Vanda-lay industry tools

[Moab]

Has anyone used Vanda-lay tools and if so what were the results? Any other info is appreciated...Moab

[Moab]

Google Vanda-lay industry. They make a range of accessories that are used with Dremel tools...Moab

[petervisser]

Hmmm, and I thought they specialized in latex...

[BANYAN]

Hi, I purchased some Vanda-lay tools when I first started wood ship modelling some 20+ years ago and needed some basic mill and drill press setups on a budget.  I used the Vanda-lay Industries set-up for a couple of years, but soon learned I needed something with a higher capacity, more stability, and more accuracy, and have since moved to Sherline and other products.

 

For what they state they do, I found them OK.  The dremel, and knock off drills, I used with it were securely held and for small jobs the drill press and cut off saw arrangement worked quite well - though restricted a little in what you can do with such a small set-up.  The milling (X and Y tables) are another story though as I was never able to properly stabilize the 'Y' table enough to get accurate work in that axis.  This may have been a defective part , or poor operator use, but I think it is more the way it is designed that you cannot get a very stable Y axis  platform.  That said, as a starting point for small work, where only small work is needed,  it is sufficient to the needs. 

 

If looking for a mill, at that price point, you are well on the way to a more accurate, higher capacity mill such as a Proxon or even bench top midi-mill.  The larger micro/midi mills, can allso be set up to do precision drilling, and small saw operations.  

 

All that said, I have seen magnificent models done with hand tools only, and for those smaller jobs this would be a reasonable tool to supplement your tool kit; but, if you are in for the long haul and looking at bashing kits or scratch building, a larger set up would be a good investment rather than using this as a stepping point - BUDGET would be your prime driver I think.  I hope that this 'opinion' helps a little.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Bob Cleek]

I have their drill press which I acquired used. It's much better than the Dremel drill press rig. It's a quality-built item of CNC'd aluminum. That said, it suffers from all things Dremel, which is to say a lack of power. Dremel moto-tools trade speed for torque and their chucks and collets aren't high-tolerance machine tools. I find occasional uses for my Vanda-Lay Dremel drill press and I'd consider it a worthwhile entry-level power tool if price were a consideration and one already had a decent Dremel tool to put in it, but not as good an investment as would be putting the additional few bucks into a dedicated mini-mill.

[Morgan]

I have their Treenail maker, it’s a lot faster than using draw plates 

[davec]

I have their tree nail maker and their lathe duplicator.  The treenail maker, while fast, performs variably depending on what kind of wood you use.  Some woods break really easily and have fragments that clog the tip.  It did OK with boxwood and cherry, but badly with holly.  It also doesn't go small enough to be accurate at 1/4" scale.  I use it when I need to make .025" dowel, but have switched to bamboo and a Byrnes drawplate for treenails- the drawplate can go much smaller in diameter.

 

I was initially really disappointed with the lathe duplicator.  I could not get it to work for duplicating brass cannon barrels, and put it away for several years.  I suspect it is something I was doing wrong, particularly grinding the cutting tip.  I resurrected it a few weeks ago - it works great for wood.  Was really happy with using it to make identical posts for my cross section.  Now that I have had good results on wood, will try it on metal again.

[mtaylor]

I always wished they'd made lathe duplicators for other lathes besides the Sherline. <sigh>

[Moab]

Guys; thank you for the feedback...Moab