Dremel 4000 worth buying?

[Sheen]

Hi all, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay away during this festive season. I somehow wandered into looking at drills for sale. I saw a Dremel 4000 with Flexi shaft at a very tasty price(abt £60). I would use it to drill holes, maybe sink rivets and etching, initially. Is this worth buying, or would I be better of keeping my money for some time in the future when I could buy a proxxon and a Flexi shaft at a higher price. I currently have a Archimedes drill. I love buying equipment but get overwhelmed by too much stuff, a contradiction I know, but surely I wouldn't regret it? Best festive wishes to you all

[Dennis]

The best answer is to save up for a Foredom, which is the moderately priced workhorse for many of our members:

https://www.bettsmetalsales.com/p-Fo...ant-Motor/2803

If you are impatient, then I woukd skip the ones you mentioned, and go for a cheap Marathon from China, or avoid hidden extras like duty and handling charges by going to a Chinese company in uk, for something like this:

http://www.dentalplaza.co.uk/Maratho...16-dental.html.

Even for drillig holes you need a slow controlled sped. Micromotors are small and elegant to use. Dennis.

[Sheen]

Thanks Dennis, this is exactly the answer I was looking for. A micro motor seems like a much more elegant solution to drilling a hole, less bulk, less bits and I read that there is also less vibration. Will be putting these two options on my list, though I may go for the cheaper one as I could put it in and out of my cupboard with ease. Thanks again

[Dennis]

Yes, the foredom is a pendant motor and requires a rod with a hook to hang it up, so putting it away is not that simple.

My Marathon micromotor, goes in a little bag when I take it to classes once a week. I bought it from China via Amazon and was not hit with duty or VAT, sometimes you can be, but the carrier required a handling charge of £16.

It's still going well after more than two years. The torque is adequate at quite low speeds required for drilling and I don't even bother with the foot switch, as it can be switched manually. Dennis.

[enigma]

I agree with Dennis, Dremels are pretty useless.
The only thing for me on pendant versus micro motor is that I think the hammer handpieces are really expensive on micromotors and I use mine a lot.

[CJ57]

Your are right Sarah. I was given my Foredom micromotor as a Xmas present and I really needed the hammer action handpiece but it was the same price again £400 at least. I don't know if can justify that for the little stone setting I do but I could have done with it recently. It is really neat though and can be moved anywhere with ease. I think it was Mark who suggested the dremel engraver as having the same action and adequate for the job if not using all the time

[Lynn.D]

Some of us mere hobbyists might think a Dremel is a good buy and when funds are low it might be the only option we can afford compared with the elite amongst us. I admit I had issues with it as frankly I was scared to death of the thing and had no experience whatsoever with a drill.
Having said that after building my confidence and after having a few misshaps have found it to be very useful and good value for money. I only wish it had a foot pedal then it would be perfect for my needs.

[handmadeblanks]

I have a Foredom pendant drill. But if I need to drill a hole I use my Proxxon bench drill. You can't beat a bench drill for drilling.

http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery...rcode-999-3207

[ps_bond]

Got to agree with that - if you're drilling holes all the time, that's a bench drill's job. However, if I'm drilling small holes in an object that I can't readily clamp in a vice then I tend to use the micromotor for preference. The last few tsuba I've made I've started out drilling holes for piercing with the bench drill (except for a couple which were too small for my bench drill to handle and I couldn't locate the pin vice in a hurry).

Dremel seem determined to make objects with unreliable speed control, underpowered motors and bearings that don't stand up to side loading (so anything like a polishing mop or a cutoff wheel tends to shorten their life). Spare parts are ridiculously expensive and it's more cost effective to bin them and buy new. I've killed far too many of them just with hobbyist use and I found they weren't suitable for much in jewellery fairly early on (for example, trying to cut seats for stones). The lowest speeds are too fast and the lack of a foot control (other than the Fortiflex) make them fraught - they're akin to trying to chase fine silver with a lump hammer. Axminster do a flexshaft that's a bit cheaper than the Foredoms and works quite well - it's a far better solution than the Dremel.

Equally, there's the bow drill which is excellent for fine drilling. I'd sooner use that than a Dremel.

[enigma]

Dislike of the Dremel isn't about being elitist, its about buying one ( or two when the first one dies after just a few months) and finding they are absolutely useless for burring and drilling because of the lack of appropriate torque for the job.