# Beall pen wizard



## Penguingeoff (Mar 19, 2010)

Thinking of getting one of these for spiral milling on con-rods and pillars. Anyone used one. www.bealltool.com










(Web site corrected by tin falcon)


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## Penguingeoff (Mar 19, 2010)

Whops, should be www.bealltool.com


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## BigBore (Mar 20, 2010)

I don't personally own one but have seen dozens of posts regarding it on pen turning forums. 

The first thing I would notice is that the piece being turned is mounted on a mandrel which means it would have to be hollow. I'm sure one could machine a clamping system to hold the columns somehow.

Secondly, the fact that a Dremel is used, I wonder what the lateral forces on the Dremel would amount to. I suppose with some good carbide ball mills and a really slow feed rate, one might pull it off. Also, I think the depth of cut is set manually by how you set the Dremel and the bit in the collet.

Third, since it is designed to cut wood I wonder if the stiffness of the Beall's frame and shafts would be adequate for metal.

I have seen some pretty intricate designs made on wooden pens. I have something similar that was sold by Sears that you could mount a full sized router to for fluting and spiral cutting wood rounds up to 3" dia. and 24" long. The Beall machine really is pretty small. Good news is that it didn't cost anywhere near $300. Bad news is that I don't see them listed on the Sears site. At least I couldn't find it in the 10 minutes that I looked.

I would be curious as to how difficult it would be for one of you guys with the "cool tools" to beef up the basic design of the Beall w/ some heftier steel drill rod and commercial gears with a micro adjustable mount for, say a 1HP trim router? Since I'm just a wanna be at this point, I'd love to hear what others have to say. Very nice concept. I likes it!

Ed


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## cfellows (Mar 20, 2010)

There's a ton of videos demonstrating this tool on youtube. Here is an example by the inventor:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXgBPEpWuoQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXgBPEpWuoQ[/ame]

Looks like a fun little tool.

Chuck


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## GWRdriver (Mar 20, 2010)

This might be a marvelous tool for pen work but as Ed says . . . Forces. IMHO it simply doesn't appear to have the mass and rigidity needed to machine solid metal in the conventional sense and I don't see this tool working at all for what you want it to do. The Dremel is inadequate in this area also. IMHO it will be a disappointment and a waste of your money.


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## Kermit (Mar 20, 2010)

The first link posted at the top,(the one that's pluralized) is making my virus alert ring in alarm. 

Perhaps it should be taken down before someone without proper virus protection clicks on it and blames HMEM for the problems?

 It's listed as a problem website and my virus program refuses to even connect with it without my overriding its warnings.

The second link(the corrected one) seems normal.

Kermit


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 20, 2010)

PG:
As they say you pays your money ant take your chances. I can not attest that it will in fact work on metal. I will say that a Dremel tool will in fact do a nice job cutting into brass. See my old thread on team build 1 http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2286.0 
I have used a table saw (with a proper blade) to cut aluminum. I have used a compound miter saw to cut aluminum downspouts. I have used my woodcutting band saw for cutting aluminum and brass. and i have used a trim router to make plastic parts. 
A woodworking tool can be used for some metal work. 
I still have all my fingers etc so if done carefully it can be safe. Go at with out thinking or like a mad man and you could hurt someone . this goes with all power tools. 
So will the Beal do what you want ? It may, I would think it would make a few occasional decorative columns out of aluminum or brass. 
Or you could make your own stiffer more rigid one. 
A neat tool interesting Idea thanks for sharing.
Tin 
PS kermit et al I fixed the link problem.


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## cfellows (Mar 20, 2010)

It definitely has gadget appeal! Wonder if I could build one...

Chuck


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## cfellows (Mar 20, 2010)

Here's a website with lots of information on Rose Engines... kind of related to the pen wizard.

http://www.ornamentalturners.org/

Chuck


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## Dickie0011 (Feb 8, 2013)

Beall Pen Wizard

Please Help !  I have wasted so much wood and brass, where do I find how to match the wheel pass setting to any of the designs, say multi spiral, how do I know to use 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 ????   I just can not find the info I need....

Thankx, [email protected]


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