O'k I am fed up with pricking my fingers with my reamer, when cleaning out my bead holes.
What do you all use?
Is there an electric or batter operated reamer.
I bought an electric reamer from martin, 'tis brilliant :D
Is it better than the battery one Martin sells? There aren't replacement bits for the battery one and my last one has been problematic.
Noty seen the battery one, but you can def get replacement bits for the electric one.
This is uncanny!
For 2 days solid now, I have been racking my brains trying to remember where to get those rather expensive reamers that were mentioned on here some months back.
I think Kathy said that she uses them, and as is my usual way, I never got around to actually buying some.
I really wish that Martin would find a way to stock the thinner of the three reamers that come with the battery operated one that he sells, as since I started using 2mm mandrels, only the thinner one for 1.6mm mandrels fits.
I haven't seen the electric ones that Martin sells. I'll have to go look now
Linda x
I have stabbed myself countless times too Rita. Have heard mention of the electric ones from Martin on here before but never found them on the site!
If I only have a few beads to do, I use a mandrel of the appropriate size, dipped while damp into silicon carbide grit from Mango beads - works a treat!
I use the grits as well, with a mandrel or a hand reamer. They work very well. I got mine from Jocks years ago.
Can only see the manual reamer on Martin's website now?
The grit is fantastic. I use it on'see-throughs'.
Linda x
I bought a rotary tool From eBay, works a treat
if you have a lot to do buy a pedant drill from axminster with some diamond burrs. Worth the initial outlay you can use the pendant drill for engraving, polishing grinding and cutting its a worthwhile addition to your workshop.
The axminster code for the tool is 300228 and the handset 910340.
I use a cordless Dremel with a diamond bit from Artintheround (http://www.artintheround.com/category_14/Bead-Cleaning-Tools.htm). The tip has no grid on it, so if you are not good at aiming for the hole, you won't scratch your bead.
Re aiming for the bead hole, I lightly insert the tip into the bead hole before turning the drill on.
Thanks, Miriam.
That was the reamer I couldn't find again
Linda x
Can I ask you all, do any of these tools or the grit method leave the inside of the bead smooth or polished? I use a manual reamer mostly but also have a set of diamond bits which I've tried with my dremmel type tools but still get an etched look inside the bead. I've just started doing some underwater beads from Margaret Lockwoods tutorial and it would be great to eliminate the white hole marks down the centres. Many thanks.
Nete
Due to the nature of what goes on inside the bead, I doubt you would ever get an 'unetched' look of some degree, but the small video on the link that Miriam put up shows the expensive reamer giving a better job than most. Maybe.
Linda x
Someone, somewhere suggested putting a dab of clear nail polish inside if you want to get rid of the white etched look on the core. Not tried it, but sounds possible, if fiddly.
To get polished - absolutely no mark centres, work down grits finishing with cerium oxide, tis easy just hard work!
Thanks peeps. Shall do a bit more lookng into.