Tapering plastic rods

Old school 3/8 drill with variable speed. Look for the setting on the trigger like a dial, also reverseable direction. Mine is a Black+Decker Decker NO 7190-04 should find at garage sale for 5-10$. Dremel tools run to fast, set-up the drill and it is like a lathe for rod stock both metae and plastic. Files and samding sticks work best for plastic, use dremel for harder materials, turn in drill and use dremel for cutting tool.

Good Day!!!

I don't have a proper Dremel tool.  It is a rotary tool from Harbor Freight;  the cheap kind with only one speed. When I used it for tapering the rods, the plastic basically melted away, but it worked none the less. I don't have much of a budget for model building, so I have to be quite frugal (read cheap) which is the way I am anyway  That chuck for the Dremel would be very handy!     

I too like working with brass. Albeit I haven't used any on my frigate yet, but I know I will.

                                                                                                 Thanks

Paul

OldTramp

Thank you for responding tankerbuilder!!!

I only have a drill press, and thought about using it, but I achieved good results using my rotary tool with a cut-off wheel. Mounted in the jig I built, it makes a decent mini- disc sander.

                                                                               Thanks!!!!

Paul

Do you have a Dremel tool with variable speed? You can buy an adjustable chuck for the Dremel, run it at slow speed. I use needle files rather than sandpaper most of the time, though do occasionally use sandpaper.  Also, for the very small stuff I use brass rod rather than styrene.  I have tapered or rounded 1/16 styrene, but prefer brass for anything smaller than 3/32.

Hey PAUL! I have tried my DREMEL but it runs to fast even on low speed.That is ,until I got the battery powered one for CHRISTMAS.I hope to see pics of your ship soon.      Tankerbuilder

Thank you for responding tankerbuilder!!!

I only have a drill press, and thought about using it, but I achieved good results using my rotary tool with a cut-off wheel. Mounted in the jig I built, it makes a decent mini- disc sander.

                                                                               Thanks!!!!

Paul

Hey-OldTramp; You should try this.When you need to taper something ,do this.Take your plastic rod and chuck it in a 9 or 12 volt electric drill held in a vise.Then using the trigger or the speed settings(IF it is set up that way) let it run at a very slow speed ,Take a strip of 320 sandpaper and as the part turns sand a taper into it.Cut off what you need and then on to the next et-cetera.I have been doing gun barrels and such, both,plastic and brass for years with very few if any rejects.You could use tubing on some items or solid rod.(your choice) . hope this helps     tankerbuilder

Thanks for the idea, CuriousG!!!

Those are exactly what I'm building.  Actually, I figured out a way to achieve the desired effect.  I made a jig to support a rotary tool. (Harbor Freight's version of a Dremel)  Using a cut-off wheel, I can taper each piece the same.

Your Idea with the pins will come in handy for other parts of the model!!    Thank You!!

Paul

wow! that's a small piece of plastic to have to work with. any chance you could replace the plastic with another material? I'm thinking maybe a steel sewing pin would work, instead of sharpening the plastic you could file down the pin tips to make them blunter. lot easier to keep them uniform that way. i'm aassuming they look something like this?