The Foredom Series 28 is a quick-change rotary handpiece designed for use with Foredom's flexible-shaft motor units, and is among the most widely adopted tools in North American lapidary and jewellery workshops. Connected to a bench-mounted motor via a flexible shaft, the handpiece delivers rotary power to a range of cutting, carving, drilling, and finishing burs without requiring a separate chuck key — a practical advantage during extended detail work where frequent bit changes are routine.

Design and Mechanism

The Series 28 handpiece operates on a quick-change collet system, allowing the operator to swap burs and mandrels with a simple twist rather than the tightening procedure required by conventional Jacobs-style chucks. The handpiece body is slender enough to be held like a pencil, a grip that affords the fine motor control necessary for gem carving and inlay work. Speed is governed at the motor unit — typically a Foredom Series SR or TX motor — via a foot-operated rheostat, leaving both hands free to guide the workpiece or steady the handpiece against the stone.

Applications in Lapidary Work

In gemstone work, the Series 28 handpiece is most commonly paired with:

• Diamond-sintered or electroplated burs for carving hard species such as quartz, corundum simulants, and nephrite jade
• Carbide burs for softer ornamental stones including malachite, serpentine, and amber
• Cylinder and ball burs for channel and bezel setting preparation
• Flex-shaft drill bits for drilling suspension holes in beads and pendants

The reduced vibration transmitted through a flexible shaft — compared with a rigid rotary tool — is a meaningful ergonomic benefit during sessions of an hour or more, and is frequently cited by professional carvers as a reason for preferring the flexible-shaft format over handheld rotary units.

Place in the Workshop

Foredom Electric Co., based in Bethel, Connecticut, has manufactured flexible-shaft tools since the early twentieth century, and the brand became a de facto standard in North American lapidary and jewellery trade schools from roughly the mid-twentieth century onward. The Series 28 handpiece sits within a broader ecosystem of interchangeable Foredom handpieces — including the heavier-duty Series 30 and the collet-based Series 44 — allowing a single motor unit to serve multiple handpiece types depending on the task. For fine gem carving and drilling, the Series 28 remains the most commonly specified option in instructional programmes and professional studios alike.