Thread: dremel problems carving tombstones

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hey


just 10 or 20 minutes ago i finished carving a cemetary sign out of the pink foamboared and while carving it with my dremel and it's router attachment i noticed that the foam would melt and get stuck to the bit.. now before you tell me this yes i did try a slower speedo but while on the lowest speed without the bit getting stuck the foam still melted sooo i am wondering if there is any way of stooping this?
also i wasn't using the router bits, would this be the problem?


thanks

What kind of bit are you using?
I just use a real fine bit on a sawzall or jigsaw, cuts are almost perfectly clean, then use a cheap $8.00 soldering iron.

Don't carve as deep. That happened to me not too long ago. I just raised it up so that it wasn't carving so deep and it worked fine. I then went over it again to make it a little deeper. Give it a try. Maybe it'll work for you too.

thats a good idea i'll try it bridc1

@ jonny933 the fumes must be really bad with that

I had the same problem last year making my columns. I think it might have something to do with either moving the dremel to fast or to slow. I can't remember. Try a medium speed and keep the dremel moving at a good pace. If this doesn't work, maybe it was the other way, a little slower. Sorry I just can't remember which way it worked. I do remember stopping and having to break off the melted foam on the bit.

spooky, there not to bad. Just do it in the garage with the door open and maybe throw a mask on or pull the shirt over the nose. The smell is too bad.
I did try a tourch on one, that was bad smealing, never again. But the iron, is quick and not that bad.

i would never go back to anythign else once i tried the soldering iron. all mine are made with one.

Dremels don't work as well as I'd hoped for carving letters in foam, no matter what bit you use. I have to continuously clean my bits regardless of the speed. I get better results using a razor knife, but it's not as satisfying as using a Dremel.

I'm chiming in on the Dremel side. I love doing the carving with mine. I use bit 194 http://www.dremel.com/HTML/home_fr.html

I had no luck with the dremel until I started using this bit. I carved almost 15 tombstones this year with no issues and the same bit. Good luck and post some pics when you're done.

Obviously, the foam melting has something to do with the heat, so you want to reduce friction. And if it does melt, you don't want to have a lot of texture for it to grip onto and cool into a hard lump on. Thus, as another poster mentioned, I think it has everything to do with the bit you use.

I was having exactly the problem you describe, very consistently, with one of the bits that has a sort of sandpaper texture to it. It was quite frustrating and ruined several bits very quickly.

Then, when I moved to the bit that came with the router attachment (which is a godsend for making your detail work look good, by the way), it never happened again. This bit basically looked like a metal drill bit. The tool I was using did not have variable-speed, so it wasn't a speed issue, and moving fast or slow didn't seem to make a difference on either avoiding the melting issue on the sandpaper bit and replicating the melting issue on the drill-like bit.

So try a drill-like bit and see if you get better results.