Dremel drill press for gunsmithing?

[KCSO]

I am going to disagree with Waksupi on tis one. First a little backround... I wanted to make muzzleloaders just like they did in the old days and I started in my grandfathers shop that was all hand tools some passed down for generations. I have built more than one gun from scratch using nothing for a starting point but a tree limb and a rifled barrel, using nothing but hand tools, a post drill and a forge... all while making my chisels and plane blades from old spring stock and drill bits. I seriously doubt that John Armstrong fails to qualify as a gunsmith because he didn't have acess to a bridgport mill.

The quality of the gun comes not from the tools used but from the skill and dedication of the builder. If all you have money or room for is a mini mill or a dremel drill press it's a starting point. Work carefully and do your best and make each one better than the last. I still use hand tools given me over the years and i know in a pinch if I have to I can do any job that needs doig with two hands and whatever tools I can find or make.

This Leman copy was made while i was moving the shop and all I had for power tools was a cheap harbor freight drill press. 'nuff said.

[bangerjim]

Poor quality tools still will be a problem if you are running 6 thou out of round, as with some HF presses! Craftsmanship is important, but good quality well-built precision tools make it a dream to build precision stuff.

You can have all the skill and dedication in the world and still make garbage things with garbage tools. Especially in metalworking. In over 48 years of practicing metal and woodworking, I still have not figured out how to slop glue in a poor fitting hole in metal and make it work!!!!!! HA.....ha!

banger

[Blanket]

You can build fire with 2 sticks but why would you want to?

[paul h]

Craftsmanship is a combination of the skill of the craftsman and the quality of the tools. Exceptional work can be done with quality hand tools, but the tools need to be made from decent materials, properly hardened and sharpened to do quality work. Same with machine tools. A wobbly flimsy out of round drill press simply can't do quality work.

[GT27]

There have been more weapons ruined than fixed,by Bubba's,and dremels !

[theperfessor]

A Dremel tool can come in handy for some things. i use one with a 12v DC to 120V AC convertor to cut the locks off of deadbeat renter's storage units to clear 'em out. I can pull up right next to a unit and roll down my window and cut off a lock without even getting out of my truck.

The problem is that a Dremel tool is a high speed low torque unit, and the stand lacks rigidity. About the only thing that I could think of that applies to gunsmithing is to use one with a small carbide or diamond burr to get out a broken tap or pin. I'd like to offer more support to the OP, I understand being a financially challenged student, but I think if I used one I'd do more harm than good and screw up a good gun somehow. But that's not intended to be a criticism of the OP, it's an admission of my own failings.

[bangerjim]

There have been more weapons ruined than fixed,by Bubba's,and dremels !

That is going on a wooden engraved plaque above my shop door! Along with one I have now: "I'm sticking to my guns, God, and Bible"

[troyboy]

No way. I have one and it just is not the proper tool for the task. You can find a nice benchtop used for 100$ or less used on craiglist. Be patient.

[KCSO]

You can build fire with 2 sticks but why would you want to?

So that when the time comes that you have to you can.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The Dremel can be very useful for grinding and polishing tasks. Yes, there are tools, such as a Foredom or light air grinder, which will do all the Dremel can do, and go on doing it many times as long. But the person who does a couple of gunsmithing jobs a year may be well served by the Dremel, and isn't likely to find the others economical. The Dremel drill press mount is splendid for polishing flat surfaces.

For drilling, as people have said, it simply doesn't have the torque or low speeds for drilling things like scope base holes in hard steel. If you have nothing else, you might be able to do it with a series of pilot holes and carbide drills. The carbide printed circuit drills you can buy very cheaply in sets on eBay are really too thin in the central web for metal. You could end up with just as good a hole as the best equipped gunsmith could produce, but it is going to take time, drill breakages and exasperation. In some people's circumstances it might make sense.

A lot gets said about low priced drill presses of the far eastern kind, and while there is truth in that for the regular user, my reaction is usually that for the amateur, any drill press is better than an empty space with no drill press in it. Well, nearly... A runout of .006in is grossly excessive, and does anyone's faith in human weakness run to all of their stock being like that, or just an occasional Friday afternoon tool? You ought to turn up in person to buy one of those, because as long as you have a round, straight rod to try in the chuck, you can probably tell even without running it, whether it is that bad.

Sometimes you can get a good hole with a drill like that, if you rest the workpiece or vice on a piece of thin card to reduce friction, and allow it to move with the drill axis. But that would be dangerous with a large drill (large by the standard of those presses, even), and probably break a thin one.

As others have said, you can sometimes get real bargains in old but sound drill presses which are being sold by individuals or small companies. My Myford lathe had been owned by a musical instrument maker, and it had the 31in. length to accommodate bassoons. It is hard to overstress a lathe with a bassoon.

[lefty o]

blame the person, not the tool. a dremel can only do what it is directed to by a persons hands.

[Blanket]

You can build fire with 2 sticks but why would you want to?

