Rotary tool recommendations, preferences

[Steve116]

Hi. I am working on a Catboat and have the need for a rotary tool to clean up the portholes in the cabin. This is my first model 

 

What are tools of choice for model working?

 

Thanks!

[Bob Cleek]

It depends upon your pocketbook. In order of lowest to highest cost, I'd advise one of the following. Don't waste your money on Asian knockoffs. Only buy the name-brand stuff below.

 

Dremel Moto-tool. The bottom of the line model starts at $40 and they go up from there. Expect to pay $75 to $85 for a top of the line model. Spending a bit more for a model with variable speed is probably a wise move. Buy the self-centering chuck adapter accessory.  Dremel 100-N/7 Single Speed Mini Rotary Tool Kit with 7 Accessories- Hobby Drill, Small Pen Sander, Garden Tool Sharpener, Craft & Jewelry Drill, Black - Power Rotary Tools - Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

Proxxon Rotary Tool. Starts around $115.00. Like the Dremel but probably better quality construction and its ergonomics are preferred by some. Likely more readily available in the EU than the Dremel. proxxon rotary tool - Bing

 

 

 

Foredom Flex-shaft tool. Serious money at around $300 and up. Extremely versatile. Industry standard for heavy duty rotary tools. Used by commercial jewelers and dental labs. Everything you'll ever need in a rotary tool. Many different handpieces available. Get the drill chuck handpiece and the collet chuck handpiece (shown) for the greatest convenience and flexibility. The foot pedal is a big plus. Comes in a bench base model or for hanging from a bench-mounted hanger. Your preference. Sometimes available used.  Amazon.com: Foredom 2230, SR motor, Jewelers Kit

 

 

 

Dental lab engine, any brand. (Wells Model shown.) Expect to pay close to a grand retail for one of these ($750 with foot pedal speed control and handpiece arm plus $250 and up for the handpiece,) but your dentist may have one that he's replaced with an air-turbine handpiece unit and would be willing to give to you. They are a lot of them on the used market as air-turbine and micromotor units have come on the market, and they are sometimes at great prices. (E.g.: $400  Belt Drive Wells Dental Engine set Dental laboratory Model EURI Hobby/Carving | eBay and $100 Super-Dent Rugby Dental Laboratory Engine w/ Arm, Handpiece | eBay) The advantage of the "old school" dental engine is that it has a tremendous speed range (40,000 RPM downward) and good torque at low speeds, unlike other rotary tools. This rotary tool is still the workhorse of dental laboratories and parts and service are widely available, if needed. It excels at very fine work (like filling cavities) with it's wide range of very ergonomic handpieces, including angled ones for working in tight spaces.  It can be rather difficult to do fine work while holding a heavy, fat, Dremel or Proxxon rotary tool. It does what your dentist does inside your mouth, so you should have no problem reaching inside a framed hull to sand and bevel frames! And, if you ever tire of ship modeling, it will always be handy to have around the house to use for "enhanced interrogation techniques."  

 

 

While others' mileage may differ, I would recommend staying away from 12 volt rotary tools and anything running on batteries. They lack the power to really hog off the material when you want to do that. The same is true for the relatively new "micromotor" rotary tools. As much as they try, the laws of physics just won't permit replacing torque with speed. When it comes to power tools, the emphasis has always to be on power. 

 

As for burs and abrasives, note that the quality of those made for the professional jewelry manufacturing industry and the dental professionals will be of much higher quality than anything that uses the word "hobby" in their advertising and they will often be less expensive and longer lasting. Look for them in the online catalogs. They don't sell them in brick and mortar stores.

 

Shop around. This stuff goes on sale regularly. As interesting as it is to read their catalogs, the "hobby" mail order outfits are the most expensive retailers of all with this stuff, although, once in a blue moon, they do offer significant discounts.

 

Don't forget, always buy the best tool you can afford. It will last you a good long time, maybe even longer than you do, and if you find you don't need it anymore, you can almost always sell it for something reasonable. Cheap tools actually cost you more because you have to keep buying them over and over again. (Don't ask me how I know this!  )

 

Oh, and did I say, "Don't buy Asian knock-offs of Dremel and Foredom-type tools." There are lots of them on the market these days.  They may look identical and be a quarter the price, but they aren't the same. ("Cleek's Law" #27: "Never buy anything with a cord from Horror Fright!") Rotary tools live hard lives and if they are to live long lives, they have to be made of quality materials. There's no point in spending the money on a machine that will burn its bearings out in six or eight months of occasional use!

