|
It floats to and fro, left to right so your lucky if you hit your mark. Im sorry, actual precision with the Black and Decker RTX. Until I received the Milescraft. You will get such a kick out of the accuracy of this tool. After using the Dremel-brand equivalent for a few years, I was thrilled when I recieved the Milescraft 1907.
If you want a hole in a spot the size of the bit you are using, it cant be guaranteed with the Dremel-brand. And if you do hit your mark, it can slide before you start to drill a hole. ACTUAL precision. I use it to drill out gemstones, cut tiles, drill PCBs, carve and cut, and I use it as a stand when I am using the Milescraft flex-shaft. I always have had a problem with the way the Dremel-brand workstation had such horribly loose tolerances.
I thought it was the best things got. You can turn the tool 90 degres on the shaft to set the rotary tool up as a little rip-saw, grinding or polishing platform, and a lot more.A great product. It is SOLID.
There is at least 3 mm of play in the press. I had to drill out the hole to fit the bolt, or drill and tap it (I had a tap the correct size, so I did away with the nut). For instance, the bolt and nut arrangement used to secure the base to the stand would have been great if the bolt actually fit in the hole. I ordered this as a drill press to use with my dremel for making PC boards.It is inadequate for that purpose. What's worse, when you operate the press it swings the bit side to side one MM, which makes it extremely difficult to locate holes in the center of a solder pad. If you're looking for a reasonably precise drill press, stay away from this piece of junk. This also causes bits to break and wear prematurely.Additionally, the hardware that came with the stand did not fit.
The good news is that if you are somewhat handy as a hardware hacker you can fix all these short comings in two or three hours of work with a power drill, knife, sanding drum(s) and a few tie wraps and some shim material. First, let me echo prior reviews, this is a light duty tool stand, do not expect to do precession work with it. Milescraft seems to have "updated" (September '09) this product by dropping the clamp that gripped the rotary tool around it's midsection, this leaves the rotary tool only supported by the nut on it's nose. All in all I am happy with how this turned out, I am using this stand along with the rotary tool to drill PCB's, and it is doing that very well. This of course is big trouble just waiting to happen.
Missing that nut, I then had to get a spare screw and nut to anchor the vertical bar to the base. The side play doesn't break #66 bits because you only need a vertical travel of 3mm. I'm using this with a Dremel 220 to drill PCBs with tungsten carbide bits. I've drilled probably more than a thousand holes since I got it and the drill press has caused one bit to break when I pushed it all the way down.The tool is not held steady when there is resistance, so if you are using this for routing or cutting, then either you need to make some modifications to the press or accept a few mm of error.
When I received it, the hole cut in side for the knob to anchor the tool to the vertical bar was of the wrong size, I had to put a nut on the back of it, making vertical adjustment not possible. Also the plastic cord holder on the top didn't fit into the bar.There is a small amount of side play of approx 1mm through the entire vertical travel. The base is not very flat, but I just put a piece of wood over it.The dremel tool does fit perfectly and i think it is held very snugly, no controls on the dremel are blocked. For drilling PCBs, it works well.
The instructions were not too good, but assembly is very easy. If you want a quality miniature high-speed drill, this is not for you, but prepare to shell out $250 or more for one. The Dremel is perfect for this, except that it has to be stand-mounted. It's flimsy, but far better than the stand that Dremel makes, which I consider to be a total piece of junk. were also supplied. I bought this for the purpose of drilling printed circuit boards with my Dremel tool.
board drilling requires tiny drill bits, which must be run at very high speeds. Any movement at all while drilling will cause the drill bit to snap.My overall opinion of this stand is that it's barely suited to do the job. My Dremel tool fit nicely into the mount, no problem. Mounting grommets (for vibration). P.C. The drill center column was covered in a fine coat of rust straight out of the box.
If you want something that's just enough to do the job, this should be suitable. The stand does have mounting holes and slots, which I consider a plus.
|
May be eligible for FREE Shipping offer
