Dremel 8050 micro

[Oliver24]

Hi guys! Do you have any opinions about the above mentioned tool? It is significantly smaller than its siblings and weights only about 250 grams. It is powered by a li-ion accu and has a fancy wireless charger. It lasts about 3,5 h of work with a single charge. Seems a very versatile tool for ship modelling...

Edited January 1 by Oliver24

[Chuck Seiler]

I am a big fan of Dremel cordless.  I have several although not this particular model.  It SAYS it gets 3.5 hours on a charge but I have found that these claims are always high.  That is why I always get at least one spare battery so when battery 1 goes flat during a project, I can switch out to battery 2 without having to wait for recharge.  It appears the battery for this tool is integral to the tool and it is charged as a whole unit.  That would be my primary concern.

 

Love the 'headlight'.

[kurtvd19]

Oliver:

I wouldn't mess with this one due to the Li-ion battery.  Li-ions are the batteries that are burning up all sorts of things including the house or garage where they were charging while unattended.

There are several similar models that use ni-cd's that I would consider instead.  I have one of the 2 speed minis with ni-cd's (model 750) and don't have qualms about leaving it in the charger. 

I personally don't think the Li-ion batteries problems with unattended charging are worth the risk when the ni-cd batteries are well proven.

The original mini Dremels were really nice but you can't get batteries for them any more and I have found the 750 works for me.

Kurt

 

[Oliver24]

Thank you for your opinions! Any other possible alternatives? 

[Chuck Seiler]

I use the 7700.  It is a little bulky than the 8050, but I have no problem with it.  The 7300 looks to be a little less bulky.  Both are 2 speed.  The 7700 runs faster than the 7300 on both speeds, but I have no issue.

 

I would also get the micro chuck.

[Captain Poison]

I'm using Dremel Micro (I bought it in December 2014 ) and in my opinion is amazing for small jobs,you can use drill bits from 51mm to 3.2mm.

Like I said is for small jobs,it comes with 5-speed, 1 or 2 you can have a great accuracy. Speeds up 1 or 2 is too much for this small Dremel and is not recommended to use it at high speeds for a long time.

 

For me is a great tool and I recommend it for the type of work that we do,after you try it,you fall in love (tip: ideal for round dogs nails after cutting)

Edited January 5 by Captain Poison

[Oliver24]

I guess that I will order one afterall. Seems that it has good reviews all over.

[wefalck]

Not immediately on this Dremel machine, but on batteries from an environmental scientist: Ni-Cd are being gradually phased out due to environmental concerns over low collection and recycling rates. The cadmium is being dispersed in our environment, or worse in the environment of Third World countries, where many electric and electronic devices end their life in order to be 'recycled', when not fed into the proper recycling routes, but just binned. There, inter alia children burn the electrics and electronics waste in order to recover copper, gold and silver, but releasing nasty metals such as Cd and Hg into the environment and exposing themselves to these.

Li-ion batteries are a step away from this problem, but certainly not the last answer. Research and industry are working on other solutions.

As a rule, electric devices should not left to be charged unattended. Full stop. Physical chemistry tells you that during the charging process heat will be generated, which must be dissipated. If that is not possible for one or another reason, the device may heat up to ignition temperature. This applies to any kind of batteries. Li-ion batteries have a high charge per volume density and often are built into devices with poor heat dissipation capacity - which is the root cause of the problem.

So there is no problem as such with Li-ion batteries, as long as you keep an eye on your device.

Edited January 3 by wefalck

[Nirvana]

Olivier, 

I bought a 8050 long time ago, found it at Walmart at a heck of a deal, pricetag was misprinted and it rang up at 50 dollars.

So far mine has been running without any problem nor overheating.

Running time has varied depending on speed but I would say I am getting about 8 hours before I need to charge it.
At the time when this model came out on the market, there were a recall of some serial numbers because they overheated and could catch fire.

Today I don't think there is any issues at all.

[John Allen]

I have used the 8050 for over a year love it have really abused it at times pushing it to the max when sanding. The only reservation I had was how long would the built in battery last over time so far no issues.

 

I actually use it more than my other Dremel's or flex shaft it is a no brainer for the money one of the best versatile tools out there.

[jhearl]

I have had an 8050 for a couple of years now (in addition to other Dremels) and generally like it, but there are a couple of things I find annoying. First, when you turn it on, it always starts at the middle speed. If you want it to be slower or faster, you have to push the up or down buttons once you've turned it on. If you're in the middle of a job and you need to turn it off briefly, you have to reset the speed again when you turn it back on.

 

The other annoying feature is the light. Seems like it would be a beneficial thing, but if you're holding the tool such that the light is shining in your eyes, it can make it very difficult to see what you're working on. I wound up covering the light on mine with some tape.

 

I've never used a Dremel tool for 3-1/2 hours continuously so I can't say whether it would work that long. When I'm done using it, it just goes back in the charger and it's always charged up next time I need it.

 

Cheers -

John

[Jaager]

I have one and I like it. I agree with John about it not "remembering" the set speed.  Mine was one of the lot numbers in the recall.  It was done efficiently and there has been no heat problem.  Gonna get the keyless chuck with my next Amazon order.

[HSM]

I bought an 8050 (thanks again for the recommendation John!) and love it. I haven't used my old flex-shaft dremel in months. The battery seems to have sufficient run time, at least for me. I have never had it go flat or slow down during a job and I use it daily. The fact that it doesn't remember your last set speed is the most significant drawback to this tool. It can be quite annoying when you are doing lots of slow speed work and have to continually be pushing buttons. I put a jacobs chuck on it and it blocks the lights in such a way that there is light everywhere EXCEPT where the blade meets the work! On the possibility of the battery getting weak over time, I have had mine for 6 months and if it were to die right now I would spend the money to buy another one. I like it that much.

