My modelling drill give up the ghost last night burning out, it was only a cheap one from Aldi and I am looking for a better one, should I go down the Dremel route or do you only pay for the name, if you have any suggestions I would be very pleased, birthday coming up and the lads are asking what they can buy for there pop.

Check out the Dremel packs; I got a decent deal some time back; the digital Dremel, drill-press stand, flexishaft, plenty of bits & a good case at a good price.  They may have similar deals on.

Seeing as your lads are buying it as a present Geoff, i would ask for a Dremmel,does exactly what it says on the tin......

I have never regretted buying my Dremel, shop around as you do get bargains.
This is the Dremel I bought:
http://www.tool-shop.co.uk/Dremel/Tools/Multitools/Dremel/8710364060894/3000-1-25+Kit.html

cheers John.

I would recommend a Proxxon IB/E or LB/E over a Dremel any day of the week.  The one I have is much more robustly made and much, much quieter in use than my Dremel.  It also takes all the same accessories.
Also, for precision work, it has the benefit of bearings which aren't mounted in floppy rubber bushings (this is one of the reasons why Dremels struggle to drill small holes the right size and without breaking bits.
From what I've been told (although I don't know this for sure) Dremel have been steadily reducing their quality over the last few years, and the most recent ones aren't much better than the no-name cheap multitools.

OK folks need the drill in a hurry so went out and bought a Dremel 3000 now this is more powerful than the billy no make model I had, now I have been missing the extra power, the lads are buying me accessory kits for the dremel, thank you very much for your input folks.

Very chuffed with the Dremel.

Oddly enough I bought a "Parkside" version of one from Lidl last week, with 50 assorted accessories for under £20, and it has a 3 year gurantee, so seems a bargain to me I do think you pay for the name with dremel, a bit like an i-phone or i-pod, other makes do the same just as well for much less money

I have had 2 dremels burn out on me in 3 years. Each time having to go back to the cheapo kit I had wanted to upgrade from.

I would not bother with another dremel again!!

Dremel is part of Bosch so quality will not be an issue.

I've been using Minicraft for over 20 years, only on my second one, first one lasted more than 15 years, I believe they are part of Black & Decker now, never rated Dremel.

I've also got the Minicraft Sander and jig saw.

I have been using a Rotacraft for a few months now, I got it free with a subscription to a model magazineI am well pleased with it, you can get spares too from Hobbycraft. Only trouble with Hobbycraft is they are a bit dear and they ripped me off with a magnifying lamp I bought off them that packed in. So I dont buy electric goods off them anymore.

Quote from: ParkeNd on November 22, 2013, 12:42:22 AM
Dremel is part of Bosch so quality will not be an issue.

Not sure why you say that - some current Bosch products are atrocious.  The blue range of powertools, aimed a professionals, are much better but the green ones are very much designed to a price point that doesn't allow much quality.  There's reason that their nickname is "Bodge" with some professional craftspeople!

Quote from: Rabs on November 22, 2013, 10:25:04 PM

Quote from: ParkeNd on November 22, 2013, 12:42:22 AM
Dremel is part of Bosch so quality will not be an issue.

Not sure why you say that - some current Bosch products are atrocious.  The blue range of powertools, aimed a professionals, are much better but the green ones are very much designed to a price point that doesn't allow much quality.  There's reason that their nickname is "Bodge" with some professional craftspeople!

I worked for Bosch for the last 8 years and never heard the nickname once, only praise. Maybe there are craftspeople and "craftspeople ". Stopping people faking the brand required a dedicated team. I don't think lesser brands have that problem. No point in counterfeiting rubbish.

Quote from: ParkeNd on November 22, 2013, 12:42:22 AM
Dremel is part of Bosch so quality will not be an issue.

I too worked for a company within the Bosch group. Their Bosch sourced components were as good as anything else on the market at that time, same quality, same failure rate, nothing special at all- except the price had a premium attached!

Despite my Bosch history I bought a Black and Decker EPC12A 12 volt cordless drill last week for £29.95 from B&Q  to use on my layout. It drills and does up screws. It is so light and the soft start of the variable speed trigger is so precise that it uses 0.6mm drills even without breaking them. Fantastic.

Didn't buy the Bosch equivalent because it was £70 and weighed a ton.