# Chicagoe Electric Flex Shaft Carver



## JoeLyddon

Thank you!

I was not aware (or forgot) Harbor Frt. had one of those…

Nice score!!

Hope it LASTS.


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## doubleDD

Good review Jim. I looked at this carver a ways back. Always wondered if it would have been worth buying. I went out and bought a flexible shaft drill ext. instead since I didn't have have a lot of use for it. It looks like you already made some nice improvements. Good idea to mount it on the drill press.


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## Rustic

Great review I would also add that you may want to spend the money and get a different hand piece, as the stock hand piece heats up too quick. Also, take the sheath off the shaft and lube the shaft with white lithium grease.


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## stefang

That sounds like a fantastic value Jim and a good alternative for occasional use.


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## casual1carpenter

"I was thinking of turning a wooden handle to go over that aluminum piece and it would act as an insulator because aluminum transfers heat real well."

Jim, have you considered that while a wood turned handle might look nice the added insulation would interfere with the units ability to dissipate the heat it generates and introduce premature wear? I do like the foot pedal modification you have made. I bought a Wecheer unit awhile back and one of my personal issues was the foot pedal and my ability to control the speed. I guess that I run the carver like I drive, LOL, pedal down and often wondered if there was a way to add an adjustable screw thread governor, and it looks like your mod would be three quarters of the way there.


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## Kentuk55

Nice review, Jim. This tool is very handy in the shop. Very useful.


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## MShort

Thanks Jim. Looks like you have a great setup for power carving now.


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## Gene01

The chuck size would be a deal breaker for me….unless another hand piece with chuck would be easily obtained and not too expensive.
Gotta research it cuz that tool would be nice to have.


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## Jim Jakosh

Hi Rick. I'll have to look at yours and see where to get a different hand piece- hopefully it will take 1/4" and I won't have to turn down all my cutters. 10-4 on the Lithium grease!!

Hi Casural1carpenter, if you foot switch is like this one, you could put a bloc inside to limit the travel to like 3/4 speed or whatever. With the Wecheer, do you have to stand with you knee bent or is that foot switch lower?
10-4 on that wood handle and heat capture!

Hi Gene, are you looking for a chuck with 1/4" opening , too?

Hey, it is cheap and you get what you pay for but I find with a little modification , some Chinese tools can be made to be very useful and reliable and comfortable to use….............Jim


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## mpounders

All of the Foredom and Wecheer standard handpieces will work with this machine; I added a Foredom handpiece that takes 1/4" burrs for about $40 to mine. You can find the instructions on the Foredom website for lubing the shaft, because too much grease can mess it up also! And I don't think you want to lube the handpiece at all as that could possible cause it to fail. Heat buildup can also be caused by having too much of a bend in the cable while using it (you also want to store it with the cable hanging straight, not coiled up). Kinks can cause it to heat up and cause the inner shaft to break quicker. I definitely got my money's worth out of mine!


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## HillbillyShooter

Great review with a lot of informative feed back. Thanks!


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## Gene01

Jim,
Yes, 1/4" max. Preferably Jacobs style like the HF one. That way, I could use almost any bit.


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## Rustic

Jim I will show you all you need to know lol


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## Jim Jakosh

Thanks, John.

Hi Mike, that is good for all of us to know. Thank you very much!!!!!!!

Hi Gene, note mike's response. You can get to 1/4" using a Foredom cable., but I think they use collets which I like better anyway. I think I saw 1/8, 5/32 and 1/4".

Hi rick. I'll take you up on that this weekend!...............Cheers, Yim


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## mpounders

Here is the link to the MasterCarver Stealth handpiece. It is a geared chuck that goes up to 1/4" burrs…$76


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## crank49

Foredom makes all kinds of handpieces for these flex shaft machines, with chucks and collets.
A few of them will only work with certain shafts and motors, but the style copied by HF is the most common.

I have used several Foredoms over the years in my jewelry shops and they are great machines, but do have their limitations.


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## CyberDyneSystems

Great review, and I concur with a lot of what you are saying based on my own experience with it.

I got one of these about 18 months ago (also with the 20% off coupon)

The first thing that WILL break is the pedal/Switch.
The "hinge" on this plastic pedal is nothing more than a nub of plastic set into a hole in the plastic of the mating piece.

The other immediate issue is that the shaft begins to heat up much faster than a fordom shaft does,. but for many who aren't using this for hours on end, (myself included) this might not be a huge issue.. but I do worry that the shaft life is likely the next issue after the plastic pedal.

Other than that, it still works fine after over a year of light use.
The pedal of course can be fixed or replaced any number of ways, so for a tidy savings of hundreds, it is not in any way a deal breaker IMHO,. just be aware is all.


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## CyberDyneSystems

"I added a Foredom handpiece that takes 1/4" burrs for about $40 to mine. You can find the instructions on the Foredom website for lubing the shaft, because too much grease can mess it up also!"

mpounders, both very valuable additional info! thanks!


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## mafe

Looks great Jim, I had a really crappy one and burned it…
Best thoughts my friend,
Mads


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## Jim Jakosh

Thanks , Mike, Michael, CDS and mads!!

Hi Mike . that is nice Stealth hand piece!!

Hi CDS, they must have changed the hinge on the foot switch because mine has two shoulder bolts that the top pivots on and it looks pretty sturdy!! Also, with the offset piece I made for the switch, I won't ever have the weight of my foot and leg pushing on the pivots. The way they have it designed, you can stand right on it!

Thanks, Jim


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## Tennessee

I've owned one of these for a little over a year. Biggest issue is the mandrel heating up, and mine also had a play issue where the flex shaft connected to the motor. Too much play, but a cheap copper washer fixed it. Only use it occasionally, but so far, good to go.


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## Jim Jakosh

Hi Paul. Good to know about how to fix that motor connection if I ever need to. I won't use it much but carving and shaping without it now would be much harder. It opens new horizons!
Cheers, Jim


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## StumpyNubs

My experience with this carver has been the OPPOSITE of yours. The foot switch was just on/off with no variable speed, the flex shaft overheats and rattles like crazy and fell apart with minimal use. But, as with every HF tool, you get a bad one sometimes. I'm glad yours worked out!


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## Jim Jakosh

Yea, Stumpy, that is how that Chinese stuff is. Some work fine and others are junk right out of the box. I've had both kinds. Some times I can fix the junk ones and sometimes I just return them.

there is a 90 day warranty on this item so you could take it back if under 90 days.

I have found that Harbor Freight supports a lot of their products with parts. I had a switch go bad in one of their 1300# overhead hoist after about 9 years use and they gave a number to call to get a replacement and it was like $2.50. I priced the same type switch at Grainger and it was over $20, probably American made, but I would have had to remodel the handle to get it to fit.

.............Jim


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## Grumpy

Thanks for the heads up Jim.


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