A very popular drill tool is capable of more than indicated in the instructions for its use. The main task of this tool is to drill holes in various existing materials. The improvement of this tool has led to the fact that today a flexible shaft is produced for a drill. This is a special nozzle, thanks to which the torque is transferred to a tool that is not aligned with the electric motor.
The flexible drive consists of such components as a cable with armor and a soft body. One side of such a device is equipped with a tip for fixing in the tool chuck, and the other side has a similar (or collet) chuck to install the appropriate work products: drills, cutters, and others. Use such equipment in such exceptional cases when it is impossible or inconvenient to work with a stationary drill.
On an ongoing basis, a flexible shaft is used in medicine, in particular in dentistry, since almost all drills operate through such a device. In construction, such a device is used extremely rarely, but if it becomes necessary to drill a hole or grind the surface in a hard-to-reach place, then only a flexible shaft on a drill will help solve the problem.
The flexible shaft can be used not only to connect to a drill, but also to a screwdriver or a mini drill. Thanks to this shaft, the working nozzle is removed from the body of the main tool, which allows different kinds fine work which requires little effort. With the help of such equipment, it is possible to drill holes from 1 mm, as well as to clean, grind, screw and unscrew screws and other fasteners.
It's important to know! The advantage of using a flexible shaft is to reduce the load on the hand, since when performing work, the impact of vibration from the tool and its weight is almost completely eliminated.
Design features
A flexible shaft for a drill is able to bend in any direction, which in fact is its main advantage. This shaft capability was achieved through the use of the following parts:
- A steel cable that plays the role of a rotating core.
- A wire in the form of a spiral located outside the device.
The shaft is covered on the outside with a special sheath, which prevents leakage of lubricant. This lubricant helps to reduce friction, and also protects the core from mechanical stress (abrasion), damage and moisture.
The design of the flexible shaft provides for the use of bearings to which the cable is attached. It is thanks to the bearings that the rotation of the cable is ensured, which is attached to the shank on one side and to the cartridge on the other. A high-quality nozzle for a drill costs about 2000 rubles. There are cheaper models, but it all depends on the manufacturer and the quality of the product.
How to DIY
To equip the electric drill with a flexible shaft design, you can not purchase it, especially if you do not plan to use the device for long-term work. You can make a device yourself from improvised means, while saving not only money, but also time searching.
To make a flexible shaft for a drill or screwdriver, you should use any braided wire in your arsenal. If one is not available, then it can be purchased. At the same time, the length of such a wire can be chosen absolutely any, depending on the technological tasks.
It's important to know! It is impossible to manually wind a spiral layer (armor) on a conventional wire, so a ready-made design should be used.
Alternatively, a speedometer cable from a car or a throttle or clutch cable from a motorcycle can be used to make a flexible shaft. After the finished braided wire is available, you will need to connect one end of it to the shank. As such, you can use the shank from a damaged drill. To connect the steel cable to the shank, you will need a steel nut and welding machine. The second end of the steel cable must be connected to any available drill chuck. It is important to understand that when performing work using such a device, one should not hold on to the cartridge, but to the braid or the outer layer of the wire.
A home-made shaft design will not only save money, but also get a product of the required length. Standard products manufactured by production have a length of no more than 50 cm. Sometimes this is not enough, so you have to resort to self-manufacturing drill equipment.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the drill, due to its improvement, is becoming an increasingly versatile type of tool. The flexible shaft is a very handy and efficient drill attachment that can be used to solve any difficult task.
Hello art lovers. Surely many of us once had the idea to make a speedometer out of a car cable. It looks pretty reliable, so it should withstand quite heavy loads. One author decided to implement a similar idea. The solution turned out to be very simple and practical. can be connected to a drill. As an experiment, the author installed a disk from a grinder on the shaft, but this is not the best solution, since cutting metal requires high speed, which the drill cannot give out. But if you install a drill chuck on the shaft, you can drill, engage in milling, and so on.
If you are interested in homemade, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with it in more detail.
Materials and tools used
List of materials:
- bolt with nuts and washers;
- bearing;
- two PVC pipes of different diameters;
- car speedometer cable.
List of tools:
- gas-burner;
- solder and flux;
- drill with drills;
- vice;
- spanners;
- hacksaw.
