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| Rotary tools in support of electronics, Dremel and more .. |
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| Veteran68:
I have a few different rotary tools, including two Dremels (one mains powered and one Li-Ion powered) with a flex shaft attachment. I also have a small, cheap ($10) Harbor Freight rotary tool that I've used for delicate 3D print finishing work, because it's small and light (unlike the Dremels). Very little torque but for that use it doesn't need much. My most recent acquisition was one of these small rechargeable rotary tools mainly for electronics work (like grinding solder mask away in repairing tracks/pads). Again, for more delicate work that doesn't require much power. I'll break out the big Dremels when I need to really do some damage. |
| SmallCog:
I have an older Dremel at work with a manual speed control, it does the job. I had a dremel a newer digital control Dremel at home, one day it just stopped working. Had a fiddle and couldn't fix it which was really quite annoying as it was quite expensive, hadn't been used a lot, but was well out of warranty. I bought an Ozito (cheap brand at Bunnings in Australia) to replace it and can't faulty it. |
| thermistor-guy:
--- Quote from: saturation on July 06, 2012, 12:05:53 pm ---One accessory that can make life easy when modifying cases, physical components in housings or parts, hacking PCBs, dead bug construction and more, is a rotary tool. In the USA, and maybe elsewhere, the market is dominated by Dremel. However, the years have shown a reduction in quality and materials used to build Dremel rotary tools, and many competitors either can meet or exceed its performance at a lower price, or far exceed it, at a higher price. What models do you recommend? Are the original accessories still better than clones or competitors? That is bits, wheels, cutters? --- End quote --- I have two Dremels, plus several Dremel and no-name accessory kits. All bought many years ago. Recently I needed to made a prototype housing out of stainless steel (specifically), and needed to grind apertures to fit other mechanical parts. The no-name grinding bits did nothing. The Dremel bits did the job, although with a lot of wear. |
| EPAIII:
Stupid poll! I have an extensive home shop with stuff you don't even imagine. I have had good and bad luck with over half your list - both with the SAME brands. |
| RoGeorge:
In my experience Dremel is low quality for high price. Some of their accessories are unusable flimsy plastic (e.g. the drill stand). Any no name will work at least the same if not better, and for only a fraction of the cost. As about which brand is better, most consecrated ones (not Dremel) usually have two product lines: one for hobby use, the other for professional use. The hobby ones are loaded with gimmicks, not very productive, and designed for the cheap. Usually made to last from tens of minutes to a couple of hours top (at an intense use). No replacement parts, no international service, no extended guarantee, and again: hobby tools are not meant for intensive use. The professional ones are exactly the opposite: designed to be reliable and productive, to do one thing and do it well. The professional tools cost about 10 times or more than the hobby ones, so unless you drill holes all day long for your entire life, it only makes sense to rent a professional tool for occasional work, never to buy. I have a Dremel that was about $200 and a no-name high speed rotary of $30. Dremel came with almost no accessories, only had a few bits. The no name one came with hundreds of bits. In practice I'm using (and abusing) the no name tool, while the Dremel is sitting on a shelf gathering dust. |
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