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Rotary Tool Advice

I'm going to buy a rotary tool by the end of the month, likely either a dremel or a proxxon. Does anyone have experience with both brands? Also, how effective would one of these be as a drill press when paired with the accessory drill stand? I know many use these for punching through pcb boards, but how do they deal with hard woods?
 
I've owned 2 dremels. The first crapped out on me in 2 weeks and amazon replaced. The 2nd one went strong for about 6 months and now the chuck is stuck with my drill bit in it that I can't get out.

I recently ordered the proxxon one and should have it later this week. I do own the prxxon drill press stand which is excellent, but you have to do some slight modifications to your dremel to get it to fit. Now that I'll own the proxxon it won't be a problem.

The dremel drill press stand is plastic and I've read issues about it flexing and not giving you a straight hole. The proxxon drill press stand is solid metal all around with no plastic parts.

For the money being very similar, I would spring for the proxxon. I can let you know my initial impressions of the proxxon rotary tool later this week (I ordered the $79 one from amazon as the reviews seemed to indicate no real difference between that one and the professional $120 model).
 
Thanks for the quick reply, Joe! I'm leaning towards the proxxon for build quality, but the greater rpm's of the dremel has me thinking.

(I ordered the $79 one from amazon as the reviews seemed to indicate no real difference between that one and the professional $120 model).

I'm unsure of the differences between these, also. Is the chuck (rather than collets) the only difference? Seems strange that that would account for all of the price increase. And since you can buy collets for the cheaper one, the inclusion of a chuck makes it even more versitile. Maybe I'm missing something...
 
My old Dremel finally crapped out on me and I replaced it with a roto tool from Harbor Freight.
I mainly use this tool with the wire wheel for prepping razor heads for replating.
What kind of drill do you want to do?
I can't see these tools making very good drills for any hole bigger then 1/8th inch.
These tools lack torque needed for any serious drilling.
You'd might be better served getting a drill press stand for a hand held electric drill.
 
My immediate uses would be for thin sheet metal and for boring out old brush knots. For the latter, I've been hand-holding my drill with a forstner bit, using a smaller bit than the diameter of the knot, and sanding away the difference. My main reason for not getting an actual drill press right now is my current lack of space. Until my wife and I decide to abandon apartment living, my larger tools will have to remain in storage :crying:. I hadn't thought of a drill press stand for my hand-held. I still plan to get a roto tool, but maybe buying a stand for my drill would be more effective.
 
If you have an air compressor, do yourself a favor and get a pencil grinder.
Harbor freight has them on sale for around 10 bucks a lot of the time.

It's the same idea as a dremel except it is much thinner and easier to handle.
 
If you have an air compressor, do yourself a favor and get a pencil grinder.
Harbor freight has them on sale for around 10 bucks a lot of the time.

It's the same idea as a dremel except it is much thinner and easier to handle.

I have the HF micro die grinder. Not a bad tool, as long as the oil and its mist isn't a problem. It requires oil or it looses torque this is not to different than most air tools, but a bit more exaggerated than with higher quality tools. It can use dremmel bits with no problem (in fact I run Dremmel bits almost exclusively due to quality and availability).

My little pancake compressor keeps up just fine so no need for multiple hundreds of dollars for a compressor. The compressor is noisy, but you can run a long hose from outside or a ventilated closet just fine if it bothers you. It is nice having a real compressor for tires and stuff. The pancake can run air nailers and other small pneumatic equipment too.

Phil
 
My old Dremel finally crapped out on me and I replaced it with a roto tool from Harbor Freight.
I mainly use this tool with the wire wheel for prepping razor heads for replating.
What kind of drill do you want to do?
I can't see these tools making very good drills for any hole bigger then 1/8th inch.
These tools lack torque needed for any serious drilling.
You'd might be better served getting a drill press stand for a hand held electric drill.

+1 for Harbor Freight's tool...and ditto on the drill press stand. The rotary tools, even the Harbor Freight, are way out of their league used for heavy drilling.
 
I've used a Dremel with the drill press stand to bore out three brush handles. Seems to have worked fine for me, but I don't think it'd be useful for "real" drill press uses.
 
I have had a number of Dremels over the years. The Flexible shaft models with larger motors work a lot better than the hand held motors. Foredam is another step up beyond the Dremel.
 
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I have had a number of Dremels over the years. The Flexible shaft models with larger motors work a lot better than the hand held motors. Foredam is another step up beyond the Dremel.

You can't hardly wear out those the Flexible ones. I have a Electric Die Grinder that will wear the Boar out FAST!
 
Foredom is one of the preferred rotaries for carving, but like anything else it's going to depend on usage. For light work a dremel is great but like many others I do recommend a drill press. If you're going to put one through its paces you really do need something more heavy duty....

I have a dremel with the flexible shaft and love it, but I only rough out pieces with it and use my knives/gouges for carving so my use is going to be different than yours...

I think the reason the flexibles last longer is that you're not getting the same amount of dust into the motor as you do with fixed because it is further from the piece you're working on. jmo of course...
 
Foredom is one of the preferred rotaries for carving, but like anything else it's going to depend on usage. For light work a dremel is great but like many others I do recommend a drill press. If you're going to put one through its paces you really do need something more heavy duty....

I have a dremel with the flexible shaft and love it, but I only rough out pieces with it and use my knives/gouges for carving so my use is going to be different than yours...

I think the reason the flexibles last longer is that you're not getting the same amount of dust into the motor as you do with fixed because it is further from the piece you're working on. jmo of course...

The other thing is that they typically have a lot bigger motors, so they aren't overloaded.
 
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