The process of making homemade:
Step one. Bearing installation
First we need to install the bearings in the PVC pipe, which will be part of the handle. We select the desired diameter bearing and press it into the tube. To do this, the end of the pipe must be heated gas burner, well, then a vice will come to the rescue.
Step two. Installation of the working shaft
A bolt is used as a working shaft. A hole needs to be drilled in its head, a cable will be installed here. The author solders the cable by installing it in the hole in the bolt. Well, then we install the working shaft into the housing from the tube with the bearing, fix it with a nut.
Step three. Finishing the handle and testing
As a continuation of the pen, the author used another piece of a tube of a smaller diameter. To install the tube on the cable, you need to cut it along. Then this tube is pressed into another, larger diameter. At the other end, a nut from the speedometer cable is installed. In order not to cut the tube, you can remove the end cap from the cable. Because we don't need it. Then we just put the tube on the cable in advance. We fix the tubes to each other with self-tapping screws.
That's all, after that the device is ready, we connect the flexible shaft to the drill. As an experiment, the author, using washers and nuts, fixed a disk from a grinder on a flexible shaft. In the future, it is planned to install a drill cartridge here.
That's all, homemade is ready, I hope you liked the idea. Good luck and creative inspiration if you decide to repeat. Don't forget to share your ideas and crafts with us.
Such an interesting device as a flexible shaft for a drill is designed for drilling holes in hard-to-reach places. Hard-to-reach places are such areas when access to them is limited due to large sizes power tools. To facilitate the work of power tools, tool manufacturers have invented such a device as a flexible shaft for drills and screwdrivers, which are easy to buy on the Internet or any tool store. It is a flexible nozzle device that transmits torque to a tool that is not aligned with the electric motor.
Why you need a flexible shaft for a drill
The design of the product in question is quite simple, but despite this, the device is multifunctional. The flexible drive consists of two elements: a cable with an armored base and a soft body. On one part of such a nozzle there is a special tip with which the shaft is attached to the chuck of a screwdriver or drill.
The second part, in which the nozzles are fixed, is equipped with a cartridge or a special retainer for interchangeable bits. The presence of a cartridge on a flexible shaft for drills allows you to fix drills and other types of nozzles in the design of the device. Such equipment is used in medicine, and more precisely, in the field of dentistry. With the help of the products in question, the functioning of boron machines is ensured, with which holes are drilled in the teeth to install a seal. There is a factory-made flexible shaft for a mini engraver drill on sale, which is used by craftsmen who repair electronics, watches and other small appliances.
A flexible shaft for a drill is rarely used in construction, but without it, it is sometimes simply impossible to get to the fastener to screw it in or unscrew it. The cases when a power tool cannot do without a flexible shaft include moments when there is no direct access to work with a drill or screwdriver. The considered nozzle allows you to carry out various types of work:
- Drilling holes in wood, concrete and metal
- Sanding and deburring parts
- Screwing and unscrewing various screws and self-tapping screws
It is not very convenient to use a nozzle (it is also called a “flexible spiral” or “guta-percha extension”) for drilling holes in concrete or metal, since this will require a reliable stop, which cannot give a useful device due to its design features.
It is interesting!A nozzle called a flexible shaft can be used not only on drills or screwdrivers, but also on an angle grinder. However, with this tool you need to be extremely careful and attentive. After all, the spindle speed reaches 11,000 rpm, so you need to work with the use of personal protective equipment.
Flexible shaft design for drills and screwdrivers
Considered flexible shafts on drills differ depending on the manufacturer and the cost of the product. The basis of any considered device is a steel cable inside an armored base. It is with the help of such a cable that the torque is transmitted from the drill chuck or screwdriver to the nozzle lock at the end. Let's delve into the design of the device.
The base is made of armored wire having the shape of a spiral. In order to protect the internal structure of the device and avoid leakage of grease, the outside of the spiral wire is coated with various soft materials. Often rubber is used for this, but there may be other materials, such as silicone. Lubricant is poured into the power tool bit to reduce friction and increase the protection of the inner cable from abrasion.
