Dremmel

[Babelfish]

Why in there great wisdom did Dremmel discontinue there pistol grip
drill which was one of the best in the range for our hobby.
Alas mine packed in a while back and now using the clumsy stuff they have on offer now .

I concur 100% Ron. My Dremel Stylus gave up the ghost a couple of years back, and when I went online thinking that a replacement would only be a couple of mouse clicks away, I discovered that it had been dropped from their range. I was very disappointed. It's a real shame because as you rightly say, it was perfect not only for our hobby but also for other small precision drilling jobs.

I've looked for one from time to time since, and occasionally they pop up on eBay. But invariably are either "for parts only" or "reconditioned" ones in places like Japan at a prohibitive cost.

However, you can get a separate Dremel pistol grip attachment, and nowadays I use a Dremel 3000 drill with one of these. It's still not as handy and ergonomical as the Stylus, but it does greatly improve matters with what is otherwise an unwieldy tool. Have a look on eBay (that's where I got mine), I think you can use them with various Dremel models.

- Steve

Edit: Ignore me, I just read the rest of the thread properly and seen that much of the above is addressed therein!

 

[theBaron]

My complaint is they dumped a great model very suited to our hobby.

Yeah, I got that. And my response is in their defense. I have no complaint with Dremel.

Did you contact them to find out why they discontinued that particular model?

 

[grasshopper]

The model had been around since 2005..their site is rather slow at best, do hard to get much from them but aside from feeling cheated when a fav too is discontinued think of logic to it: everything made in Asian factories, and only so much capacity so new products usually dictate terminating old..and the same sourcing affects parts..even in hobby airbrushes, the pistol grip is displaced towards stylus, lithium battery versions work much better than in past, are light and cordless..I wonder as well if wider spread of battery hand drills generally creates a marketing problem- is it a hand drill, and not Dremel sweetspot, or a rotary tool ..in terms of handling and usage each to their own, but dentists and jewellery makers use stylus ..I’ve done the jewellery side and definitely there is less dexterity with pistol..at any rate it may not be a simple no cost option to supply parts..and that’s without being conspiratorial as tho users are being forced. They aren’t a public utility after all

 

[kagemusha]

Yeah, I got that. And my response is in their defense. I have no complaint with Dremel.

Did you contact them to find out why they discontinued that particular model?

Having tried to contact them several times...contact form...email and phone...with no response to any...I would suggest customer satisfaction is not a priority as such.
Introducing a pistol grip to convert other models simply made them even more difficult to handle in the same way the stylus was so easy to use.

 

[grasshopper]

Having tried to contact them several times...contact form...email and phone...with no response to any...I would suggest customer satisfaction is not a priority as such.
Introducing a pistol grip to convert other models simply made them even more difficult to handle in the same way the stylus was so easy to use.

In that you are right. I’ve also over the years tried..nada..I wonder if now big box, online sales mean it’s not bc to be ssensitIve to users? A mistake for us, not for casuals perhaps..a discussion w product managers would be intersting. We all know tools are personal, and not one size fits all..

 

[MCPWilk]

I'm a great fan of the Minicraft drill with the Jacob's chuck.......... plus theother bits of kit.

Mike

 

[socko47]

Check out the very end of this vid for two different rotary tools. Maybe a replacement you seek.