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Thread ID: 140348 2015-09-28 02:24:00 I'm on about Dremels again................ Billy T (70) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1409085 2015-10-02 02:21:00 Buying a Dremel is a bit like buying a car. You can pay peanuts and get a bomb, or you can spend some extra dollars can buy a Dremel with a ball-bearing universal moto and a key-less chuck and be a happy chappy. I am in the second category :)

I'd love to know where I could buy a Dremel for peanuts, this $150 unit was a bomb with a bonus kit of 75 tools, most of which I didn't need or want, but the few I did need added up to over $100 so I thought I couldn't lose. It was selling at a special price of $100 and my logic was that with the inflated prices Dremel charge for their accessories, I was more or less getting the handset free. However, regardless of pricing, there is an implicit expectation that the product will be free of defects and both the examples I tried were not. :mad:

I was singularly unimpressed by the Dremel collets as well, because they were not a snug fit in the motor shaft, relying solely on the collet chuck to hold the tool in proper alignment. In contrast, the Jaycar collets are brass and are a snug fit in the motor shaft,while the collet chuck itself is far more substantial than the Dremel. The Jaycar handset also comes with four collets in a range of bore sizes so you can use tools and drills of different shaft diameters without the need to purchase additional collets.

The whole Jaycar Kit, including flexible extension shaft, was priced at $49.90, so for the equivalent price of one badly manufactured Dremel on special, I still have two near as dammit equivalents with progressive speed control up to 32,000rpm, a separate on/off switch (which the Dremel did not have) and for enhanced versatility, Jaycar also sell a universal rotary tool drill-press stand for $40.

I've not given up entirely on acquiring a Dremel, but I'll only buy off TM because I no longer believe that Dremel products represent any significant advance in quality or performance for the retail prices asked. The chuck/collet interface is the key area where precision and reliability are paramount, and Dremel twice failed to deliver on both counts. I've been using my Jaycar products for several years and they have never failed me, my only problem has been the broken drive core but that was my own fault for overstressing it and I now know better. Incidentally, a keyless chuck is no incentive at all. I like to be able to control the tightness of the chuck and only a chuck key can give the level of torque control required for differing applications.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
1409086 2015-10-03 08:20:00 Many of those sellers are referrals from their own stores... test' n tools, tools and industrial supplies, save-barn, topmaQ, etc. So could search those stores online. But then possible quality issues...

I was after a large vice on TM...so I set up a filter and once listed sent alerts to my mobile...one at around 3.30 am. - the time the seller listed it. Had buy now - bought it shortly after.
kahawai chaser (3545)
1409087 2015-10-03 22:22:00 The Dremel keyless chuck referred to in post #3 is fully adjustable allowing you to apply as much torque as you like - the main advantage being that you don't need 4 separate collets :) Zippity (58)
1409088 2015-10-03 22:30:00 The Dremel keyless chuck referred to in post #3 is fully adjustable allowing you to apply as much torque as you like - the main advantage being that you don't need 4 separate collets :)You forgot that billy knows best. plod (107)
1409089 2015-10-03 23:19:00 You forgot that billy knows best.

Two of a kind there P.
Cicero (40)
1409090 2015-10-04 22:31:00 Dremel...1967! (books.google.co.nz) - in Google Books from Popular Science Magazine. USA made? kahawai chaser (3545)
1409091 2015-10-14 05:00:00 You forgot that billy knows best .

Well Plod, you seem to have forgotten that only I know how important a particular tool might be to me, what I want to do with it, how often I might use it, and how much I am prepared to pay for that facility .

I do not need the latest 'all singing, all dancing' gizmo, I am quite happy buying older model tools with fewer features and an absence of bells and whistles, and I choose accordingly, but I do expect them to work properly straight out of the box .

The best Dremel/Dremel clone or copy is of no use to me if it has an eccentric chuck . Collet changing is not a problem, especially if I know that the tool will run straight and true, but then why do Dremel not include those collets straight out of the box? Selling their collets as additional accessories is a right rip-off, given they are only a tiny bit of turned aluminium or duralumin .

Bells & whistles are all very well, but I'm not prepared to pay big money for 'brand name' tools if they are not fully equipped to start work straight out of the box, or don't work properly, hence my tossing two Dremels in succession back at Mitre 10 .

Also, I very quickly become disaffected when a local agent's phone system is dysfunctional and still hasn't been fixed .

But aside from all that Plod, you never bothered to ask me what my priorities were before you posted your snide remark .

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
1409092 2015-10-14 06:19:00 Well Plod, you seem to have forgotten that only I know how important a particular tool might be to me, what I want to do with it, how often I might use it, and how much I am prepared to pay for that facility.

I do not need the latest 'all singing, all dancing' gizmo, I am quite happy buying older model tools with fewer features and an absence of bells and whistles, and I choose accordingly, but I do expect them to work properly straight out of the box.

The best Dremel/Dremel clone or copy is of no use to me if it has an eccentric chuck. Collet changing is not a problem, especially if I know that the tool will run straight and true, but then why do Dremel not include those collets straight out of the box? Selling their collets as additional accessories is a right rip-off, given they are only a tiny bit of turned aluminium or duralumin.

Bells & whistles are all very well, but I'm not prepared to pay big money for 'brand name' tools if they are not fully equipped to start work straight out of the box, or don't work properly, hence my tossing two Dremels in succession back at Mitre 10.

Also, I very quickly become disaffected when a local agent's phone system is dysfunctional and still hasn't been fixed.

But aside from all that Plod, you never bothered to ask me what my priorities were before you posted your snide remark.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)I wasnt being snide, was purely pointing out that only you know what you want and need.
plod (107)
1409093 2015-10-15 11:02:00 Just for the record...

My Dremel is awesome.
Metla (12)
1409094 2015-10-15 20:42:00 Just for the record...

My Dremel is awesome.

:+1:
Zippity (58)
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