Dremel 220 Workstation

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Continuing the discussion from Your Pokitto - Show it to the World!:

The Dremel 220 workstation is well built and quite sturdy. However, the black plastic part that holds the tool will flex somewhat depending on the amount and direction of the force applied to the work. Therefore, it’s not suitable for heavy work requiring precise cuts.

I originally bought mine for drilling home etched, copper clad, blank, fiberglass circuit boards, for which it proved suitable. It also worked well milling acrylic sheet, as I described in the referenced topic.

I’ve used it with a cutoff wheel to cut small brass and aluminium rods and spacers, which I lock in a drill press vise and slide in under the wheel. For this I find it’s best to cut slightly longer than required and then grind or file to the proper length.

It also works well for most woodwork.

I’ve had it for many years and have used it for lots of other things during this time. For my (light duty) purposes, it’s proven to be well worth the cost. It’s not as good as a quality dedicated drill press or milling machine of similar size would be, but it’s likely more flexible (no pun intended) for uses as a single machine, and cheaper.

One thing to note (and possibly the source of some bad reviews by people who didn’t), is that it has to be adjusted to remove any slop or play in the press mechanism. This is done by turning four brass set screws which are held by friction in threads in plastic. The screws slide against metal bars when the press is operated.

They have to be set so they are as close as possible to the bars without binding. The instructions for this are quite obscurely mentioned in the manual on page 10, step 2. I found the ones on mine were too loose when I received it.

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My purposes are also light duty. I have a ‘medium’ duty press for an electric drill I own.

Makes you wonder how many people have skipped this setup and then are under-whelmed by the results they are getting.

Thanks for the feedback - once I can leave the house I am getting one!

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I am surprised that you achieved to carve the sides of the acrylic in any precise way with this stand. I have it and it has never been actually more useful than normal handheld operation or another simple contraption of the dremel kit. The whole setup is too springy. But I love the stand for the tools on top :slight_smile: I have all the frequent bits there, and the drill bits kit too.

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I bought one the other day - yet to use it so I hope it isn’t too springy.

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I find that if the set screws have been adjusted properly, it’s only the black “cup”, that holds the tool, that has much flex. As I cautioned:

For the acrylic, it’s possible there may have been some flex but the tool and bit quickly settles back to its set position once the material under it has been fully cut away. You just have to go slow. I actually made multiple passes in both directions. I also did test cuts on scrap material, to get the height right, before doing the real piece.

Because of the flex, I try to set things up so that the flex direction will be away from the depth of whatever you want to cut, which it usually is anyway.

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Even if this is the case, it’s sometimes useful as a “third hand”.

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I have to admit, for cutting the acrylic the router table may have worked better (at least I wouldn’t have had to build the feed table). However I don’t have it and can’t see the times I could use it justifying the cost.