Placeholder17
Well-known member
I picked this up probably 2 years ago but didn't realize until I got home that it that the missing collet nut was highly unusual (3/8" - 36) and I I couldn't replace it. It has sat abandoned on the shelf until I came across a random damaged rotary tool at a flea market whose collet nut looked just about right.
I had to drill and tap the nut deeper, but it worked great in the end and this thing is operational again.
This bore of the shaft of this Dremel is too short for the modern collets. You have to grind or cut off about 1/8" from the back of the standard collet.
I tried fully disassembling it, but the rotor can't come out because it is behind the brush ports which hit the rotor windings. The ports are tightly press-fit in and going nowhere. Fortunately, the rear bushing has a large oil port under a screw leading to felt which is easily oiled. The front bushing has a tiny 3/32" oil hole which is so small that any oil would just glob all over the end cap and attract dust (which is exactly the state in which I found it). However, the front end cap did come off and revealed a quite large felt reservoir ring which I could oil. To remove the front cover, you have to remove a tiny set screw clamping the machine collet shaft to the rotor shaft (tight slip-fit), clamp the collet shaft in a vise, and yank hard on the tool body. The nuts for the long screws running through the body and holding on the front cap are under the rear dust filter and cap.
It runs great and there is no play in the bushings, but it's still pretty low powered.
I had to drill and tap the nut deeper, but it worked great in the end and this thing is operational again.
This bore of the shaft of this Dremel is too short for the modern collets. You have to grind or cut off about 1/8" from the back of the standard collet.
I tried fully disassembling it, but the rotor can't come out because it is behind the brush ports which hit the rotor windings. The ports are tightly press-fit in and going nowhere. Fortunately, the rear bushing has a large oil port under a screw leading to felt which is easily oiled. The front bushing has a tiny 3/32" oil hole which is so small that any oil would just glob all over the end cap and attract dust (which is exactly the state in which I found it). However, the front end cap did come off and revealed a quite large felt reservoir ring which I could oil. To remove the front cover, you have to remove a tiny set screw clamping the machine collet shaft to the rotor shaft (tight slip-fit), clamp the collet shaft in a vise, and yank hard on the tool body. The nuts for the long screws running through the body and holding on the front cap are under the rear dust filter and cap.
It runs great and there is no play in the bushings, but it's still pretty low powered.