 

It is not perfect, but is well worth the money for the cordless convenience. I don't think you would regret buying an 8050.

Edited January 4 by HSM

[Oliver24]

I would use it only for building model ships. I suppose that in the majority of cases it will be used for drilling small holes (for cannon fences for ex). My question would be what are the most commonly used drill head sizes? I guess  the 1-1,5 mm is the most useful. Am I correct?

[Jaager]

Oliver, you provide no location information, so you may not be used to Imperial unit materials, but for me a Rogers Drill Bit Stand  #61-80 has continued to be a very useful way to access bits when trying several sizes.  About the most expensive choice, but refills you buy in bulk - when you discover which sizes get the most use.  I usually remove and replace using a Kelly clamp.

[wefalck]

10 hours ago, Oliver24 said:

I would use it only for building model ships. I suppose that in the majority of cases it will be used for drilling small holes (for cannon fences for ex). My question would be what are the most commonly used drill head sizes? I guess  the 1-1,5 mm is the most useful. Am I correct?

I don’t quite understand the point of the question. One is likely to need all sizes of drills at some point. From a practical perspective I would think that one can drill holes in a range from 0.5 mm to about 3 mm (or 1/8” for you imperial guys). Drills commonly go down to 0.3 mm, but I would use them only in a stationary machine or with a pin-vise. There are even smaller drills, but these are really delicate (and expensive).

[Oliver24]

I checked my local store today: unfortunately Dremel seems to provide drill heads starting only from 0.8 mm. Proxxon on the other hand is going from  0.5 mm . Can I use the drill heads from Proxxon with a Dremel machine?

Edited January 5 by Oliver24

[wefalck]

Standard twist-drills are independent from machinery manufacturers. Standard twist-drills have a shaft diameter, which is the same as nominal drill diameter (for the British number drills this a bit more complicated). There are also twist-drills with thicker shaft, commonly 2.45 mm, 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm. The latter two one normally finds only in watchmakers' supply houses. All the other drills are found in many hobby stores or, indeed, on ebay in varying qualities. Shy away from carbide-drills, they are much less forgiving in a hand-drill than HSS ones.

[mtdoramike]

Due to not being able to get the batteries for my old cordless dremels, I owned three of them with different bits in them so I wouldn't have to stop and change out all the time. The newer ones with the Lion batteries concerned me so I phased out my old cordless dremels for corded models. It's a little bit more of a pain having the cords in the way quite often, but it works for me. 

[mtaylor]

Model Expo sells a wooden box with 20 different small bits from size 61 to 80 for a pretty reasonable price:   https://modelexpo-online.com/MT2001-Set-of-100-Number-Drills-5-each-of-61-80-in-a-Wood-Box-Pin-Vise_p_1411.html

[Oliver24]

Unfortunately my acquisition is put on hold. The Dremel 8050 costs about 150 Euros (!!) in my country, which is above budget. I found the Proxxon micromot 50 for about 100 euros in a package with the adapter. Should I save a little bit more and get the Dremel?

[wefalck]

Don't know what collets the Dremel uses, but the PROXXON collets are very good and durable. This would be one of my key criteria - for a hand-held tool you don't want to mess around with drill-chuck that obstructs your view etc. The collets accomodate up to 3.2 mm, which is 1/8", so one can use both metric and imperial inserts and drills.

[Moab]

I too have the same concern mentioned in Kurt's post about  Li-po batteries. Has anyone had problems with these batteries?...MOAB

[Jack Aubrey]

I bought the corded Dremel Stylo plus (various speeds) recently which I think is the smallest of Dremel's rotary tool range. I mainly use if for sanding and drilling. In Australia, it came with a multi-chuck which can handle bits as small as 0.3mm. Extremely comfortable to use - far more so than the bulkier 8050 micro. Current build: Jotika HMS Victory.

Edited January 11 by Jack Aubrey
Spelling mistake

[Tim Moore]

I've now been using the 8050 micro for about a month, replacing my old corded and flex shaft models. Haven't experienced any major problems with it as far as ship modelling uses. I'm now using it all the time - does everything and ive found it very light and agile to use. Battery seems to run forever. I also bought the 4486 chuck which lets you install anything from all their tooling bits to micro drills, much better than dealing with all those collet things for me. The only possible practical drawback I've found so far might be the size of the chuck when drilling in situ in tight spaces on the ship, as Wefalck pointed out. 

[John Allen]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 2:47 PM, Moab said:

I too have the same concern mentioned in Kurt's post about  Li-po batteries. Has anyone had problems with these batteries?...MOAB

Have had mine for awhile have used and abused, should have failed by now or bearing burnout great tool charges quickly as I have posted before.

 

As Kurt pointed out (former firefighter in another life. thanks for your service Kurt) Lithiums do not have a good reputation and I would not want to come back home to a pile of ashes. I have had no problems with hot or overheated charged battery can find no negatives on 8050 and battery and or charger.

 

That being said it is always wise to turn off and unplug tools when away.

Edited January 11 by John Allen
spelling

[Oliver24]

I have bought a Proxxon Micromot 50 in the end. It came in a pack with the main adapter, 5 drill units and several drill heads. I got it for 80 euros, approximately half the price of the Dremel 8050. I have used it to sand some stuff and I was satisfied with the results. It is fairly quiet and the speed can be adjustable just as the Dremel. One drawback is that it is not cordless.