I'm busily modifying a GoPro housing by hand and it strikes me that it would be much easier with a Dremel. Are they worth the money? What about a Chinese clone?
(Of course, it would then have been cheaper to have bought the correct housing, but I'd have a Dremel!)
It's the sort of job I tend to drag mine out for, e.g. recently modifying a keyboard so the USB lead exited in a more convenient location and cutting away plastic to allow the big ferrite lump to be internal rather than external.
You know you want one anyway ....
*grin* Damn, found out.
But I've already promised myself a new phone and an HP Microserver with the dividend windfall I've just received.
I've never tried one of the clones, I don't suppose they're *that* bad for occasional use, I'd go for something with variable speed, most of the time, max power and rpm are not what you need.
I know the feeling. But got a surprise payment from ALCS today for photocopying fees!
Back to the Dremel...I have an old 395, which was a gift to me, new. It's good, although sometimes it'd be nice if it was cordless - more because of the weight of the cable pulling the back down. I have most attachments too..and they have all been used (I don't have the mini circular saw).
I don't use it all the time, but when I need it, there isn't much alternative.
(I also got the little Dremel gas torch and that is very useful, although mainly for heatshrink)
A Tip for newbie Dremel and "I can't believe it's not Dremel" users- buy go od quality bits and not cheap s**te, especially the grinding bits. The ston es on cheap grinding bits are usually not mounted centrally on the shaft, c ausing vibration and poor control of material removal.
Otherwise, I find my Dremel to be a great tool, still going strong after mo re than ten years of use and abuse.
Terry.
I agree that a lot of the cheap stones and burrs are not much good, but for the two sorts of cutting disk, the thin brittle ones and the thicker, fibre reinforced ones clones are usually OK.
ALthough I always used to get cross at the TV advert showing a guy cutting the head off a partly inserted nail, I use that sort of cutting disk perhaps 70% of the time. Drills 20%, rest < 10%.
"Clone" diamond disks and burrs are either OK, or rubbish.
The Dremel "quick release" disks and hub are good, but a bit pricey if using your own money.
Certainly worth having variable speed.
Dremel now have cheap (£35) models on the market but they are not as indestructible as the proper old industrial strength ones. I had one but binned it when the field coil and controller failed.
Proxxon are another "quality" brand, I have one but am a bit disappointed because its max speed is only 15k, rather than 30k. Also, the switch is poorly positioned so that it is easy to switch it on accidentally when picking it up.
I also have a cheap Draper which was on offer somewhere, not *quite* as nicely finished, but functionally fine (and it does 30k or thereabouts). No direct experience of Aldi/Lidl but would expect them to be excellent value.
Some of us are looking for a decent excuse to buy a dremel, and you have one right in front of you.
You won't regret it. IME the genuine article worth it.
I have one of the £17 lidl cordless ones and it works fine. I don't use it for heavy stuff though.
After my 3000 failed (only having had light use) I was disappointed to find how many reports there were on the net of failed field coils and speed controllers
LOL
No, get a compressor and some die grinders, a thousand times better
+1 (Surprise only in the sense that I was expecting it tomorrow and didn't know the ammount.)
I knew it was coming, but a lot bigger than usual in my case!
I have one already, but it's not conveniently located.
So do I, but I'm not happy that the motor controller controls the current (by varying the mark/space ratio) not voltage. The speed drops badly as soon as load is applied, unless at full speed to start with. I toy with the idea of changing the circuit to add feedback to keep the speed constant, but that wouldn't be simple.
I had one like that last year. There seems to be no logic in the relationship between what you claim and what you receive.
It's one of those flat rate distributions where they collect unspecified overseas fees and just divvy them up equally.
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