The Milescraft Rotary Tool Stand is a useful accessory for your rotary tools. It can be used for such things as a drill press or to just hold your rotary tool allowing you to better hold the part you are working with (like having a third hand).
However, I need to point out that this stand is not designed to do precession work with your rotary tool. If you are looking for something small to do any drilling that requires a tight tolerance, you maybe better off looking at looking one of the many small table top drill presses available that don't cost too much more.
Assembly and disassembly (for easy storage) is fast and easy. The instructions that come with it are easy to follow too.
The base is die cast aluminum and lightweight measuring about 7" x 10" with a work area of 6" x 6". A heaver cast iron base would have been nice to make the unit more stable. However for small light work the stand is stable and it also comes with three #8 screws and rubber feet to allow you to screw the base to your work bench to improve stability.
The vertical support column is a lightweight tube that presses into the base and is held secure with a single bolt at the back of the base. The over all height of the stand is about 15", including the base. The "tool holder bracket" can easily be adjusted anywhere up or down the vertical tube which gives you about 12" of adjustment vertically. A heaver threaded vertical support column would have been nice feature to help improve stability. But the press fit of the tube into the base are a nice tight fit.
This stand is design to be used as a drill press when your rotary tool mounted in the vertical position, but as I pointed out earlier, it is not for precession drilling. The tool holder bracket is designed to allow approximately 2-1/2" of travel when used as a drill press. However the tool holder bracket can be adjusted anywhere along the vertical column for short or taller jobs. There is also an adjustable depth gage with a depth stop collar to control the depth of your drill which is nice if you need to repeat your drill depth.
I did find a slight play in the "tool holder bracket" while using it as a drill press, but I was able to easily eliminate just about all of the extra play by placing a thin piece of plastic between the "depth shaft" and the lower guides.
Pros:
Lightweight
Easy to assemble and disassemble for easy storage
Holds rotary tool vertically or horizontally for ease of working
Can be used as a mini drill press
Can be easily fastened (screwed) to your work bench for added stability
Cons:
Lightweight base and vertical column makes the stand not stable as it could be if not fastened down.
Loose fitting design when used as a drill press allowed extra play (not for precession work) Milescraft 1097 Tool Stand Drill Press for Rotary Tools
This is a light weight tool, but is well suited for model making and the drilling of small parts. The overall quality of the assembly is lacking somewhat. the plastic control parts are weak, but if you are handy, you can rebuild them with stronger materials. It is essential that the unit be mounted on a larger base and that this base be clamped to the work table. Failure to do so could result in damage and or injury. I have taken steps to correct these issues. I am presently using the unit to drill hiles in jewelry and carvings.
The price is fair for the quality of goods recieved, and met my needs. However if you are looking for absolute precision, this unit will not measure up.
I'm using the press to drill home-etched PCB's. It works well. Using the drill before etching, however, there is a bit of slippage. Maybe 1/20th of an inch. However, after the board has been etched, slippage is not a problem since the copper guides the drill. I'm using a dremel on its highest speed and resharped solid-carbide drill bits.
I bought this for the purpose of drilling printed circuit boards with my Dremel tool. P.C. board drilling requires tiny drill bits, which must be run at very high speeds. The Dremel is perfect for this, except that it has to be stand-mounted. Any movement at all while drilling will cause the drill bit to snap.
My overall opinion of this stand is that it's barely suited to do the job. It's flimsy, but far better than the stand that Dremel makes, which I consider to be a total piece of junk.
The drill center column was covered in a fine coat of rust straight out of the box. The stand does have mounting holes and slots, which I consider a plus. Mounting grommets (for vibration?) were also supplied. My Dremel tool fit nicely into the mount, no problem. The instructions were not too good, but assembly is very easy.
If you want a quality miniature high-speed drill, this is not for you, but prepare to shell out $250 or more for one. If you want something that's just enough to do the job, this should be suitable.
The Milescraft Rotary Tool Stand is advertised to use as a router and drill press. However, I bought it mainly to cut bathroom/kitchen wall tile and it does the job well. With the right bit and a little practice I found that I can cut curves, straight lines and cut-outs with ease. I did not have to bolt down the stand because I use only slight pressure to move the tile through the cutting bit. But, I will probably fix it to a board for a little more stability anyway. In this application I would give it 4 stars. However, the parts do not fit together well and the cord holder broke when trying to push it into the post. Also the base is not very smooth. Because of the poor quality I gave it 3 stars.
Just got this in today, and for the price, it's worth it. The base is bigger than I expected (more on par with a full-size drill press) and assembly is easy. Everything looks and works smoothly and it's fairly intuitive to use without having to resort too often to the (rather confusing) instructions.
If I have a gripe, it's that it inserting a Black & Decker RTX Rotary tool is a bit of a chore, even though I've seen it claimed you can use one with this. You can, but be prepared to wiggle and twist to get the tool past the first clamp, which you will NOT be able to tighten; the body is simply too high and narrow. Fortunately the bottom clamp snuggles down tightly and the tool won't move, but I worry how long the top clamp will hold up under repeated insertion/removal (being only heavy gauge plastic.) For that I might consider picking up a cheap second rotary tool. Beyond that small thing this looks like a solid little unitand should serve the typical hobbyist quite well without draining their wallets. :-) - Hobby Tool - Rotary Tool Accessories - Milescraft - Dremel'
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