Actually the 12V Proxxon units are cheaper than dremel and use the
same precision collets. Runout seems good too.
The IB/E is a nice tool, I have one too, but has a few shortcomings.
One is that the business end shaft is very short, no distance between
the bearings. Actually I'm not sure if the shaft is even guided by a
second bearing, or just one and the motor coupling. This leads to
severe knocking on the IB/E under excessive side loads, not that it
matters with PCB drilling.
The reason I elaborate on it is to recommend going for the long neck
version of the IB/E instead. It has a great distance between the
bearings and should prove much better at handling side loads. One must
admit that the Dremel has the advantage of the single spindle in that
regard, but I would still go for the Proxxon despite this, only the
long neck instead of the standard IB/E.
ST
On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Chris Horne <chris@...> wrote:
> And a cheap dremel type tool will be fine to start with..
> but the investment in a slightly more expensive proxxon is well worth it in the longer term and it is capable of all kids of jobs. They are buiult with greater precision than the dremmels, the collets are three jaw steel and centre the drills much better than the 4 jaw ones that fit a dremmel
>
> I started with a cheap dremmel knock off, graduated to a Proxxon IB/E with a homemade drill press, then a homemade foot operated drill press. Currently I'm using a CNC micro mill with a proxxon attached to it and about to build a new CNC machine specifically for drilling which will be much faster. The new machine will still use a proxxon as the spindle .. in fact the same proxxon that has drilled all my boards for the last few years !
>
>
> I can get many thousands of holes from a carbide bit..
>
> Chris