So that when the time comes that you have to you can.

Understand the learning how to do things but still why handicap yourself in any way. If a guy uses his nut and looks around he can buy a decent drill press instead of screwing around, kind of like buying a unimat lathe and expecting to do great things.

[contender1]

A little late to this thread, but I'll jump in.

To answer the OP, avoid the Dremel drill press idea.

Listen to the folks who have mentioned buying a quality machine used.

Auctions, yard sales, craigs list, are all good places to hunt one out. AND quite often, you will get a lot of extras (tools etc,) when you buy used like this. I have a lot of good tools like this and haven't spent ANYTHING near what they are worth. You just have to hunt a bit, and have the $$ to spend. You mentioned $200-$300 as a budget, and I know you can find a good one well under that that will do a lot more than the Dremel.

[John Taylor]

I have nothing against the Dremel, just don't think it is good enough for a drill press. I have been a gunsmith for more than a few years and use a dremel quite often. Works great for cutting hard pins, grinding small parts that are to hard for a file and polishing small parts.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Yes indeed, those little cutting discs can be a lifesaver sometimes. I have found that the little felt polishing discs and points don't work very well. I think that is for two reasons. Centrifugal force, throwing off the polishing compound, is greater, and although the speed of wheel against workplace is the same as it would be with a larger, slower wheel, the part in contact comes back into frictional contact more quickly, and it doesn't get the same chance to cool.

Where the Dremel and drill press come into their own is with a flat receiver or block. If you build a wall of modeling clay around it, to catch the spray, you can work in a shallow pool of fine emery powder in oil.

Contender1 is right. An eighty year old drill press or other machine is a mighty inconvenient thing to peddle at antique prices, and they often go very cheaply when someone wants the space and most potential buyers are studying shiny catalogues. Lathe accessories may be unavailable (though don't give up eBay followed searches with e-mail notifications), and you should watch out for things like Brown and Sharp or even more unusual tapers instead of Morse. But with a drill press, you only need one chuck.

Tools of that era may be less well equipped with exciting features which are intended to catch buyers rather than make holes. But they can be just as well made as any you can buy today. Why not, when the guns are?

[Vinne]

nannah, I use Dremel tools to clean out the crud from tight spots in and around my gun's action. The small brushes and sanders are great for getting into those tight places. The buffers and polishes do a good job on the outsides. Other than that, save up and go with the big boys...you can't go wrong with good long lasting tools for what you want to do.

[skeet1]

I guess I don't understand some of the posts . If a man can only afford a Harbor Freight drill press so what. A Harbor Freight drill press will make him able to do many things that he would not be able to do without it. It may not be as precise as some of the more expensive drill presses and may not be finished as well but it is still usable and will work until a better one can be afforded. KCSO showed that good work can be accomplished with the HF. One other nice thing about the HF is the size if a person is short on room this size comes in very handy. I think the same can be said about the Dremel drill press.

Ken

[fragman]

Though a Dremel in the right hands may be useful, I have a feeling that over the years, Dremels have given gunsmiths a fair bit of work. It's the archer, not the arrow.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I guess I don't understand some of the posts . If a man can only afford a Harbor Freight drill press so what. A Harbor Freight drill press will make him able to do many things that he would not be able to do without it. It may not be as precise as some of the more expensive drill presses and may not be finished as well but it is still usable and will work until a better one can be afforded. KCSO showed that good work can be accomplished with the HF. One other nice thing about the HF is the size if a person is short on room this size comes in very handy. I think the same can be said about the Dremel drill press.

Ken

Maybe I am too much betwixt and between, but I sort of part-way agree with the above. I've never seen a Harbor Freight drill press myself, but I have probably examined a few from the same far eastern factories, and they are far better than the Dremel for any substantial drilling job. The bearings won't last nearly as long as a quality machine in a professional situation, but they may outlast many amateur gunsmithing jobs. That .006in. runout is a serious drawback, but I am guessing that if you go to a shop with several in stock, you will find one quite a bit better than that. Fit a straight steel rod in the chuck, and see if the gap fluctuates when you rotate it by hand against a steel block held on the table. Then try a different diameter steel rod, in case it is the chuck that is bad.

Here is an example of work for which the Dremel and carbide burrs has a very legitimate role, when I had to make a trigger guard and hammer from scretch for my Spirlet revolver. The drilling to cut out a rough outline was done with a large and medium-priced drill press, though.

I think I on my fourth Dremel, in a fairly long lifetime. They don't last forever, but I doubt if all four have cost me more than some of the more expensive alternatives. I have also had a very good 50,000 rpm Bosch 1/8on. die grinder die on me too, without apparent abuse.

[smokeywolf]

With some patience, you can probably score a decent used bench or floor model drill press (older Rockwell, Delta, Walker, Powermatic, Avey or the like) on one of the auction websites for under $200.00 and maybe closer to $100.00. It would have to be within driving distance of you of course.

smokeywolf