rotary tool, which to choose?

[cowanrg]

im looking to get a rotary tool, they seem pretty darn handy to have around for cutting, grinding, etc... which is the better one to get? im looking at the dewalt, craftsman, rotozip, or dremel?

i want variable speed of course, but all the fancy attachments dont really help me, i can get those later. i would LIKE to keep it under $100, but whatever, if i need to spend more to get a nicer one, thats fine too. but for the most part, the rotozip is the only one over $100.

[Elkaid]

If you plan using your rotary tool for light jobs and pcb drilling, Dremel is the way to go. Very cheap and they have a huge selection of accessories !
(some pictures here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...273#post212273)


If you plan to drill holes in HDF or MDF for your woofer or tweeter by example, you'd be better with a Dewalt as the motor is much more powerful than dremel.

I hope this helps !

[cowanrg]

does the dewalt offer me some accessory choices? could i still use dremel bits on the dewalt? i see that it has a universal chuck.

[Elkaid]

As long as you have a universal chuck for your Dewalt, you'll be able to fit most important tools (such as drilling bits and router bits)

Drilling PCB will be a bit tougher but you seems to need a tool adapted for more serious job so Dewalt should be nice.

Regards,

[JOE DIRT®]

dremel makes pretty much all of the them...and I have a have a feeling Black and Decker owns them which is probably owned by the cooper group.....I personaly have the sears model and have used it for the past 8 years and it has served me well.....we bought a dremel brand for the company and it was used a few times and crapped out....funny that


DIRT®

[Illusus]

Hi, I recommend a larger tool than the standard dremel pro, like the rotozip or dremel's look alike. I bought a dremel pro a while and although I've been happy with it I regret not buying the larger version. Of course you will need a flex shaft attachment to use the tool for working with fine parts. Rotozip, as the others, has a flex shaft option which allows the use of any of the dremel bits or any others meant for rotary tools, it also makes a great light duty router(I have a router attachment for my dremel but, for the lack of a better word, it sucks). I found that once I had a rotary tool it became indispensable, I'm sure you will be happy with whichever you decide to buy, but if possible don't skimp, my father once told me "only buy a tool once", following his advice always fared me well.

[Peter Daniel]

Buy the bigger one. I have Dremel, but don't remember when I was using it last time. Most of my better tools are running on air anyway.

[cowanrg]

sounds good guys. i think ill go with the dewalt, because the rotozips seem pretty pricey, and i doubt its all that much better than the dewalt. (from what i understand dewalt makes pretty nice stuff).

also, the routing stuff isnt a big deal, i have a craftsman router and router table... so i got that all covered. i do like the flexshaft idea, but i doubt i would use it much. ive got a really steady hand as it is. and my next purchase is a drill press, and i already have 2 drills. i would mainly use it for widening holes, those damn IEC holes, speaker baffles, etc... so, probably heavier duty stuff.

does anyone see a huge advantage that the rotozip has over the dewalt for the money?

[VEC7OR]

For pcb drilling get proxxon - its nearly pen sized and fairly light. After using it http://www.proxxon.com/en/28500.html, the famous Dremmel seems just big n heavy...

[MIKET]

I recently purchased a ROTOZIP from Home Depot with accesories in a kit for $99.95. This baby cranks. It's like a Dremel on Steroids.