Cutting Pearl multiples

[Greg Steil]

Has anyone had any experience cutting multiples of pearl/Abalone etc. with a scroll saw? Any tips on blade, speed, or new cuss words? I'm assuming the suppliers of inlay for Gibson did something like that. Or did they?

[Barry Daniels]

I use a high speed (60K rpm) pencil grinder in a pantograph. It's fairly time intensive though.

[David King]

I would be tempted to get one of the little Proxxon bandsaws set up for cutting glass/tiles with the coolant kit. http://www.proxtools.com/store/pc/viewP ... product=83

[Barry Daniels]

Hmm, I was looking at the Proxxon site and noticed a pantograph similar to my homemade setup.

http://www.proxtools.com/store/pc/viewP ... ategory=33

[David King]

Unfortunately the Proxxon rotary tool is too slow for most engraving jobs. It puts a Dremel tool to shame in terms of quality and feel but 20k RPM is just not fast enough for small burrs. With so many real 2D and 3D engravers getting dumped in favor of CNC you might as well get something with cast iron and a Foredom style motor and belt-drive spindle.

[Barry Daniels]

I use a pneumatic pencil grinder with a speed of 60k rpm. It works for small jobs like a signature.

[David King]

Barry, I use a Harbor Freight pencil grinder for my inlay routing and it's been great except for the oil that gets blown all over the wood. Some day I'll pick up a Sioux pencil. The HF price of $15 was hard to pass up for experimentation's sake though I did have to return the first couple to find one that had a concentric shaft.

[Barry Daniels]

I bought a cheap one too and the run out was absolutely ridiculous. A bit had a wobble of over 1/16". I threw it in the trash and ended up getting an expensive grinder from MSC which was made by Air Turbine, Inc. of Florida. It is amazing. Absolutely zero run out. It's oil less too. It actually runs at 65k rpm.