CARDING AND CLEANING your Buttons the EASY WAY
E-Z peazy CLEAN AND CARD –
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I love button collecting, but HATE the chore of putting holes in matboard to card. Mostly because it kills my hands I think, and it takes FOREVER to use an awl to punch holes in a card. By the time I’m done, my hands are killing me and I’m over it... putting off getting the buttons on the cards in favor of something fun (like Wine and Cheetos).
(Flying Button Ranch is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate Program. Links below provide a means for me to earn a small fee by linking products mentioned in my blog to Amazon.com, at no additional cost to you).
I love button collecting, but HATE the chore of putting holes in matboard to card. Mostly because it kills my hands I think, and it takes FOREVER to use an awl to punch holes in a card. By the time I’m done, my hands are killing me and I’m over it... putting off getting the buttons on the cards in favor of something fun (like Wine and Cheetos).
So, while having some wine, I started thinking about making carding easy and more fun. What makes holes without me having to hold and be strong? A drill press. Do I have one? NO Do I have room for one if I buy it? NO. I do have a drill... my Dremel. Hmmm. *Runs to Google* Ahhhh HA!
Well, A MINI DRILL PRESS would work! It would go through A SMALL STACK OF MATBOARD! But what if it also POLISHED/CLEANED buttons?
OMG take my money! MAGICAL!
And I so I went to Da Google, found/ordered one. I have had it for a while and I’ve FINALLY fixed the problem of getting lots of matboard punched and ready to card. Bonus? Not poking yourself with an awl. LOL
I already had a DREMEL MULTIPRO with adjustable speed, all the attachments and a FLEX SHAFT. It was a birthday gift from Mr. FBR years ago. I used it all the time, even holding on to it, and trying to drill cards with it, it worked for that... sort of (and was dangerous as heck). Then, THIS arrived:
NOW I use this fabulous little DREMEL DRILL PRESS to drill ALL my cards (multiples at ONE TIME) and to BUFF/POLISH buttons!
This was a game changer for me, and I give it 5 star buttons.
I can highly recommend this little miracle worker (and if you already have a Dremel VARIABLE SPEED Multi-tool to begin with, just getting this DRILL PRESS is super inexpensive). Just what I'll save on Band-aids, Advil and Aspercreme alone will help to pay for it... Ha ha
It has a Flex Shaft Tool Stand on the top also, which allows for telescopic adjustment for a Flex Shaft (16-29 inches) AND a "Crows Nest" for storage of bits, buffers, wrenches and other accessories. Cord management features. Nice!
- Note: Compatible with Dremel Rotary Tool models 100, 200, 275, 285, 300, 395, 398, 400, 800, 3000, 4000, 4200, 8100, 8200, 8220
Here is everything you need to know to use it:
PATTERN ON YOUR CARD: I either use a plastic template to draw circles in a pattern and mark where the holes will go ON THE TOP CARD, OR I use an old matboard with a pattern of holes already punched (Placed on the top of the stack of cards I'll be drilling. The other option is to just mark dots on the TOP CARD in any pattern I want.
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| PRE-DRILLED CARD WITH HOLES TO USE AS TEMPLATE. |
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| OLD COMPETITION CARD, USED AS TEMPLATE. Yup, a DIMINUTIVE card with 70 !$*@#! HOLES THAT I ORIGINALLY HAD TO AWL PUNCH BY HAND. UGH! |
CLAMPING: NEXT, I clip the 4 or 5 undrilled cards together (with the pattern on top) with LARGE 2" BINDER CLIPS.
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| USE 2" BINDER CLIPS TO CLAMP ALL THE CARDS TOGETHER, TIP: YOU CAN REMOVE THE SILVER EAR PIECES BY SQUEEZING THEM TOGETHER IF THEY'RE IN THE WAY OF DRILLING! PUT THEM BACK IN/ON WHEN YOU'RE DONE TO REMOVE THE CLAMPS. |
Put on EYE PROTECTION (DO as I SAY, not as I DO). LOL
The base has areas to screw it down to a table top. I've used it without screwing it down, but I'm thinking about attaching it to a large old wood cutting board. It'll keep it stable, I'll be able to move it and it won't take up too much room.
TURN IT ON: I use the higher speeds. Put your stack on the Without much force or pressure, pull down the handle, letting the drill do the work, drilling through the spots you want, easily moving the card
around to the next marked area. You can bring down the handle/drill bit and hover over the spot to make sure you hit it exact.