Bearings play an important role in the design of the device. After all, it is to them that the cable is attached, which rotates during operation, and transmits torque from the tool chuck to the working nozzle. Cheap models are not equipped with bearings, but they have a low service life. The price of the device in question is low, which makes the device affordable. If you are going to just buy a flexible shaft for a drill so that you don’t have to do it yourself, then you can implement this in any construction center or online store.
Make your own flexible shaft on a drill
Price quality device high, especially considering the fact that if you need to use the product, then in a one-time amount. In order not to have to buy it, it is easy to make a flexible shaft on a drill with your own hands.
To make flexible shafts for drills with your own hands, you will need to take any braided wire. It can also be purchased, which will cost ten times cheaper than buying a ready-made nozzle. If you plan to wind a spiral wire on a cable yourself, then you need to understand that it is impossible to do this at home. After all, armored steel is used as a spiral base. During the operation of such a device, the steel cable rotates inside the shell, and the armor in the form of a spiral wire bends in any position, but does not move. During operation, the device is held by the hand by the spiral wire.
At the end, a shank for a flexible shaft is made, which is installed in the drill chuck. To do this, use the tail of a damaged drill. The cable is connected to the shank by welding (other connection methods are unacceptable). A collet chuck is attached to the second end of the wire, which can be taken from another power tool.
The advantages of a home-made flexible shaft for screwdrivers and drills are quite a lot, but the most important is its low cost. Having applied such a nozzle once for work, you can find out what its main advantage is, and why manufacturers came up with this device. The ease of manufacturing a nozzle in the form of a flexible shaft for a drill on its own contributes to the fact that it is more interesting to make it yourself than to buy it on the Internet or in a tool store.
A flexible shaft for a drill or screwdriver, a thing that is rarely used. However, if you need to drill a hole, or screw in a screw in a hard-to-reach place where a screwdriver cannot get through, this tool is better to have available. Even if the drilling site is open, but located, for example, under the ceiling, it is better and more convenient to hold on weight the light handle of the flexible shaft than the entire drill, which weighs a lot. In this case, it can be hung by tied straps somewhere nearby, and it can be easily drilled or screwed in with a shaft. In addition, the flexible shaft is perfect for a drill machine or engraver.
If you have an engraver and you like, for example, to carve bone, wood or stone, then with this tool things will go much faster and more conveniently. But in the manufacture of a flexible shaft, there is one nuance, you need to determine for which tool you need a flexible shaft. If, for example, for a drill or a screwdriver, then it is better to use a brake cable from a motorcycle (or similar), and if for a machine drill or an engraver, then a cable from a bicycle will be more convenient here. I assembled a flexible shaft, the manufacture of which I will describe below, for a powerful electric drill, which is why I used a motorcycle brake cable. The engraver I recently purchased also pulls it - you can grind, cut and drill, but during operation, the speed drops and the engraver engine heats up quickly. It is understandable, for such a small machine, a motorcycle cable is too heavy. So for him, on occasion, I will assemble a flexible shaft lighter and thinner, from a bicycle cable ... I will not hide that the manufacturing process is quite long, but at the same time interesting.
It will take
- Two bearings from old roller skates (or similar).
- Steel cable in a protective sleeve, from a motorcycle (or from a bicycle).
- Metal tube, suitable diameter for the outer diameter of the bearings.
- Wooden handle from an old soldering iron (or similar wooden tube).
- Steel rod for the shaft, on which the cartridge will be installed later.
- Collet clamp-chuck, with an internal hole, for the shaft rod of your choice.
- Metal tube, with a diameter for the inner diameter of the bearings.
Necessary tools and consumables for work:
- Soldering iron, tin and flux.
- Boron machine or engraver, with a saw blade and a 3 mm drill bit.
- Pliers.
- Second glue with soda.
- Insulating tape.
- Scissors.
- Solid oil and engine oil.
Production of a flexible shaft
First of all, let's prepare the rope. It must be pulled out of the protective sleeve. In order for it not to bloom when we cut off the restrictive seal, it must be soldered with tin. They smeared it with flux, heated it, soaked it with tin, cut it off.