Edited October 6, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[Malazan]

What he said

[Clark]

IIf you have enough money, you might want to buy a second device that runs on a rechargeable battery. The Dremel inserts can also be used with Proxxon. Conversely, only those with a thick shaft.
Have fun
Clark

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Clark said:

The Dremel inserts can also be used with Proxxon. Conversely, only those with a thick shaft.

Size doesn't matter, really. Most all rotary tools accept a variety of sized collets so a wider range of shaft diameters can be accommodated. (See the black cube collet holder and collets in the lower right hand corner of the posted picture of the Proxxon rotary tool.) Dremel has a Jacobs-type chuck attachment that will accommodate up to 1/8" diameter shanks.

 

Dremel Rotary Tool Quick Change Collet Nuts (5-Piece) with 1/32 in. Rotary Tool Multi-Pro Chuck-4485+4486 - The Home Depot

 

[James H]

I use a Dremel Pro and have loads of attachments for it. Can't fault it whatsoever.

[Justin P.]

+1 for Foredom.   Mine is over 25 years old, and runs like a top.  Also +1 for the foot pedal which acts as a variable speed controller - lots of versatility.   I also have a Dremel, with the various attachments - its good, but once you've tried the Foredom its hard to say its great.  

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

I offer a contrary opinion.  Since I enjoy sidetracking threads, this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.  😜

 

Don’t buy a rotary tool!  Instead buy a decent set of needle files.  These rotary tools can be too aggressive when used on fragile materials. If used with any sort of heavy tool, the mass rotating at high speed begins to take charge.   If you don’t have a light touch and a sure hand, you’re likely to wind up with a picture window instead of a porthole!

 

I have had a Sears Craftsman rotary tool that is 50 years old.  It is great for use on metal but way too aggressive for use on thin wood.  I recently bought a Proxxon pen sized engraver that is powered by a separate 12v power supply.   With a small round point engraving tool, it works well on model scale materials.

 

Roger

[Charles Green]

For detail work, I'm with Roger on this.  Nothing beats a file for fine, finish work, especially when getting into corners is involved.  Purpose-made sanding sticks are an economical alternative but I find files leave better edges and internal corners.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  My Dad was a retired dentist who modeled 1930s biplanes or WWI aircraft, and used an old-school dental rig like the one pictured.  When he passed, my brother got dibs on the drill to work on his fossils ... so I ended up getting the HF flex shaft tool with foot control.  It does leave some to be desired - but was cheap and locally available, and has proven adequate so far.  But the right-angle head on the dentist's drill was clearly more useful overall.

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

28 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

I offer a contrary opinion.  Since I enjoy sidetracking threads, this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.  😜

 

Don’t buy a rotary tool!  Instead buy a decent set of needle files.  These rotary tools can be too aggressive when used on fragile materials. If used with any sort of heavy tool, the mass rotating at high speed begins to take charge.   If you don’t have a light touch and a sure hand, you’re likely to wind up with a picture window instead of a porthole!

 

I have had a Sears Craftsman rotary tool that is 50 years old.  It is great for use on metal but way too aggressive for use on thin wood.  I recently bought a Proxxon pen sized engraver that is powered by a separate 12v power supply.   With a small round point engraving tool, it works well on model scale materials.

 

Roger

  I'm a believer in needle files - and for greater flexibility set some that come 'curved', known as riffler files.  The curved files enable you to work on parts of flat surfaces and hard-to-get places with just the end of the file (the curved part).  I've done low-relief longrifle decorations with both minitaure carving tools AND a set of curved-end (and bent-end) files.    Snug

[Roger Pellett]

Oh!  Another muzzleloading rifle builder!

[ccoyle]

24 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

Oh!  Another muzzleloading rifle builder!

 

I don't build them, but I bought one a couple of years ago so I could hunt an extra ten days in SC. Never once even saw a deer whenever I took my BP rifle out. 😢

 

Anyways, the real reason I chimed in on this thread is to say that I own a Dremel tool with a flex shaft attachment. I used it quite a bit when I was building wooden kits. I soon ditched the flex shaft -- it worked fine, but I just preferred working without it. Now that I'm working mostly in card, I rarely use my Dremel, but it does work nicely for turning aircraft wheels. As others have pointed out, you do have to pay attention to what you're doing when using a rotary tool for tasks like sanding, as it can very easily and quickly remove more material than intended.

 

[Jaager]

One thing about files:   a lot of deals and advertising for diamond coated.  These are for working metal.  The cutting edges do not fit with wood.

You want HSS.  You want one of the small number of high quality company products.  If you are doing heavy wood removal, keep any downward force on top of the area being filed.

