• It's time to cast your vote in the May 2025 Turning Challenge. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Maggie Shapiro for "My 2nd Basket Illusion" being selected as Turning of the Week for 26 May, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

PSI for dental handpiece piercing

A

ALAN THOMAS

Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
22
Likes
0
Location
cornwall england
Website
www.atwoodturning.com
I have just picked up a dental handpiece which I want to try for piercing some of my pieces. Can anyone tell me what the pound per square inch pressure is required to run these tools? (it's an NSK handpiece). The leaflet that came with the tool says between 2-2.5 kg per cm2. That works out at about 35psi which seems a little high. Thanks:)
 
Psi

I use a dental (angled) and regular turbine, both at about 40 psi. If it requires oil make sure you oil it! The dental tools sometimes use water on a 4 port tool so make sure you cover that. I use a pancake compressor and it works but, is really noisy even with a box around it. An 80 gal tank would be nice but my Dad borrowed my big compressor almost two years ago and it's still there, I know I see it every Friday night at supper time. Some turbines don't require lubrication, but a lot do. It's important if you don't want to replace the turbine. Have fun it's like carving butter, oh and watch those fingers it cuts flesh a whole lot faster than wood.
Bill
 
Watch your system pressure carefully....*

My next door neighbor is a retired dentist, and I have previously talked with him at length about getting set-up to use a dental handpiece for carving and piercing. One of the most important bits of advice (no pun intended!) he gave me was to be sure the regulation of air pressure was carefully controlled and reliable. In a 35+ year dental practice career he said that he had destroyed more handpiece turbines due to bad regulation of the air pressure than anything else (malfunctioning regulators, initial pressure set too high, etc.). The advice about lubrication, etc. already posted is good, but above all, don't use a cheap regulator and get one that can be adjusted fairly accurately. In general 30-40 (maybe 45) psi is the target, but pressure requirements will vary by brand and style of handpiece.

Rob Wallace

*Maybe this is also good advice for participants of the "AAW Information" threads....???
 
Thanks for all the info guys. Rob, I have installed an extra regulator to my compressor so I get two opportunities to get the correct pressure. Now all I have to do is find the right oil and I'm all set :cool2:
Watch this space (or should that be watch this negative space ;))
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top