"Slow Speed Driver with Collet" Topic

One of the things that has always bugged me about working with plastics is that, other than a sprue snipper, there are no tools specifically for working with styrene.

One of the things I'd like to see one my workbench is a very slow speed Dremel-like tool with a collet that will take rotary tool bits.

Dremels and the ilk spin too fast to effectively work with styrene, ABS, and other soft plastics. Touch a plastic figure or plastic terrain model with a high-speed bit and it's uncontrollable or simply melts with the friction.

Ideally, something like an adjustable speed screwdriver with a rotary tool collet is what I envision as being the solution.

Perhaps someone has already made such a thing and I don't know it.

BTW, I posted this here because there is no board specifically for plastic modeling.

Hand-powered, pin vise.

See Mako's reply.

Sounds like a new hobby tool in the works. Design one, make some, test'em and if they work, sell them to the rest of us.

Check Micromark and see if the have something you can use.

you can buy a collet chuck 7 3 jaw chucks with the 6mm hex end that fits into a battery screwdriver, the smaller ones have speeds from 120 to 250 rpm ideal for plastic i use one all the time.
if you are in the uk lidl have a nice small one for £20.00 GBP
then you just need a small chuck
link
like this one

eBay has them.

auction

Have you tried using a standard drill/driver and just backing off on the trigger? (On all those I'm familiar with the trigger is an adjustable speed control; many also have 2 max speed settings with the lower speed meant for driving screws.) This has been working for me, although presently I don't drill a lot of plastic.

I haven't picked up a mini chuck yet as when I need something that small I use a manual pin vise.

Thanks for the drill/pin vice advice, but drilling isn't the problem. With a collet, I can chuck a long conical or spherical Dremel bit to thin parts and make undercuts that can't be injection molded. Rotary tools are melty fast and drills do can go a slow speed but are heavy and unwieldy.

BTW, this is a duplicate thread. I wrote this message first and hit the submit button and waited for ages. Finally an error message popped up that said the topic was a duplicate. So, I retitled and summited again. Naturally, the result was not as expected.

That battery powered screwdriver sounds like the ticket.

I have a little, battery powered Dremel, which IIRC, has variable speeds as well, but not sure it will run anywhere near as slow as you want. It is a lot slower than the corded one though.

Yes, it was answered in the duplicate thread.

TMP link

Run the unit with the battery partly discharged it will run slower as the power is not in the battery to run it at normal speeds.