Nakanishi NSK Hammer Handpiece HA-500

Totally upped my game.

Very smooth, powerful, yet controlled. You should have no qualms choosing this unit over needing a complete second setup if NSK is your only rotary tool. I compared the NSK action to a Foredom hammer on a flex shaft. Yes, the Foredom was stronger, but not very much so. Not sure I would even want that. Note the only two things that determine the hammering strength are how far back the hammer is drawn into the spring (adjustable by the handpiece ring or how far away from the piece you are working) and the strength of the spring itself. I'm sure NSK picked a spring that prolongs the life of the tool over whacking away at both the tool's cams and the workpiece. The Foredom feels awkward to me whereas everything from NSK is accurate, precise, fine. Pretty much the reason I never use my flex shaft any more. Very happy the HA-500 is appropriate to jewelry hammering needs. I give 4/5 stars because of the $$$ and that it only accepts NSK tips. Would be nice to offer an adapter at least. Not sure why another reviewer was less than satisfied. Perhaps not familiar with how a hammer works? They don't hammer harder the harder you push. In fact just the opposite. If you want to slam on the metal, use the lightest touch, let the hammer get a full swing to do the work. If you want less impact, reduce the distance to the work so the spring doesn't get a full stroke. Coordinating pressure and speed does take a little getting used to. But very rewarding. For a bezel set, I start by hand-rolling the bezel with the HA-500 tip with no foot pedal by pressing hard as you would with just a hand tool. Then I add some pedal to a rate I like while at the same time I back off on the hand pressure to get the hammering level I want. Once I've established the basic roll around the corners, etc.. I let the hammer have full swing to lay it down. Finally I press harder again with full pedal speed so the hammering is lighter, denser, and more controlled so I get an even surface burnish. It's a really sweet process.

I don't love it

I recently purchased a NSK micromotor and decided I would go with this hammer handpiece over the Foredom one. I don't know if I'm using it wrong, but it really doesn't seem to have a lot of force behind the hammering. I've watched a lot of videos of hammer setting with a foredom hammer handpiece and the bezels move quite effortlessly. I'm spending up to an hour getting a silver bezel to push over, which doesn't seem right.