Replies

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Jun 22, 2007 09:44am | #1

   I took it to mean a dentists "drill" -- which is actually a very small die grinder.

    

    

    

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2. 
   dgreen | Jun 22, 2007 10:14am | #2

   The one I have is made by Astro Pneumatics. It has an 1/8 inch collet and uses 90psi compressed air. They call it a pencil die grinder and it turns 56,000 rpm with a surprising amount of torque. I think the depth of wood it would pierce depends on the length of the cutter you put in it. The longest one I have is about 2". It looks and sounds like a dentist's drill.

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3. 
   melonhead | Jun 23, 2007 04:37pm | #3

   buffo:

   I have been a dental equipment service technician for nearly 40 years. The dentists pneumattic tool that is refered to is probably what a dentist would consider a "slow speed handpiece" which is essentially the mini air die grinder another poster mentioned . The dental version runs in the 50,000 rpm range but the shank size of the burrs (bits) is smaller than the 1/8" size that most of the mini die grinders take. Most of the Dremel and Dremel knock offs include a collet that will accept standard dental burrs.

   The commercial mini die grinder is probably perfectly adequate for woodworking. The dental version offers few advantages  and the disadvantage of not accepting 1/8" shanked burrs, and has a price tag of around $500.

   There is another type of air powered dental handpiece called a high speed which runs in the 300,000 to 400,000 rpm range . They use an air driven turbine which gives the high rpm's but low torque. They wouldn't be very practicle for woodworking, but can do amazingly fine work in carving hard materials (like tooth enamel). The burrs for these are tiny and don't extent more than ~1/2" from the end of the collet.

   Probably more than you ever wanted to know about dental drills :-)

   Bill

1. 
   user-1119321541 | Jun 23, 2007 11:03pm | #4

   Thanks all - it's always useful to know I could adapt a Dremel for amateur dental work if needs be.

1. 
   troys | Jun 24, 2007 12:09am | #5

   that makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it:)Troy