Motorized Dubbing Brush Twister

[James Smith]

I thought I would share some photos of my version of a motorized dubbing brush twister. With the exception of the motor, I built it out of scap materials I had hanging around the garage. The motor is actually a Foredom grinder that I picked up for next to nothing from Craig's list. The motor part of the twister that you see in the second photo is just the hand piece. The actual motor hangs on the out side of my tying desk. The "tray that holds the dubbing material is a 1 inch strip I cut from a piece of 3 inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe. I mounted pieces of steel to the bottom of the PVC pipe that slip into holes in the base of the twister. It makes dubbing brushes a full 12 inches long which allow me to get 4 - 6 flies out of a dubbing brush.







I used a cam system to allow me to raise and lower the dubbing tray. This allows me to drop the tray out of the way when I twist the dubbing brush, give me a nice full 360 degree brush. To raise the tray, I simply rotate the knob to the right while rotating it to the left drops the tray back down.



The chuck on the hand piece allows me to change the dubbing brush hook for a heavy uppolstry needle. This allows me to also use this as a "dremel bug" station where I can make popper heads etc. out of flip flop foam.


Just thought I share.

p.s. In case any of you folks that don't feel the need for a motorized dubbing twister, this leaves me with a like new "manual dubbing brush twister" that I'll sell for $25.00 plus actual shipping. Let me know if your interested.


Jim Smith

[TyroneFly]

Very nice! I like the way you think. That cam setup is great.

[tlerm]

Say, that's pretty cool there. How fast does that thing spin?

[ducksterman]

Thanks, Jim.

What rpms do you feel you are operating at?....[hate ending in a preposition...maybe that's one of the reasons I type in phrases]

Can you explain that cam system some more?

I've been on a sewing machine motor kick...picking them up for $5 at thrift stores...and just using blocks of wood that I tilt out of the way....trying to get bushier brushes....but it seems to me rather than twisting in mid-air the more important thing is the material.

BTW folks, I have one of Jim's platforms and can highly recommend it.....Jim, I thought you quit making them??????
And if you want a simple power adaptation here's one....the power source is interesting.......or just twist by hand.

This is Jim's platform.........

[Ken Y]

That machine looks very nice, and I bet it works pretty well. compared to using free(almost) materials, the comercially built twisters don't stand a chance.

[James Smith]

Ducksterman,

The Foredom grinder is like a Dremel on SUPER steriods. It operates from 0 to 10,000 rpm. I use the foot pedal and start very slow probably around 2-300 rpm and after I "engage" all the dubbing material, I drop the dubbing tray and speed it up to 1000 rpm or so to finish the dubbing brush. It takes me about 20 seconds to spin a brush.

To make the cam, I cut a 3/4 inch by 1 1/4 inch "slot" in the base. I then drilled a hole from the outside of the base in to the slot about 3/4 inch from the back end of the slot. This allows the cam head to be offset so it rotates up past the surface of the base without going an equal distance below the base. The cam head is simply a piece of wood shaped so that the back end is rounded and the other end (the one you can see) rounds up to the flat surface. I drilled a hole in the cam head and used rod bond to glue the cam head to the flat end of a small xacto knife handle. I then added a knob to the male end of the xacto knife handle. It actually works very well and it takes less than a second to drop it out of the way.

I'm not discribing this very well so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll see if I can provide a few photos of the parts of the cam.

Take care.

Jim Smith

[hap]

I have serious time using a foredom handpiece as a sculptor/ivory carver and a few dozen other things the Foredom does incredibly well... Would dearly love to find them on Craig's List cheap! They are the real deal!

[JohnScott]

Jim -

Very creative, and very nice workmanship !!

John