Diprofil die filer is vibrating like mad

I recently bought used on ebay a Diprofil machine, powered by a Gesswein motor and flex shaft. I cleaned and regreased it, mounted a die file in the holder, and ran the motor at a relatively slow setting, about 200 strokes per minute. The tool vibrated so hard in my hand that I had to turn it off after about 30 seconds, and the file was moving around so much that it would be impossible to do any sort of die work with it. Not just moving back and forth, like it's supposed to, but lateral motion all over the place. Kind of hard to describe.

I ran the speed of the motor up and down a bit to confirm that I wasn't just hitting an unlucky resonance, but speed changes had no real effect on the vibration. I then ran the motor and flex shaft with a Foredom #30 handpiece attached (known to be good) and the system worked very well.

Nothing is loose, and all the bearings feel good. The spring load in the tool holder shaft is in good shape, and compresses under hand pressure.

The dial on the eccentric inside the tool body is set on "3".

A couple of questions, if that's OK?

1) The dial on the eccentric has two symmetric scales, both numbered from 1 to 6. What is there a difference between the two scales?

2) The felt lubricating wick at the tip of the tool holder was in very rough shape, and I replaced it with a wrap of 1/8" felt cut to fit. That felt is just for lubrication, right? It's not supposed to be a bearing, is it?

3) Does anyone know what goes wrong on these little gems?

Thank you very much for the help!

Dave

Any help?

http://www.diprofil.se/index.asp?id=175&n1=Downloads

"The dial on the eccentric has two symmetric scales, both numbered from 1 to 6. What is there a difference between the two scales?"

The stroke adjustment is a simple eccentric that goes from 0 to 6 mm. The pairs of numbers from 1 to 5 produce the same stroke, whichever way you turn the dial from 0.

"The felt lubricating wick at the tip of the tool holder was in very rough shape, and I replaced it with a wrap of 1/8" felt cut to fit. That felt is just for lubrication, right? It's not supposed to be a bearing, is it?"

The felt would keep big pieces of grit out of the sliding bearing, and keep the parts oiled.

"Does anyone know what goes wrong on these little gems?"

I bought one on eBay that was very badly worn on the recprocating guides, too much to use any more. I am sure it had heavy use with diamond powder, polishing molds. The guides near the file holder chuck keep the file from twisting and moving sideways. The other problem I've seen is missing small parts, like screws. They are made in Sweden, and I have never tried to buy spare parts.

Keep in mind that the correct steel files for these tools are 1/8" shank machine files, with parallel sides and teeth that cut on the pull stroke. I have a bunch of them by Nicholson, but I have not seen them for sale for many years. Diamond files, even the cheap Chinese needle files, work pretty well because they cut in any direction.

They do vibrate. If you are using a long steel file, the mass of the file adds to the vibration. Steel files need to be run very slowly if filing steel, just like the rules for milling and drilling with carbon steel tools. I have a couple dozen original diamond files in Diprofil packages. Most are very short, so light weight. They also made a tiny saw and various holders for stones, felt bobs and metal laps.

Larry

I've spent many hours with a "diaper file" polishing molds. They can shake your arm off if you let them. I know with a polishing stone, you need to apply flat, even, pressure to your work to keep it from spinning or bouncing. But not so much pressure that you break the polishing stone. Also play with the angle you are holding it to the work at and see if that will smooth it out. You could possibly shorten the stroke up some to start out too, at least until you get the hang of it. It will take some time before the two of you can work "as one".

Been a while since i used mine,but I don't recall it vibrating bad. Are you running it too fast,maybe? mine is in good condition,but always had a tendency to overheat. I use needle files in mine.

Are you using a motor that has the low-speed PTO on the top? I always attach the flexshaft to the low speed PTO, when using a Profiler.

Foredom used to make flex shaft motors with gear reduction on one end and direct drive on the other. I just looked at their latest online catalog and see they now sell low speed high torque motors instead of the old double end models.

http://www.blackstoneind.com/foundations/store/home.asp

A few days ago, I got one of the double end motors on eBay. The nameplate says Diprofil, made by Foredom. Previously, I have used my Diprofil heads with a model SR Foredom motor, which does not have the reduction gear. I have many Foredom and Diprofil machines, which are very useful for the work I do. I like them better than air tools.

Larry