Making an Inexpensive Pneumatic Impact Handpiece

Copyright 2017 by James P. Riser

Before I explain this project, I want to give a little background for you younger folks. Back in the
1970's and 1980's if a person wanted to do stipple engraving on glass, it meant using a Lunzer Lancer
and hand tapping each dot gently onto lead crystal. The result was an extremely delicate engraving
which appeared to have been "breathed" upon the glass surface. The level of artwork could be
outstanding but required careful lighting to be seen. Since I wanted to market my items under less than
ideal viewing situations, I needed them to be more visible.

Well, in the 1980's Don Glaser invented an air impact tool called The Gravermeister for engraving on
metal. In essence it was a miniature controlable pneumatic hammer which tapped the graver as it cut
the metal being engraved. I immediately saw how it could be used for stippling on glass. This tool
with the various handpieces did the job. I was no longer restricted to full lead crystal and could make
much more visible marks upon the glass.

The drawback to The Gravermeister was that its air pump was rather large and heavy plus it required
115 volts to operate. I was often exhibiting at craft fairs where electricity was regularly not available.

Jump ahead in time a few decades...now days The Gravermeister could be powered from an
automobile battery via an inverter. You young folks have things so easy! The system that I built for
this project can duplicate the operation of The Gravermeister (still being sold today) without the
weight and expense. This little modified air compressor now just moves air back and forth as the
piston goes up and down. As it goes up, air is forced out through the rubber tubing. As the piston goes
down, air is sucked back into the cylinder. This creates a pulsing action which in turn moves a small
piston within the handpiece. This piston gently taps the anvil of the handpiece which drives the tip.
The strength of these taps can be controlled by adjusting the handpiece, by pinching off the air hose
slightly, or by using a PWM speed control. The number of taps per second can likewise be controlled
by adjustment of the handpiece or by a speed control on the air pump. All of this is to replace the
traditional hammer and chisel used for centuries.

The little air pump is run on 12v DC. In the videos I link to I am running it from the 12v power outlet
in my van. It will also easily run from the small gel cell battery I have pictured on the last page of this
document. This makes for a very portable unit. With this unit, it is possible to literally paint on the
glass with white dots. Shading is quick and similar to
drawing. This is great for adding stipple work to copper
wheel engravings.

The first thing to do to create the desired engraving system

was to modify a common small tire compressor. There are
a number of variations among such little compressors but
all are basically the same. The modifications that I
describe can be done on all of these types of compressors.

This is the compressor that I selected for the modifications.

As part of the modifications, a number of parts will be
permanently removed. All of these modifications will
involve only the piston and cylinder head.
 The black
plastic cover
was removed
to allow
access to the
cylinder
head.

The cylinder head

seals to the cylinder
with this rubber “O”
ring.

Just below the keyhole shaped depression in the cylinder head is an opening sealed by a small rubber
one way valve. This valve has to be removed.

Access to this valve is through the

plugged hole in the top of the cylinder
head.

Once the metal plug has been removed, a

small spring and the rubber valve may be
seen. These two items can be dumped out
of the opening.

The metal plug, spring, rubber valve, and the cylinder head
with its now open air hole may be seen here.
 The metal plug was
replaced by a brass hose
connector barb.

Teflon tape was used to

make an air tight seal.

These were standard pipe

threads.

The cylinder head

extension that
went to the air
hose and pressure
gauge was sawed
off. The cylinder
head was then
drilled, and tapped
for a standard
machine screw to
act as a plug.

This completed modifications to the cylinder head. It was time to move on to the piston.

Looking down into

the cylinder, the top
of the piston with its
flap or reed valve
may be seen.

The opening in the top of the piston that is controlled by this flap or reed valve must be sealed off for
the required modification
 The cylinder is nothing
more than a steel tube
and lifts off of the
piston.

The top of the piston

was covered with oil
and needed to be
cleaned off with
mineral spirits. A small screw secured the valve and both
were removed for degreasing. The original black plastic
covering was used to supply plastic to melt into the piston
head opening.

To the right may be seen the piston top, screw,

valve, and opening to be sealed with the molten
plastic.

The black plastic was melted with a soldering gun and

blended into the piston top to permanently seal the
opening. The screw was replaced to seal the screw
hole.

The cylinder was next slipped back over the piston and
grease was applied with a popcycle stick.
 The inside of the cylinder looked like this before
replacing the cylinder head.

Reassembled, the modified air pump looked

like this. This air pump would now force out
a puff of air on the piston’s up stroke and
suck this air back in on the down stroke.

It was now time to begin construction of the handpiece to work with the air pump.

A 2 1/4” long stainless steel bolt and its matching nut were to be the source metal for the handpiece.

The bolt was

chucked in the
lathe to begin
removal of the
hex head.
 The head was removed and the end turned down to the diameter of
the bolt itself. Once the head was gone, the bolt was flipped end
for end in the chuck.

A 1/4” diameter hole was drilled and reamed the

entire length of the bolt.

The plain end of the bolt was drilled

and bored to fit the brass base of a
small drill chuck.

Things now looked

like this. The hex nut
has been turned to a
slight taper.

The brass end of the drill chuck just fits the

hole in the plain end of the bolt.
Things fit together like this...

In keeping with my policy of recycling materials as much as possible, I machined the drill chuck fitting
from an old stainless steel rod from a junked printer.

The end was turned down to just slip into the brass base of
the drill chuck.

The turned down end was slid into the brass then
parted off from the rod.

The opposing two set screws securely hold the

machined rod end in position.
The turned end sticking out from the brass base just
barely fit into the 1/4” hole through the bolt. This
formed the anvil for the piston to strike.

Assembled, things looked like this.

The piston was next machined to just freely slide end to end in the 1/4” hole through the bolt.

The piston was

a cylinder with
beveled ends.

Shown here is the piston for a test fit.

Delrin was used for the knob. It was chucked in the lathe, drilled, and
threaded to match the nut and bolt (1/2” 20 tpi).

The bolt was tried for a

test fit.

The delrin was turned to shape...

and screwed onto a second bolt which served

as a handle for finishing the knob.
After shaping the knob, things looked like this.

The knob still needed a hose connector.

A hole was drilled and

threaded with a pipe tap.

Four vent holes needed to be drilled at the marked distance.

This distance was set to straddle the top of the anvil.

The four equidistant holes were drilled.

After adding the hose connector and the four holes drilled, things looked like this.

This is an “exploded view” of the parts.

The length of HSS drill blank in the drill chuck will later be ground into a graver.

The end of the bolt with the brass drill chuck in

position was drilled for a spring pin.

Note the holes through the brass and bolt.

 The spring pin or roll pin was used to lock everything together.

Cleaned up, things looked good with no burs nor pin ends sticking out.

This completed the handpiece. Now it was time to make a stippling tip.

The tips I will use in the new handpiece are made from worn
out or broken solid carbide PCB drills.

They are sharpened to a 60-90 degree point with a diamond

wheel.

The resulting tool looks like this. It gets mounted in

the drill chuck of the handpiece. Wood workers can
forge and grind miniature wood carving tools. Metal
engravers can mount standard gravers in the drill
chuck.
Here is the handpiece ready to go to work with a solid carbide stippling tip.

This is the small 12 v. gel cell I can use for craft demos etc.
It came with a small charger but is shown with a power
outlet to match the power cord on the air pump.

Here are links to several videos of the tool running. If you listen carefully, you will be able to hear the
tapping of the handpiece piston against the anvil connected to the drill chuck.

Air pump video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHRYIEGLS8E

Handpiece video:
https://youtu.be/ba5r4HN-BBM