1/4 HP Flexible Shaft Carver Kit

A wonderful tool for my shop.

I purchased this at a church yard sale practically brand new for $20. Although I'm not a carver I do woodworking and I'll buy any ww equipment that I think I might use if it's a bargain. It had the receipt in the box indicating, with other accessories, it originally cost over $250. In the time I've had it I do use it for carving sculptural bandsaw boxes and sanding the curves with a 1/2" drum sander. I have learned that, to prolong the life of the shaft, you need to keep the cable as straight as possible when using. Sharp bends, while using it. generates excessive heat with cable and sheath failure. Also, pump into the sheath powdered graphite not WD40 or a similar penetrant. I've replaced the cable and sheath but for the original price I can't complain. I prefer sanding with a Dremel but I switch back and forth depending on the application.

I had been searching for a "reasonable cost" on a unit to use for porting and polishing the heads on my Harley. The usual units were either too costly or too small for my use. During my search I came across this unit and decided to give it a try. I am really glad I made that decision. This unit does a really great job. However, as with any tool it could use a few refinements. As a wish list on future product changes it could use a quick change system on the holder and the moter could use a bit more torque within its range of speeds. The only other part might be a slightly longer shaft cable. These modifications do not take away the use because it would be like having a deluxe model in place of a utility model. Overall I am quite satisfied with its performance especially since it was not sold as a porting unit. The company might even add the use for porting in its advertisment. My feeling is you can't go wrong adding this unit to your tool collection.

I purchased the WeCheer 330R power carver from Woodcraft, and I purchased the detail handpiece. The rubber coating on the flexshaft melted during the first use, within 15 minutes. I suspect there was a defect in the inner shaft. I also have a dremel flexshaft tool and have never had a problem like this with that unit. Sent an email to customer service a week ago with pictures and sales receipt, still no response. Seems to be a mediocre tool.

The ads say flexible shaft; not true! To get at difficult spots in my work anything under an eight inch bend causes heat and failure in the the "flexible" shaft. While Woodcraft recommended the tool and posts nothing but praise for it, this is a machine is for periodic short term work that requires little or no flexing in the shaft. It also requires short term use with cool down periods. I cannot recommend it for serious carvers.

All positive so far! I probably would have burned up another 2 dremel s by now. Only way to go!!!

The Wecheer Flex Shaft Carver is what I've been using for 5 years +- for carving miniature wood buildings. It's an economical alternative to more expensive brands IF, and only if, you don't mind replacing the flex shaft frequently at $15.99 a pop. I've done so probably 15-20 times, even though I would consider my carving only moderately intensive with not a lot of pull on the unit. The problem is with the metal tab at the end of the shaft that engages with the hand piece. It's only a very small, probably aluminum tab that can't stand any pull that even small burrs require to power through soft, much less, hard woods. It breaks off, bends, wears down fast with any pull at all, so that I've sometimes only gotten no more than a week's use if I'm doing quite a bit of carving, before it breaks off or wears down so that the cable doesn't engage with the hand piece. The motor works fine, the cable otherwise holds up well as does the hand piece, but the cable just spins in the sheath and the burr doesn't spin when that tiny metal extension gives up with much load at all. I was going to shift to a much more expensive Foredom carver, but when I check the illustration of the flex shaft, it looks like it has the same spring-loaded tab that the Wecheer has. The engineers need to get busy on improving this; seems like maybe a double tab, one on each side of the metal end of the shaft, would reduce the load on the single tab and provide a little longer use.

I looked at everything out there to buy the best tool. This one does the job nicely and I would recommend it.