We take it out of the sleeve. On any brake cable, at the other end there is a threaded rod for adjusting traction. We cut off the thread from it, so that a small segment remains, a centimeter and a half. Next, we solder a metal tube to this segment, on which we will put bearings in the future. We also smear the surfaces to be soldered with flux, put the tube on a segment, throw a piece of tin into the tube, and heat it with a soldering iron until the tin melts and spreads over all the greased surfaces.
While the tube with the soldered cable is cooling, we will prepare the rod for the cartridge. I took it from the CD drive. But you can any suitable caliber. We adjust this rod to the inner diameter of the tube by winding electrical tape around it until the desired caliber is reached.
We insert the rod into the tube, smearing it with glue.
When the glue inside seizes, the connection will turn out no worse than from soldering, this can be seen in the video ... Next, we will prepare the holder body. For this purpose, I took an aluminum case from a perfume bottle - it fit almost perfectly under the bearings. We drill a hole in the end of the body for the exit of the rod for the cartridge.
We put bearings on the tube with the cable. My bearings came up clearly, but to be sure, I also dripped glue, for greater reliability.
Next, we also fit the bearings under the housing with electrical tape.
We drip glue inside the case, and insert the tube with the bearings put on it. We position the bearings in such a way that there are free edges of the housing. About a centimeter.
Don't forget to put a drop of oil on the bearings. We carefully monitor that the glue does not get into the bearing mechanism, otherwise all the work done will go down the drain! I used the glue Cosmo CA-500.200 - it is extremely difficult to tear off something glued to it, that's why I preferred it to soldering ... So, the shaft body is ready. It remains to attach wooden part handles with cable sleeve.
We pass the sleeve into the wooden handle, fasten it with glue inside the handle. Next, generously lubricate the cable with grease.
We thread it into the handle with a sleeve and fasten, again with glue, the wooden handle to the aluminum case.
Install the chuck.
If the resulting flexible shaft is planned to be used only for a drill or a screwdriver, then the work is over - we fix the protruding end of the cable into the drill chuck, and use it with pleasure!
And if you made a shaft for the engraver from a thin bicycle cable, then you also need to make a rigid protection for the cartridge so that the elastic cable does not loosen it. Each engraver has a cap on the thread below the cartridge. This cover is removed and, if necessary, a plastic cartridge with a flexible shaft cable is screwed onto this place. We need a thread, like on a cover, a piece of plastic pipe into which the thread will fit, and a tapering end into which we will thread the cable sleeve. There is nothing complicated here; we glue all the parts together, put it on the sleeve of the cable, clamp the end of the cable in the collet chuck, and wind the resulting cap onto the body of the engraver.
He will not let the rotating steel cable loosen the brass collet chuck. I made a flexible shaft for a drill, but to show clearly how to use it with an engraver, I also made such a protective cap.
Such a shaft will not take up much storage space - it is easy to twist it into rings, and hang it on a carnation in a shed or pantry, and at the right time it will help you make a hole in a hard-to-reach place, or screw a screw there.
The flexible shaft is used in a wide variety of industries, wherever it is necessary to transmit torque at arbitrary angles. It is used as a transmission in drills and engravers, drills, as well as for transmitting rotation in measuring instruments, such as a car speedometer.
Why a flexible shaft is needed and where it is used
A flexible drive for a drill consists of two main parts: a flexible cable with an armored braid and a soft sheath. On the one hand, it is equipped with a connection to the engine or manual drive, on the other hand, it has a tool holder.
It is very convenient to use a flexible shaft when you need to screw in or unscrew fasteners in narrow places with difficult access, where you can’t put a screwdriver in working position
Flexible shafts are also used to drive hand tools for fine and precise work. Placing a heavy high-speed electric motor in the tool itself would lead to rapid operator fatigue and loss of precision in operations. An example is a dentist's or engraver's drill.
As a result, the user gets the opportunity to work for a long time with a convenient, light and small-sized device, and the level of vibration from the electric motor transmitted to the hand is also reduced.
A feature of the use of a flexible shaft is the limitation of the maximum torque that it is able to transmit. If this limit is exceeded, the cable twists and the shaft fails.
Design features
The main design feature and at the same time the main advantage in application is the possibility of bending it anywhere in any direction. This is achieved by using the following components:
- flexible and durable steel braided cable that transmits torque;
- armored braid or coiled spring wire acting as a flexible drive housing.
