Better than a Foredom or a Dremel....IMHO

[davec2]

 I didn't want to hijack the recent post about a Foredom.  I had one and used it, on and off, for years before I gave it away.  I did the same thing with a Dremel.  I suppose it all comes down to what you are used to.  I was 6 or 7 years old when I started to work for my dad in his dental lab.  I started doing partials....and then dentures....and then crown and bridge work.  Through all of that I used an Emesco dental engine with a Wells dental handpiece attached.  It looked like the pictures below and is a belt driven, rheostat controlled, fully articulated arm.  The handpiece is very slim, fits easily in the hand, and uses any 3/32" burr, wheel, disk, etc.  Since I started with this at the tender age of 6, I have been using one almost continuously for 64 years.  (I even took one aboard ship with me when I was deployed overseas on a destroyer and used it to fix a missile launcher and adjust the bite on a crown that the chief of staff had done on the carrier.)  The slender handpiece allows graceful dexterity with the tool.  I have several of these.  I recently took a look on ebay and they can often be had .....sometimes complete.....sometimes in pieces....but pieces can be reassembled into a working unit and I have put together several for friends over the years from piece parts.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of different cutting, polishing, burnishing, drilling, grinding, etc., burs and wheels are available from many sources.  In addition to Emesco, Buffalo Electric also made a comparable unit if you are searching for old, used units.  New ones are available from Wells Dental Inc., but new they are quite pricey.  Used ones can be had for a lot less.  Not to detract from Foredom or Dremel at all, but I personally find this type of handpiece infinitely more useful and easier to use.  I still use all of mine for dental work, gunsmithing, and jewelry fabrication.

 

[flehto]

When I was building LRs, a rotary tool was seldom used but when the need arose, my Dremel did the job. My LRs were mainly hand built which I really enjoyed. Served a 5 yr tool and diemaker apprenticeship at which time electric tools weren't used much.......Fred

[davec2]

Fred,

I understand what you're saying.  I usually do everything by hand on a rifle (engraving, carving, filing, fitting, inletting, etc.) and I have seen beautiful work destroyed in an instant with a power tool that was applied at the wrong time or in the wrong way or by the wrong hand.  However, in my dental and jewelry work, a tool like this makes things possible that would otherwise be impossible (for me anyway).  In gun building this device usually comes into play for me in areas such as the initial clean up of brass and steel castings, like trigger guards, ramrod pipes, lock parts etc.  I don't use it for the final finishing but it helps speed up the initial clean up.  For me, its all hand work.  My hand is still holding and guiding the handpiece.  It is not a magic wand that makes otherwise bad work beautiful.  However, and to the contrary, it can make beautiful work into a disaster in the twinkling of an eye...   Again, not for everyone, but after more than 60 years, I can humbly say I'm pretty good with it...

[Ed Wenger]

Dave…, I’m sure the Emesco works well for you, based on the level of quality achieved on your metal work!

Here’s the thing, though…, that baby looks remarkably similar to the dental drill the dentist used when my mom took me to the dentist, when I was around eight or so, for a cavity that needed attention.  No Novocain, just went at it.  Thought I’d come out of the chair a couple of times.  I should have suspected something was up when I noticed the waiting room was filled with Amish. 

Anyway, the Emesco does look handy, but I’m not sure I could get past those memories 🤣

Best,

              Ed

[davec2]

Edward,

I had to laugh out loud at your memories of the dental office.  I have the same reaction when I hear "elevator music" and the high pitched whine of the more modern air driven high speed turbine hand pieces......various anatomical features really "pucker up" at the combined sound !!!  I suppose I have used one of the Emesco units long enough on inanimate objects that I don't make the connection with pain.  Although I must admit that I have used this particular unit on myself to polish out a rough spot on a chipped tooth.  The debris from the rubber abrasive wheel didn't taste very good, but there was no pain involved....

[skratch]

My earliest memories of dental work is from a dentist named Mussellman, he lived up to his name. I think he must have got his dental training working on diesel engines. Over 70 yrs later I'm still scared of dentists.
Oh, I use a Dremel, and sometimes even with (ow!) dental burrs. 

[Spalding]

Ed, I had to laugh at your post. It’s the first thing I thought too when Dave posted the photos.
Rural, small town dentist I went to as a kid. In his 60’s at the time, meaning he probably went to dental school in the early to mid 1920’s. Not really an office, just a room in his house he had set up for dentistry. Something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. No novocaine, no rubber gloves on his large hands that smelled of tobacco. The sound of that Emesco would bring back nightmares of the burning smell and intense pain of sitting in that hard old dental chair. I swear I left permanent hand prints in the armrests.
Can still vividly remember it almost 60 years later.

Bob

[Ed Wenger]

Lol, I guess we’re all dating ourselves, but good stuff!  You’re a braver man than me, Dave!  Enjoyed the stories, scratch and Bob!  Like I said, could definitely see some uses for this instrument of torture in the shop though 😂.   Best,

         Ed