Make an Oscillating Tool From a Tooth-Brush
by ShakeTheFuture in Workshop > Tools
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Make an Oscillating Tool From a Tooth-Brush
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If you have an old tooth-brush lying around, you can make a mini Oscillating Tool.
Well, actually you can also make it from a tooth-brush you use on daily bases.
You'll have a 2 in 1 Tooth-brush/Oscillating Tool.
You can use it to brush your teeth and when needed, transform to a cutting tool. Crazy? Maybe!
I did not want to destroy my tooth-brush, that's why I made it with a help of a 3D printer, but I'll give you some tips on how to make it without a 3D printer.
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You'll want to use a toothbrush with a metal rod.
First I removed the head.
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I 3D printed an adapter for my tooth-brush.
It lets me use rotary tool's accessories with my tooth-brush.
It just slides onto the rod.
If you don't have a 3D printer, you can make an adapter from a dowel (just try to make it light)
Hot glue also works. When I was first testing this thing, I drilled a hole in the saw blade and glued it to the rod with some hot glue.
As you probably know, the hot glue can be easily removed with some alcohol.
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Most of tooth-brushes are powered with 1 or 2 AA batteries.
To successfully cut something, we need to make the motor spin faster. Easiest way to do is by increasing the voltage.
I used an adjustable power supply.
If your tooth-brush will be used only as an oscillating tool, you can solder the cables directly to the connectors.
Alternatively you can make a power supply powered battery from "AAA to AA" adapter.
In my case I used a 3D printer to make a dummy battery.
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I removed the sleeve from electrical terminals and cut off the fork.
After inserting 2 springs, I crimped paper binding pins to the cables.
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Then I put on the caps to keep binding pins in place.
The spring will allow binding pins to move, so it will be easier to reach the contact.
And last, I glued the cable to the case.
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That's it!
We have made a cutting tool that can transform back into the tooth-brush.
Does it cut?
Yes it does, but it's not very powerful.
It's best to use very thin saw blades.
Remember that by the end of the day it's still a tooth-brush, so it might break down by using it that way :)