Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

A few messages back someone suggested a Foredom Handtool over a
Dremel. I bought a real Foredom with a Number 30 handpiece.(chuck not
collet) Save your money. I even bought a sound meter. The Foredom
Number 30 has .006 of runout and it makes noise from three place. When
you bolt it to the machine it makes even more noise. The noise is
lower pitched but it is not quieter than a Dremel set on number 3
(12,000 rpms)

A Dremel MultiPro with a 1/8 bit has almost no runout if the collet
is not over tightened. The aluminum collet can become distorted
causing the bit to wobble. A Dremel right out of the box might need
the front bearing shimmed between the case and the bearing. The
Foredom also has lots of axial play under pressure which the Dremel
does not. I bought the Number 30 Foredom handpiece brand new. It is
possible one of the collet models are better. For the money the Dremel
MultiPro is the best bang for the buck.