Shield inlay idea?

blancefitz

Well-Known Member
I have done a few (5 or 6) inlays so far with decent success. I am using a couple of shield templates from USA knife makers. My mill, however, will only go up to 2500 rpm and my drill presses about 3000 which is not really fast enough for a 1/16” end mill. I have been just pecking holes and then trying to knock the tops off. I am trying to come up with a way to get cleaner results. I am thinking of trying to securely fasten a pencil air grinder to the ram of a large arbor press so that I can spin small bits at high rpm. Any thoughts on this?
 
That sounds like an idea. I have not done shields yet, but i want to do some soon. Please share your solution...Thanks
 
I have not done inlays yet, but want to try it soon. I have a Dremmel tool, and I bought an accessory for it to do the inlays. It is a sort of cup that fastens on to the tool that keeps it vertical and true. The handle scale is fastened to the bottom of a flat plate that has a working opening cut through it, and the shield template is secured to the plate somehow to guide the Dremmel bit. I can dig into it and take some pictures for you next week if you would like. Keith Johnson had a tutorial here on how to do it, but all the pictures got lost when Photo Bucket changed. I'm headed to the NMM conference in Bemidji shortly, but will be back Monday. Let me know if you want pics. I'll also talk to Keith tomorrow and see if he can send me the tutorial for your reference.
 
I looked at one of the dremel drill presses and may end up going that route. Thanks for the info on the tutorial. I appreciate it.
 
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