions? Covering the vents would cause overheating I think. I see in your photo spray near the vents. My water feed is similar to yours, just out of plastic tube and cable ties.

For now I am back to the air, noisy and has water/oil issues, but a very robust unit for the stone slurry and spray that comes with carving hard stone, I can see why the commercial carvers go for the air…but they can afford Screw Compressors.

Any help would be appreciated, Cheers Jason

I am gatherng together the proper tools at last. I spoke with Mike about the Laughlin show and will meet him there to acquire the grinder for the diamond wheels. I have a primitive set up going in my garage and finally cut some jade on a tile saw today. I set up the NSK carving station just like it was in Fairfield, with the bucket of water and water feed. I need to buy some cintured drills for punching holes and then I am good to go. I found the inflatable drums and bought two smaller sizes, now I must buy some sleeves from David Clayton. I am not ready to invest in a new NSK tools yet, probably don’t really need it until the old one craps out. Your carving system would certainly be wondrous to own…let’s discuss that when I get better at this type of carving. The workshop was really a great leaning experience, thanks again for making it happen. Mike is offering a carving session sometime soon, I may be there just to get some time in with other carvers and learn more about tools,etc. See you again I hope.
BRAD

If you require any further info let me know.

Donn

I live in Wyoming, and am interested in obtaining a carving tool as the photographs here entail. I have searched for this online and not having much luck. Can you help with some info?
Thanks, Russell