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| ALL SET UP AND READY TO GO! |
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| SO EASY! GUESS WINE AND CHEETOS WILL HAVE TO WAIT! |
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| QUICK DRILLING OF FLOCKED COATED MAT BOARDS AND WOVEN FABRIC BOARDS (THAT'S HARD TO PUNCH BY HAND)! <3 |
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| BIG PILE OF DRILLED CARDS IN MINUTES AND READY TO GET CARDING! |
I had a few designs that required me to make a few of the center holes myself (2 or 4 holes out of 30 on 4 or 5 cards? Well, I can certainly live with that!). I just mark the spots I can't reach with my awl, and use my Dremel with the FLEX SHAFT ATTACHMENT to zip in those holes while the card is still clipped together. The Drill press has a top attachment built in to hold a Flex Shaft attachment ALSO. Super!
If you don't have one, you can still remove your Dremel, leave the cards clipped together and zip in those holes or just use your awl for the 2 or 4 you need to do.
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| MARKING A FEW CENTER SPOTS WITH AN AWL THAT I COULDN'T REACH IN THE VERY CENTER. I USE THE DREMEL BY HAND, OR LEAVE CLAMPED, AND USE THE FLEX SHAFT OR YOUR DREMEL BY HAND TO DRILL THOSE COUPLE OF HOLES THROUGH ALL THE CARDS AT ONCE. |
After I'm done, I get out my Dust Buster hand vac, and suck up all the little paper pieces from drilling the cards. Yeah, kind of messy, but not bad! Now to pour wine, turn on the tunes, and get to carding buttons!
CLEANING/BUFFING your buttons!
A BONUS? The drill press
allows you to turn the Dremel sideways 90 degrees FOR BUFFING AND CLEANING.
I went nuts when I discovered THAT! Oh! And if you use the HAND VISE
I talked about last week on my Flying Button Ranch Facebook page, you don’t need to try to hold on and grip the button while buffing/cleaning it!! I got tired of having buttons fly across the room (and usually they transported to an alternate universe, never to be seen again! LOL).
BUFFING WHEELS can be found at most home supply places (Ace Hardware, Home Depot) but I usually will throw some in my cart on good ol' Amazon. Off brands work, but you may need to wrap the metal shaft with a bit of painter's tape or electrical tape to get it to snug up right when tightening the chuck that holds it.
With a Dremel buffing wheel and a bit of Jewelers rouge/POLISHING COMPOUND (put it on the buffing wheel when it's spinning/running) and then just get the button pressed on it! Clean and shiny in NO TIME! YaY!
A few buffing wheels are usually included with Dremels when you buy them, but you can always stock up on them because you'll go through LOTS OF THEM once you start to shine and clean with this baby!
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| BARS USED TO ADD POLISHING COMPOUND TO BUFFING WHEEL ON THE DREMEL |
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| THE DIFFERENT TYPES YOU CAN BUY AND USE TO CLEAN AND POLISH YOUR BUTTONS. |
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| INDISPENSABLE! GREAT TOOL TO GRAB ON TO YOUR BUTTON! SEE LINKS BELOW |
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| ADDING POLISHING ROUGE TO A SPINNING BUFFING WHEEL |
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| ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DRILL PRESS SET UP FOR BUFFING (AND REFRESHMENTS FOR AFTERWARDS, LOL) |
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| BUFFING/CLEANING A BUTTON CLAMPED IN TO THE PIN VISE (SEE LINKS FOR IT BELOW) USING THE DREMEL DRILL PRESS TURNED 90 DEGREES AND A BUFFING/WHEEL WITH BUFFING COMPOUND. |
Worked great! Here are some before/after of a few buttons I had sitting around to clean:
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| BEFORE - UGH, THAT'D BE A PIA TO DO IT BY HAND! |
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| AFTER BUFFING WITH THE NEW TOY! FAST AND EASY! |
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
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| BEFORE - STEEL CUP WITH BRASS AND ENAMEL |
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| AFTER - STEEL CUP WITH BRASS AND ENAMEL |
You can find all these
great helpers on Amazon! Here's the links to everything you'll need:
DREMEL DRILL PRESS -> https://amzn.to/301ULTU
DREMEL VARIABLE SPEED MULTITOOL KIT TO DRILL/BUFF -> https://amzn.to/2G1NGuW
2” LARGE BINDER CLIPS - https://amzn.to/2JtbzfW
DREMEL FLEX SHAFT for other hand work and zipping in a few holes - https://amzn.to/2L8IxFy
HAND VISE (when using the Drill Press buffer or just working on rust removal on buttons, giving a quick polish, etc.) https://amzn.to/2XCBg7C or https://amzn.to/2NmVL3x
COMPOUND BARS FOR BUFFING - https://amzn.to/2XBbEIj
BUFFING WHEELS FOR DREMELS - https://amzn.to/2LJ2VN9
All highlighted links lead to my Amazon affiliate links.
All highlighted links lead to my Amazon affiliate links.
Okay... off to card some buttons!
<3 FBR
