Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/26/this-dremel-rotary-tool-clone.html
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Last time it was a great deal at $13:
So its not a Dremel? You’re helping destroying Dremel’s brand by not using the generic term “rotary tool”!
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it was well worth the $13 if only for the flexible shaft I put in my dremel case. $21? I’d would’ve just spent the extra $4 for brand name.
I buy the Black and Decker ones. They last me about the same amount of time as an expensive Dremel-branded tool, and fit the Dremel-branded accessories I have.
It’s not really 3-speed; it has three detents in a continuously variable speed control.
https://www.amazon.com/Decker-RTX-6-3-Speed-Rotary-Accessories/dp/B0001GUDRI
Edit: Also, it has a better chuck lock than a real Dremel.
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Careful! I bought this tool last time it came up here. I was using the cutting wheel when the effin thing flew off! The shaft itself bent while using it, which created enough motion to wiggle itself loose and zip past my head at 100 mph. I’ve been using Dremels for years, especially the cutting wheel, and I’ve never had anything like this happen.
I got one of those and the flex shaft melted and fell apart.
Always wear (at least) eye protection! I don’t think I’ve ever bent a cutter shaft, but I have frequently sent fractured pieces of bits and cutting disks flying from Dremel, Sears Craftsman, and Black and Decker rotary tools.
My Sears flex shaft did that. But I never liked it anyway because the tools weren’t the same shaft size as Dremel branded tools.
These things do tend to fail ugly. One of the Dremel-branded dremels I’ve used up actually caught fire, and one of the B&Ds got so hot I could not hold it anymore, so I pulled the plug and when it cooled off the shaft was locked solid by melted plastic.
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This is because the bearings in the clones suck and are loose compared to Dremel’s, and allow enough play for an eccentric load to form. I bought a HF clone and had the same experience as you. Cutting wheels are a lot harder on the bearings than small burrs. I use the rough carbide disks to cope MDF moldings, makes it a snap compared to the traditional saw and file method.
This has not been my experience with the cheap Black and Deckers. In those, the bearings suck and are loose just like Dremel’s. 
There are some very high quality rotary tools on the market - proxxon, pfingst, foredom for example - but they cost so much it is cheaper for me to keep burning up B&D ones every couple of years. Dremel brand has very nice accessories, but the tools aren’t cheap like B&D or durable like the costly ones.
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And then there’s the ones off the market, like this one I picked up for $10. It’s what a Dremel wants to be when it grows up. Legend has it they’re so tight and immortal people would mount them in mill heads as a jig borers. But it’s as heavy as it looks! Very tough to google info on a tool called “Precise”.
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Pfffft. That’s clearly a blaster rifle with the stock removed.
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I was wearing eye protection, and agreed that it’s a must when working with rotary tools. I’ll fudge on the eye protection with sanding and things like that, but not these. But this was so sketchy that it would have done damage to whatever part of my body it lodged into.
Ha well put.
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I’m reaching for a kleenex.
Last time these popped up on BB I got 2, they are preforming on 8 out of 10. The flex attachment is a must have. Did an entire 61’ Triumph [polish/cleanup] on the engine case and it’s still chugging along.
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Replaceable brushes! Nice.
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That looks like it would chooch. Better engage your safety squints when using it.
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I’m pretty sure you can do the brushes on a dremel, you just have to open the case first. I had to do surgery on mine when the VS bar was going bad. A little 400 grit sanding on the contacts did the trick.
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The chuck lock on a Dremel is complete garbage, prob the main reason why I buy knock off rotaries…
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I’d been using dremels for years (and disliked how the “slow” setting on the variable speed versions is still pretty high speed [not so great for all types of metal polishing]), and took a bit of a risk on an unknown foot pedal control flex shaft, and have been quite pleased with it. Top speed isn’t quite what a dremel gets, but I rarely use that blazing fast speed anyway.
This is what I got:
https://www.sciplus.com/p/VARIABLE-SPEED-FLEX-SHAFT-GRINDER_43486
(and I still have my old dremel if I need warp speeds)
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