Rotary Tool - Recommendation Request

[-Waldemar-]

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The Dremel brand is lacking seriously in that aspect. I tried a few... waste of money and time.

A long time ago, I heard the opinion that Dremel is one of the most overrated products in the universe. Later, based on my own experience, I found out why...


Personally, I use Proxxon products mainly for hobbyist DIY projects/tasks, mainly in wood, for model building and similar work. For precision mechanics work, where really high accuracy of a few hundredths of a millimeter is required (and less), I use other, much larger machine tools with digital readouts, professional rotary dividers, production grade tilting vices and tables, and similar amenities. But I will not be doing or showing photographs of them, if only because this goes beyond the scope of our DIY hobby of amateur model building and, it may be said, is a completely separate category of tools. I am not sure if trying to force hobbyist rotary tools, such as Proxxon or Dremel, for the type of work, particularly in metal, which requires the highest precision, hence the highest possible steadiness in guiding of the cutting tool, is a good idea.

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[Bob Cleek]

Does not fit all Dremel models, so be careful here.

Call them up on the phone and let them know which Dremel model you have. I'll bet they have the right clamp or will custom fabricate one. I asked if they had a bracket to hold a 1" Foredom handpiece and that was no problem for them.

 

[Loracs]

Call them up on the phone and let them know which Dremel model you have. I'll bet they have the right clamp or will custom fabricate one. I asked if they had a bracket to hold a 1" Foredom handpiece and that was no problem for them.

Indeed, I did the same... the consumer response was just outstanding. I did end up getting the foredom adaptor though. Likely, he may have adaptor for larger Dremel or custom make one?

 

[-Waldemar-]

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Well, yes. But in fact, all these adapters are a kind of prosthesis that attempts to repair the original sin. Naturally, they always introduce additional disturbances in the geometry of the system and further reduce its rigidity, especially if they are made of plastic. Devices such as drills (including rotary tools), in order to be mounted in a drill stand, should have a cylinder, preferably in standard diameters, turned in line with the spindle axis, and in the best place, i.e., as close to the chuck as possible. This is precisely so that they can be mounted hassle-free, and yet securely and relatively precisely in various holders.

This part of the drill should always be made of a rigid material such as metal, in which ball bearings or other types of bearings are also placed, because even the most over-engineered drill stand will be useless if the drill is gripped by its plastic housing, and far from the chuck. Sorry, but that's how mechanics work.

@Loracs

Therefore, I would suggest mounting something more decent and in a more decent way than what can be seen in the photo below to this great-looking milling stand in order to really take advantage of its potential benefits in terms of the precision of the work. I'm not insisting that it has to be Proxxon, but at least something without the obvious weaknesses of Dremel rotary tools. And the milling stand you show seems to be a fairly open, elastic design that is susceptible to such modifications.

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[Bob Cleek]

A long time ago, I heard the opinion that Dremel is one of the most overrated products in the universe. Later, based on my own experience, I found out why...

Tied for the top three most overrated products in the universe along with Dremel tools are teenaged love and Peterbilt trucks. Dremel tools are the rite of passage to becoming a ship modeler. It's sort of like how the freshman engineering majors in college all used to show up on the first day of class with a three-inch wide slide rule in a leather scabbard swinging from their belts. (If you're old enough to remember when.)

Novice ship modelers are always asking in forums, "Which rotary tool should I buy?" and they always get a broad spectrum of recommendations, but when the fly specks are separated from the pepper, the general consensus of the experienced serious ship modelers responding will always be "If and when you need a rotary tool, buy a Foredom flex shaft." and, if there's a desire for a drill press stand to go with it, the seasoned modelers will add, "Get the Vanda-Lay Industries drill press attachment." These threads will contain detailed explanations of why the Foredom / Vanda-Lay combination is the best option, chronicling a litany of the other options' shortcomings. This thread evolution occurs regularly.

One has to wonder why the experienced serious ship modelers bother to continue to post answers to the same question over and over again when the outcome is so often, "I decided to buy the Dremel, or the Proxon (a better built and more powerful, but no more suitable option than the Dremel tool,) or some other high speed, low-powered, micro-motored manicurists' electric fingernail file, "... because the Foredom was too expensive." Maybe it has to do with having to be a little bit crazy to be an experienced serious ship modeler in the first place. They do say the definition of "crazy" is "doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result."