Working a file with the file force vectors making it bow will not end well for your pocketbook.

[Tim Holt]

A foot switch for hands-free use is good to have. 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Tim Holt

[Steve116]

Thanks, everyone. I’m learning that modelers share a passion and are ready to help. ALL your input is useful. one question for Jaager - what is HSS?

Edited October 6, 2021 by Steve116
Corrected spelling error

[gjdale]

HSS = High Speed Steel

 

[mtaylor]

For "light work", take a look at the WeCheer WE-242.  It's small, variable speeds, but not much torque.   Takes all the Dremel collets.   I like it over the Dremel as I don't feel the weight of it but the "feel" of what's being shaped.

[BobG]

18 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

It can be rather difficult to do fine work while holding a heavy, fat, Dremel or Proxxon rotary tool.

 

Dremel and Porxxon both make flex shaft attachments which essentially solves the problem of working with "a heavy, fat" rotary tool though.

[Bill Hudson]

I have been at this model making business for over 40 years. It seems too be a constant search for the ideal rotary tool. Started with Fordem but got tired of the dance with the stiff cable and foot pedal. Then came Dremel. The earlier ones were quite small and not too powerful. Finally the larger body with lots of power came out. When they added variable speed that became my tool of choice. Had one set up as a router table, one as a saw for ripping strips and one as a drill  press. I also had several for hand work. The bulky size kind of made hand work a problem when I needed fine work. The main problem I had with dermal was keeping bearings in them. The front bearing does not take kindly too much side force. I decided I needed a cordless and ordered the Dremel 8050 cordless which is  smaller size tool good for finer work but I found out it is no longer available, even through Dremel.  My fall back was to order the Dremel 8220 cordless. Turns out it is large and heavy and not too useful for fine work. The battery life is poor and extra batteries are quite expensive. I finally settled on the Proxxon rotary tool which has been the best so far. I am now sticking with my Proxxon. 

[Steve116]

Hi Bill. Thx for your input. Which Proxxon model are you using?

[Jaager]

3 minutes ago, Bill Hudson said:

the Dremel 8050 cordless which is  smaller size tool good for finer work

I completely agree and use it for the same jobs that you do.  I noticed that it had been dropped by MM, but found it on the Dremel web site after digging.  I was checking to make sure that it would be useful to recommend it here when the subject came up.  It is a bummer to learn that it has become extinct.

[Bob Cleek]

The small rechargeable Dremel mototools were quite promising. I have one, but haven't used it in a long time. I bought it for my wife who shows dogs and wanted a cordless Dremel for doing pedicures on her basset hounds on the road at dog shows. There was (is) an undisclosed design defect in them. They are fine for quick use, but if they are run for any length of time (I'm guessing eight or ten minutes continuously,) the battery to motor body contacts heat up to the point where they actually melt, at which point the (expensive) battery is useless. At least, that was my experience with them. I suspect this is why Dremel discontinued them.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[Bob Cleek]

6 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I offer a contrary opinion.  Since I enjoy sidetracking threads, this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.  😜

 

Don’t buy a rotary tool!  Instead buy a decent set of needle files.  These rotary tools can be too aggressive when used on fragile materials. If used with any sort of heavy tool, the mass rotating at high speed begins to take charge.   If you don’t have a light touch and a sure hand, you’re likely to wind up with a picture window instead of a porthole!

 

I have had a Sears Craftsman rotary tool that is 50 years old.  It is great for use on metal but way too aggressive for use on thin wood.  I recently bought a Proxxon pen sized engraver that is powered by a separate 12v power supply.   With a small round point engraving tool, it works well on model scale materials.

 

Roger

Your opinion certainly isn't contrary to mine. The OP asked about rotary tools. Had he asked, "What's the best tool for cleaning up portholes?" my answer would have been a round file or a hand reamer of some sort. My first rotary tool was that same Sears Craftsman rotary tool you mention. I still have it. I can't remember when I used it last. I believe they were made by Weller and labeled "Craftsman" by Sears, as was Sears' practice with all of their products. (Sears and its subsidiary, K-Mart, had over 3,000 stores and they were two of the largest retailers in the US fifteen years ago. Now there are about 19 Sears and 16 Kmart stores left. Stanley Black & Decker now own the Craftsman brand and, while they claim to honor the famous "lifetime no questions asked replacement warranty" on Craftsman hand tools, they only honor it if the store that sells Craftsman tools to which you bring your broken tool happens to have that very same tool in stock, which often they don't. If the broken tool is part of a set, and they don't have loose stock to replace it, they won't break up a set to do the exchange, so you're out of luck. This is classic "thread drift," I know, but I thought it was an interesting footnote.) In retrospect, compared to the Dremel I bought later, the Craftsman/Weller rotary tool was rather inferior.)

