This is the Tamiya Electric Handy Drill. I bought it at a hobby store on a lark, thinking it might be a good tool for pinning. Boy is it ever!! It uses a regular hobby motor, but has a gearing arrangement that gives it a decent amount of torque. I tested it on plastic, wood and white metal (Privateer Press minis) and it was great to very good on all of them. It has a collet lock, trigger lock and even a spare collet for larger drill bits.
It blasted through the wood and plastic easily. Even with the small drill bit for pinning, it was very sure and precise. On the metal minis, it was perfection in a plastic case! This was the function I had most wanted to use it for, so I was very pleased with that!!
Drilling metal is a pain in the arse. Yes, I know, a pin vise works, as does the dremel. But the pin vise is manual, and I hate work. The dremel, meanwhile spins very quickly, but with almost no torque at all. So you usually end up with either a broken bit (the really small ones) or a stalled dremel tool that you then have to work out of the hole it dug. That and the fact that using the dremel can really heat up a mini. This drill has a nice gear reduction set that gives it just enough torque to drill the metal, but not heat it up or stall. Perfection!
The downsides of this thing? Well, it is a kit, you have to build it. Luckily you don't have to drill anything, or you would end up in a Möbius loop forever. Also, the gearing and everything except the motor and battery parts are plastic. It is tough and durable, but it will not stand up to too much punishment. (Take care of your tools, kids, and they'll take care of you!)
Do be careful, if you run to get one... Amazon sells them for anything from ~$18 to ~$58. Don't get caught with the expensive one. Here is a shameless link to one from my Amazon store...
So, if you need one, you really need one. It's quite handy and I can give it an unqualified thumbs up!
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| Who knew, a kit to build kits... LOL |
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| Side view showing the tool, the trigger lock and the collet stop (Brass button near the shaft) |
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| 2 AA batteries required! |
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Please feel free to leave comments, positive or negative. I am a big boy, I can handle it. Thanks for your thoughts, always much appreciated.