Being a "slow learner," I only now find myself belatedly becoming less and less inclined to respond to "what tool should I buy" posts in general. Like a lot of opinionated pundits, I used to bemoan the deterioration of the American educational system, but I now have a much better appreciation for teachers disinterested in teaching students disinterested in learning. In my old age, I realize those students have more time left to learn later what they aren't learning now than I now have the time to teach them. So it is also with Dremel tools. If today's Dremel purchasing novices progress to actually having a need for a decent rotary tool, I'm sure they will then realize that they could have bought a used Foredom flex shaft machine that would have outlasted them for what they paid for the Dremel they are replacing, not to mention that the price of a Foredom, new or used, will have gone up in the interim. With that realization, they will join the ranks of experienced ship modelers the same way the rest of us have. After all, "experienced" just means you've learned from more mistakes than the "inexperienced" have. 

 

[Roger Pellett]

I still prefer taking work to my 55 year old bench top drill press whenever possible.

Roger

 

[Loracs]

@Bob Cleek, I agree with you. However, there is still a couple considerations as to why people reply to those inquiries with such passion. 1) the one thing that modeler love more and/or as much than modeling is their tools. 2) Newcomers to the forum does not always know how or where to look for past threads on the topic. I know it is easy to do but this is a matter of fact most of the time... so there is repetition. For me, it is ok to repeat arguments (plus and minuses of whatever tools), it helps to address their question now. That count for something. 3) Lastly, repetition does have it pluses too... It may outline something I never researched and/or realized before or know it exited if the first place. This why I still follow/read those posts for the x times.

 

[Bob Cleek]

.​

Well, yes. But in fact, all these adapters are a kind of prosthesis that attempts to repair the original sin. Naturally, they always introduce additional disturbances in the geometry of the system and further reduce its rigidity, especially if they are made of plastic. Devices such as drills (including rotary tools), in order to be mounted in a drill stand, should have a cylinder, preferably in standard diameters, turned in line with the spindle axis, and in the best place, i.e., as close to the chuck as possible. This is precisely so that they can be mounted hassle-free, and yet securely and relatively precisely in various holders.

This part of the drill should always be made of a rigid material such as metal, in which ball bearings or other types of bearings are also placed, because even the most over-engineered drill stand will be useless if the drill is gripped by its plastic housing, and far from the chuck. Sorry, but that's how mechanics work.

Therefore, I would suggest mounting something more decent and in a more decent way than what can be seen in the photo below to this great-looking milling stand in order to really take advantage of its potential benefits in terms of the precision of the work. I'm not insisting that it has to be Proxxon, but at least something without the obvious weaknesses of Dremel rotary tools. And the milling stand you show seems to be a fairly open, elastic design that is susceptible to such modifications.

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This is precisely why, if one doesn't spring for a proper drill press or milling system, some have recommended the Foredom flex shaft and the Vanda-Lay drill press (or mill) stand. Don't waste your breath, though. Your explanation is way too sophisticated. Some posts start out with the admission that "It's my first time." but in most instances, the nature of the question amply demonstrates that without saying so.

I'd suggest bookmarking this response so you can find it easily when he posts later on asking why his drill bits keep breaking.

 

[-Waldemar-]

Don't waste your breath, though [...].

Yeah, that's why I don't usually get involved in threads like this. I don't know what came over me this time. Maybe I wanted to take a break from my usual activities...

 

[Bob Cleek]

@Bob Cleek, I agree with you. However, there is still a couple considerations as to why people reply to those inquiries with such passion. 1) the one thing that modeler love more and/or as much than modeling is their tools. 2) Newcomers to the forum does not always know how or where to look for past threads on the topic. I know it is easy to do but this is a matter of fact most of the time... so there is repetition. For me, it is ok to repeat arguments (plus and minuses of whatever tools), it helps to address their question now. That count for something. 3) Lastly, repetition does have it pluses too... It may outline something I never researched and/or realized before or know it exited if the first place. This why I still follow/read those posts for the x times.

Yeah, I know. I still answer those posts, too, for exactly the same reasons. I wrote that post with my tongue at least halfway into my cheek. It frustrates me that people "just don't get it" that "the best tools are always the least expensive tools" and so "the best tools are what the pros use" because their tool criteria is "what costs me the least." There's lots of room for opinions and personal preferences, but even if we stipulate that there's "no right or wrong answer," there no point in discussing comparisons unless there's a "better answer" than all the rest. Maybe it would have been easier to just say, 1) Go find ten commercial shops where they use rotary tools and find out which brand of rotary tool the professional dental prostheses makers, the professional jewelers, and so on, use. 2) Go to online auction sites like eBay and see what good examples of the rotary tool brand most used by the pros are selling for. 3) Buy the rotary tool brand most used by the pros, new or used. 4) If you don't want to pay what a new or used professional grade rotary tool costs, accept the fact that you won't be buying "the best rotary tool" you asked to be identified, but will be buying an inferior "consumer grade" tool, and will almost certainly "pay more for it in the long run" than saving up to get the professional grade one.