Quality of Canadian Tire Rotary Tool vs Dremel

[Stephan]

Does anyone have any thoughts about the Canadian Tire Mastercraft corded Rotary tool compared with the Dremel MultiPro corded variable speed?

I've read that the mastercraft is infact built by dremel. Does anyone know if this is true?

I was talking to dremel sales rep who pointed out the the dremel has user-serviceable parts in the motor. Does anyone know if the mastercraft can also be serviced?

According to the Canadian tire catalogue, the mastercraft unit can use Dremel bits(this is good). Does anyone know if the Mastercraft can use Dremel parts like the Drill Press attachment? Looking at images, the Dremel and the Mastercraft look to be about the same size.

The speed range of the mastercraft seems to be abit narrower (8,000 -

32,000 RPM ) than the Dremel (5,000-35,000 RPM). Is this a significant difference?

The tool would be being used for light wood work, etching pc boards, cutting thin plastic, removing rust, polishing odds and sods around the house.

Does anyone have any general comments comparing the Mastercraft and Dremel?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Stephan

[j.b. miller]

I've had 3 real Dremels and now have the CTC 'clone'.Either works OK for me,it's more the man than the machine as far as talent goes. I thought the CTC unit was a Black and Decker unit, though with my failing eyesight,well,...... I'd wait until they go on sale after Xmas and buy the best deal.

Jay

[Stephan]

Thanks for your comments

The CTC (I presume you mean Canadian Tire Craftsman) is on sale at the moment for much less than the which is what is attracting me to it. While we're not going to be using everyday, I don't want to buy something that's going to die on me the day after the warrenty expires. The Dremel has user replaceable parts, which I generally think is a good thing.

I've never owned one of these tools so I have no first hand experience but I'm wondering if the narrower speed range on the CTC compared with the dremel is noticable.

Do you have any thoughts?

Thanks again

Stephan

[Migas]

I don't know what you'll be using it for but I have the Canadian Tire cutout tool. It is on sale this week from 149.99 to 99.99. It does everything a dremel-size tool will, but has more power and it comes with a small router base for light routing and a flexible shaft for precision hand held work. I haven't taken out my small dremel since I have this cutout tool.

Anthony

[Michael Daly]

CT Corp?

I just came back from a CT and looked at their Mastercraft unit. I'd say buy the Dremel. Dremel has been around for ages (I first wanted one when I was 12, for model making). I don't know who makes the CT version, but I don't think it's Dremel.

Mike

[P©WÉ®T©©LMAN]

The vast majority of the more recent Mastercraft power tools these days were made by McCulloch, you can check that by the first digits in the CTC model # ... 54-XXXX-X is McCulloch if I remember right, some other recent offenders include Talon & Pontel.

The true quality of Mastercraft tools in general is hit & miss, some are great value, some just do not perform, all in all they are intended for the consumer market & not the professional end user, you get what you pay for in most cases.

CTC stands for Canadian Tire Corporation BTW.

[Diesel]

replying to , Diesel wrote: Hi, the product# 54-xxxx-x has nothing to do with McCulloch. It is a product class designated for hardware tools, such as 76-xxxx-x is a product class designated for all camping related sku's.

[DerbyDad03]

14 years later and we finally have the true facts. We can all rest easier now.

[Dick]

replying to Stephan, Dick wrote: CTC rotary tool just as good as the Dremel 300. Used Dremel 3000 only twice and it died on me in mid work. To have it repaired would cost as much as buying another rotary tool. A piece of garbage. Just borrowed a CTC rotary tool for $40.00 CDN and works just as good. Go figure. > replying to , Diesel wrote:

[J. Clarke]

[Bob La Londe]

On 9/15/2019 1:53 AM, J. Clarke wrote:> On Sun, 15 Sep 2019 03:14:02

+0000, Dick > wrote: > >> replying to Stephan, Dick wrote: >> CTC rotary tool just as good as the Dremel 300. Used Dremel 3000 only twice >> and it died on me in mid work. To have it repaired would cost as much as >> buying another rotary tool. A piece of garbage. Just borrowed a CTC rotary >> tool for $40.00 CDN and works just as good. Go figure. > replying to , >> Diesel wrote: > > All of them are poor substitutes for a die grinder. >

No. A rotary tool (a decent one) is better suited for many jobs than a die grinder. I own both. In fact more than a couple of both. Unfortunately in my experience Dremel tools are not decent rotary tools. They make some great accessories and supplies, but the tool itself is marginal on a good day. This tool (link below) is far superior to a Dremel rotary tool, and its below the level of snotty quality required for some shops who use this "style" of tool professionally every single day.

I have two of those Harbor Freight tool. They work amazingly well. I even used them as spindles on a small dual spindle CNC machine experiment years ago. They ran for upto a couple hours at a time doing complex carving. The only problem I ever had was wearing out brushes in the drive motors after a few weeks of running them all day, and brushes are cheap and dead easy to replace.

The one and only thing the all in one plastic body and plastic bearing mount Dremel style tools do is allow you to get into a tight out of position spaces without taking the time to setup a stand for the motor of a better flex shaft tool. If you take a few minutes to setup a space to hang your motor. The flex shaft rotary hand piece is still better because it is small, won't melt under prolonged use, and is easier to hold and control.

I also have several additional higher quality hand pieces from Foredom. They swap easily onto the Harbor Freight flex shafts. I keep different tools I use all the time in each one.

DO NOT get sucked in by cheaper (or worse more expensive) Dremel or Craftsman flex shaft tools with the tool holder built into the flex shaft. They are no better than the all in one tool.

Rotozip is really no better except that it costs more typically and has a little more horsepower than the typical Dremel. It excels at only the one job it was made for. Butchering a fuzzy hole in drywall to push an electrical box through. A small trim router would do the exact same job only better.

That being said... a die grinder is a fine tool for hogging steel in many cases.

[krw]

Interesting. I looked at one of these when Home Depot had their tool+2 batteries for $99 deal a couple of months back but passed on it because I didn't have an immediate need.

I don't use this sort of thing often but there are some jobs that a rotary tool is hard to beat. That said, I'm really shocked at the poor quality of the Dremel tools.

I don't think I'd want to use my trim router on drywall. I've found that RotoZips are way overkill anyway. A reciprocating saw blade on a handle and a utility knife work better, IMO.