Stepping up my game

[Mickey thumbs]

Just arrived today. Got tired of doing the drill bit dance with the hand drill or Dremel. Waiting for an MRRC Porsche 910 Carrera body to arrive from Pendles in the U.K., so I spent this month’s slot car budget on this and a mini-torch for soldering guide tongues on sheet brass. Looking forward to building my first flexi-board chassis. Have been studying Chris Walker’s posts on the topic. Anyone know of a step by step pictorial guide for this? On anything more complicated than hinged side pans or a simple iso-fulcrum I get turned around trying to follow the connections. Plumbers and flex-board leave me wondering what slides into what and which connections are soldered.
Plenty of time for study as my working time will be spent assembling a greenhouse kit for my wife. Reminds me of one of those super-detailed Tamiya F1 kits from the sixties.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Thats a good pick. Makes a world of difference.

[Bill from NH]

I don't own any Wen tools, but I've read the descriptions of several of them. They may not be production tools, but I wouldn't hesitate putting any of them in a home shop environment. That drill press will come in handy. You'll find more uses for it other than just drilling holes, but for thar purpose, it'll work fine. I've had a 3-speed Taiwanese benchtop drill press that's served me well for over 50 years. The brand name is Duracraft. I use it for for both wood working & metal work. I'm sure you will enjoy using your Wen.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I have a soldering gun from the 1940s that is a Wen. Its like new. I found it in my father-in-law's shop after he died. I believe Wen was bought by Weller, then a series of companies during the 60s and 70s. I didn't know they were still making anything, and I suspect that the name is owned by a Chinese outfit now.

[Mickey thumbs]

I remember those. I still have my Weller gun from the sixties. Heavy thing!

[SpeedyNH]

i remember the old Wen Weller-like guns. think that i had to keep tightening the tip nuts/ adjusting the copper tails so that they'd conduct current properly.

[Fathead59]

Just wondering . don't they make a press for the Dremel ?

[Mickey thumbs]

Yee-haw!!! Like butta’ ,baby! Very easy setup, even the chuck mounting was a breeze. Smooth, almost vibration-free; drills .064” brass easily at factory preset speed. For $85 I am very pleased. Nice, solid metal foundation. Looks ideal for model hobby uses.

Fathead, I looked into the Dremel stand that turns it into a drill press, but the reviews I found were not very favorable. And the difference in price to get the real deal was not all that great. But I love my Dremel flexible shaft attachment and don’t know how I worked without it.

Next project is a flexi-board brass chassis for an Porsche 910 Carrera body on its way from Pendles in the UK. Still looking for a step by step guide to building one. Any help? Chris Walker’s pics of finished chassis are excellent, but I still get lost in following the connections.
Mike

[RichD]

At one time Dremel made a drill press to hold a rotary tool, but I could not find that on the Dremel site. That combination would only be good for very light duty jobs.

[Bill from NH]

WEN tools are made in China, parts & stock are located in California & Illinois. Many of the age old Americian brands make their machines there too.

[SpeedyNH]

i used to have a Motor Tool "drill press adapter". -i found it pretty useless, though: i knew that it was a limited power tool going in, but my problem was that it was difficult to align and securely hold the power unit, and worse, the doggone Table moved in the Z direction rather than the quill/unit! and worse than that, it also had a lot of play in it in X and Y. three strikes.
my slightly-modified chinese bench drill press (like these) is way better, once i put a decent chuck on it, tightened it up a little, mounted a light on it, cleaned up the depth gauge/stop and did a few other things. i have a bolt-on X-Y table, too for it like the one shown. mostly i just use a couple flat pieces of wood or one piece under a milling table-like vise for more strenuous work.
if i really want to do some light precision work i'll break out my little Sherline Mill. but 99% of the time the bench job (again, similar to the Wen) does just fine.