Outside, the wire is covered with a corrugated plastic sheath, inside of which there is grease. It reduces friction, prevents abrasion of the core cable and protects it from moisture and dust.
The design of the flexible drive drill also includes bearings to which the cable is attached. They keep it spinning. At one end, the cable is fixed in the chuck, at the other end it is provided with a tool mount.
Such a drive is designed for light and delicate work, you should not count on it to unscrew a soured bolt or wrap a 130 mm self-tapping screw at full speed - you must remember that the torque transmitted by the flexible shaft is limited.
How to DIY
Those who like to make a tool with their own hands may well make a flexible drive for a drill on their own.
Important! it will not work to make an armor braid yourself, for this you need industrial equipment. It is also important to understand that a home-made flexible shaft for a drill will be inferior to the factory one, primarily in terms of working life. And it is better to use it occasionally - then it will not let you down at a crucial moment. For professional work in large volumes, it is better to invest in a purchased extension cord.
You will have to buy a braided cable at the store, asking you to cut the length you need. It remains for Samodelkin to cut the ends, mount the outer protection, filling it with lubricants. As a blank for the mount, a shank from a broken drill of a suitable diameter will fit into the chuck.
Alternatively, as an initial workpiece, you can take a cable from an automobile speedometer, as well as a motorcycle gas or clutch control drive.
One end of the armored wire will need to be welded to the shank of the broken drill, using a suitable diameter nut and welding machine. A drill chuck or a hex adapter for a quick tool change is welded to the second end of the cable. Remember that when working with such a drive, you need to hold it not by the rotating cartridge, but by the fixed braid. Such a DIY device will not only save you money, but also make the drive exactly the length you need. Most factory drives are 25 or 50 cm long.
Flexible shaft for engraver
The engraver, or drill, develops high speed - up to 30 thousand rpm. Small-sized and conveniently lying in the hand, the device is used for operations:
- polishing;
- milling;
- drilling holes of small diameter;
- grinding, etc.
Working as an engraver requires high precision of the master's movements. At the same time, the efforts applied are small, compared, say, with tightening self-tapping screws. The torque is also small. Such devices are used by jewelers and craftsmen. artistic creativity who create works that are not inferior to the best examples of carvers in wood, stone, and also chasing. Engraving is performed on materials such as:
- metal;
- tree;
- a rock;
- glass;
- plastics.
The flexible shaft for the engraver minimizes the manual effort of the user, turning many hours of work into an exciting experience.
Shafts for lawn mowers
In mechanical scythes with electric and gasoline drive, both flexible and rigid shafts are used.
In powerful lawn mowers capable of cutting high, hard and thick grass and even a small shrub, use all-metal hard drives. Such devices are designed for continuous operation and have high torque. They also have significant dimensions and weight, they are worn on shoulder straps. A thick rigid fishing line or powerful steel knives - two, three or four - bladed are used as a working body.
The flexible drive is used in light, low-power and small-sized trimmers designed for mowing corners after a lawn mower or cutting grass on small lawns. These trimmers are held with one hand, and a flexible shaft is used to mow in the most comfortable position. The cutting element of such devices is a fishing line of small or medium thickness or a lightweight two-blade knife. If the device is overloaded, the flexible shaft may twist. The gap in this case, as a rule, occurs near the attachment point of the shaft to the engine. If you can’t buy a “native shaft”, then you need to select from drives of a suitable length in the direction of the braid. Such drives can only rotate in one direction.
Before starting seasonal work and after changing the drive, remove the remnants of the old grease, rinse with gasoline or other solvent and fill the cavity in the handle with new grease. The type of lubrication is specified in the user manual.
Flexible Speedometer Shaft
A flexible shaft transmits torque from the transmission of a car or motorcycle to a magnetic speedometer sensor. If the speedometer needle, when driving at a constant speed, begins to twitch or falls into the extreme position, then the cable is faulty. It can be replaced with your own hands. The flexible shaft is selected according to the parts catalog for your car brand. It must match in terms of attachment points and in length. If the cable is too long or too short, there is a risk of bending it under too small a radius. This leads to extraneous noise (similar to howling), increased wear and premature failure of the assembly.