 

Perhaps I should have gone into more detail on rotary tools, I suppose. Truly, rotary tools can be and generally are too aggressive when used on anything but metal. (The Dremel Moto-tool was originally designed and marketed as a die grinder.) As I mentioned in my post above, it's all about torque and not about speed. One of the big drawbacks to a high-speed rotary tool is that it too aggressively removes soft material. Combine that limitation with a heavy, less ergonomic tool and controlling it becomes very difficult, especially with fine work. Additionally, slowing down these high-speed motors, particularly the newer very high speed rare earth magnet "micro-motors," results in a corresponding loss of what was not a lot of torque to begin with. Trying to do work with wood, and particularly plastics, which can melt when cut with high speed tools, with a tool that is really only effective at high speed, is very difficult and, in the case of plastic, sometimes impossible.

 

Painting with a somewhat broad brush, I offered four options, intentionally omitting 12 volt and battery-powered options, as well as the entire range of "micro-motor" rotary tools which are becoming more popular in some quarters these days. The micro-motor tools are small handpieces with the motor in the handpiece itself. These are very high speed tools with little torque, but they are easier to control due to their ergonomics. They are primarily useful for very fine detail work and lack the broader range of attachment capabilities of the other rotary tools.

 

All of which is to say that in my opinion the best option of all in terms of versatility and power at low, more easily controllable speeds, as may be needed, are the dental engines. These days, if you watch eBay and similar sites carefully, one can find a dental lab grade dental engine that was built to last a lifetime, in very good condition, for a couple of hundred bucks or less. Considering the maxim that much touted "multi-tools" do none of the things they say they do well, one has to realize that with a dental engine, they may want to acquire a separate mini-drill press or the like because the dental engine isn't going to do it for them on that score, but then again, mounting a Dremel-type motor in a drill press attachment is a poor option anyway.

 

And no matter what, one will need to have a good set of wood-cutting files and rifflers anyway.

 

 

[Jim Rogers]

I use a Dremel with Flex shaft and foot control and a rechargeable Dremel and needle files. I find you need all dependent on situation.

[Justin P.]

8 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I offer a contrary opinion.  Since I enjoy sidetracking threads, this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.  😜

 

Don’t buy a rotary tool!  Instead buy a decent set of needle files.  

Agreed, perhaps I should have qualified my own comment above!  I actually rarely use my own rotary tool (Foredom or Dremel) for ship modeling activities.  But do love my Foredom regardless.

[Roger Pellett]

Hey!  If my post sounded critical of replies by Bob and Justin, I’m sorry.  After all, you guys provided straight answers to the question!  As self proclaimed master of thread drift I probably clouded the issue.

 

As a matter of fact, I used my Sears rotary tool yesterday.  It did a great job of cutting brass tubing to line portholes in the model that I am building.  In fact, the accessories that I use by far the most with this tool are the little disposable cutting discs.  

 

Roger

[Bill Hudson]

7 hours ago, Steve116 said:

Hi Bill. Thx for your input. Which Proxxon model are you using?

I have had it for many years. The only marking on it says MICROMOT 50e. It is very small.  I would say it i comparable to a hand piece for Foredom but a little bulkier. I got it through Woodcraft.  About files:  yes they have their place and are good for finishing off parts. An equivalent for rotary tool burrs would be diamond burrs. They come in fine and course. They work great on wood. If they become clogged with wood fiber just dip them in Dawn and scrub with a toothbrush.  I enjoy the knowledge being shared here. 

[BobG]

13 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Hey!  If my post sounded critical of replies by Bob and Justin, I’m sorry.  After all, you guys provided straight answers to the question!  As self proclaimed master of thread drift I probably clouded the issue.

 

As a matter of fact, I used my Sears rotary tool yesterday.  It did a great job of cutting brass tubing to line portholes in the model that I am building.  In fact, the accessories that I use by far the most with this tool are the little disposable cutting discs.  

 

Roger

No need to apologize for anything, Roger. I didn't think your post was critical at all. I was just suggesting that a flex shaft attachment can be added to a Dremel or a Proxxon rotary tool which then gives you a very slim tool to use.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Among those I tried, 1 stands out: no shaft to reduce flexibility, 0 to 50000rpm, brushless  delicate and very strong at the same time:

 

Foredom brushless micro motor, to the extreme left, all the others are in drawers.