Germany's Wolfcraft sells a decade-old, relatively unique, $100 drill guide/stand that only works with a handful of seemingly random commercial handheld (43mm) drills, including Bosch 1006VSR 3/8" and Ryobi D620H 5/8" drills. https://www.amazon.com/Wolfcraft-4522-Mobil-Drill-Stand/dp/B...
43mm seems to be quite standard in Europe. Lots of stands/columns for drills I can find around here (Spain) are that size. Also, that stand is priced at less than 50€ here :o
I like the Woodpecker, but's difficult to get in Europe, and at almost $300, is more expensive than my Makita drill. The plastic $20 ones in Aliexpress loock super finicky. Perhaps there's something in between :D
edit: BTW, those Wabeco tools look great and not that expensive. My dad would love one of those stands (me too, but I don't have the space :D )
(that coupled w/ a Mafell drill and jigsaw, a Jointmaker Pro v2, and a shooting plane and board are my last hand tool purchases until I have a dedicate shop and a nice bandsaw for resawing)
> Initially I considered all sorts of screw tensioning and spring loading schemes, as well as worrying about the strength of the solder joints but I have been using these modified nuts for about 2 years now and they are showing little signs of wear or failure. With the above 2 improvements backlash on the X-Y table has been reduced from almost a full turn of the handles to less than a tenth of a turn. I think some fairly radical re-engineering may be needed to get much better than that, new lead screws would be a must as the ones that come with it are not that great.
> To adjust height, a clamp needs to be released on the rear shaft with one hand whilst still holding the drill in its assembly with the other...and it all wobbles a bit...there’s nothing stopping the assembly dropping and potentially doing some damage if there’s a bit in the chuck. So, a touch of genius....I happen to have a couple of springs that came from an old plunge router. Each spring is about 70/80mm long and they’re just the right diameter to fit loosely onto the shaft under the drill assembly. So now when the rear clamp is released, these springs take the total weight of the drill head which now has to be gently pressed down against the spring pressure rather than simply dropping under gravity. It makes an amazing difference and turns the drill stand into a much more professional tool and more like a full size pillar drill. It’s a tweak well worth doing if you can get suitable springs.
The hobbyist community could compile these tweaks/fixes into one OSS document per model, rather than leaving them scattered across product reviews and blogs.
I have one of the small Proxxon screw cutting lathes, PD250/e.
It’s great, I love it.
If I was more serious I guess I’d move to CNC[1] but to be honest I really enjoy working by hand as an alternative to IT work.
It does kind of lack power compared to a bigger lathe but with HSS cutting tools it works fine. I do have carbide insert tooling too but save that for softer materials like Al. It would probably struggle a bit with titanium but if I stick to brass, Al, silver-steel or 303 stainless all’s good.
I wondered about their little tabletop tool grinder/polisher but I do worry the motor is a bit too weak to be useful. Anyone tried it to know for sure?
1. Proxxon themselves actually sell CNC versions of their lathes and mills.
I've noticed that there is a lack of quality miniature wood/acrylic working tools that are equiv to full sized versions. Specifically, I'm looking for a mini table saw, router table, etc suitable for something like 1/4 inch wood or acrylic and pieces about the size for making miniature buildings (for model railroading) or other small items.
Ideally I'd like to see a miniature Shop Smith multi tool.
> Rope-making is a skill which dates back to pre-historic times ... scale rope making is, in many ways, even more difficult than making lengths of full-size rope. But no more! Jim's variable speed Ropewalk is a precision machine which will produce scale rope in any length you need ...
Wow, immortalizing one human's craftsmanship in a configurable robot.
Have you seen the Jointmaker from Bridge City? It’s a very high quality sliding table that holds the workpiece, and is moved by hand over a fixed saw blade. It’s used by musical instrument makers and others who do fine work with small parts.
the unimat was pretty cool. I had one for a while and gave it to a friend. like all the other mini-tools it took a long time to configure for a particular job. but it was more solid than the sherlines, and had a great lego-ish quality to it.
Miniature tools where you introduce the workpiece to the tool (like the ones you listed) seem pretty difficult in small size. Are tools where you introduce the tool to the workpiece (like a dremel instead of a router) no good?
The main reason I was thinking of a fixed tool is it seems that it would be possible to have more precision with it. One example that I've been wanting to do for a while is make my own slide rules. For that you need to cut 1/4 inch boards (or plexiglass) into 3/4 inch wide (or so) strips, then make a tongue and groove cut.
What I came up with so far is an adjustable router table for a Dremel that you could use with a 1/16 inch engraving bit, designed for my 3D printer. Just finished making my most recent prototype, but need to rough cut the stock on a regular table saw to try it out.
My initial prototype design is here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5395048 however I've made a number of tweaks to it (things like getting the screw thread sizing dialed in to account for tolerances on my 3d printer, etc -- eventually I'll post a fully parameterized version that can be tweaked individually).
Right now it is designed to hold the Dremel in one hand, feed the work piece through the other. It has a primary pivot fence with 1/32 inch scale marks, and the second pivot fence can be attached to center a work piece (my current design eliminates this second fence and replaces it with a button that works just as good).
My next Dremel related 3d design will be a mounting system that attaches where the plastic screws are that holds the motor brushes in place, then I'll see if I can do a lathe, table saw, hand held circular saw, etc).
At this point in my life, I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever buy a cheap table saw.
Table saws are where fingers come off, where work pieces get chucked at you, and where blades sometimes explode. It's probably the second-most dangerous tool in any shop.
A good circular saw and guide can do much the same thing as a cheap table saw, safely. Nice table saws can do some precision work a circular saw can't match (such as various kinds of notches), but not a $40 HF mini table saw. But 90% of what a table saw does, a circular saw properly used will do just as well, only with a bit more work setting up guides.
Other tools can handle those rare precision notches a circular saw won't do.
Things to be aware of:
- You can adjust height and angle on a circular saw. It's more finicky than a table saw, and you might need a protractor, but once you set it, it's good.
- You want a long guide you can clip to the piece.
- You want something like a Kreg which attaches to the table saw and guides it for e.g. cross-cuts of the same length.
If you do want a cheap saw on a table, I'd consider any other kind (e.g. a scroll saw).
Please share recommendations for new or used alternatives! There are many alternatives with larger form factors, and a few Chinese clones of comparable sizes but variable QA/properties, which can sometimes be fixed if you already have a lab with working tools.
20mm collar for their proprietary hand tools: BV 2000 ($200, https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/20002.php) and MB 200 ($120, https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/28600.php)
43mm collar compatible with standard drills, BFB 2000 ($250): https://www.proxxon.com/en/micromot/20000.php
Their products are unique for EU manufacturing in Luxembourg. Some are available on Amazon US.