Tamiya handy drill

[bigbluejavelin]

My better half got me one of these for Christmas, although it came a few days later. So I finally thought to put it together today, and since I am no longer a young guy, and I have a bit of arthritis, it was not as quick of a build as I thought it would be. (like anything else!). Got to say, other than I do not play well with springs, and the snap rings are really tiny, and I am still getting used to Japanese instruction sheets, and I am just an old fart, if you do any drilling in plastic models, you should have one of these. I will be picking up my very small drill bits from my storage unit tomorrow, but I think the smaller collet will work well. Overall, I am quite impressed, and building it was rewarding!

[aussie cylon]

I too have one of these, and am quite impressed with it. The only thing I did was add a little more grease to the cogs etc as the little tube of grease supplied with the kit was, well, little...
Perfect for drilling plastic, perfect speed and does not spin too fast as to melt it. The only gripe I have is that the collets supplied are only up to about 2mm. I would've liked about double that. But apart from that, yeah, gotta agree, it's an awesome little tool. And it comes in kit form, so great for us modelers to build it ourselves...

[jonfak]

I have it too. I replaced the plastic bearings with Tamiya RC car bearings. Also the Dremel collets fit nicely and work for the 60-80 size bits.

[Tchail]

I have it too. I replaced the plastic bearings with Tamiya RC car bearings. Also the Dremel collets fit nicely and work for the 60-80 size bits.

Which Dremel collets are you using? The ones I have are too small to work in my Handy Drill without an adapter.

The included Tamiya collets measure 5.97 mm / 0.235 inch in diameter, while the Dremel collets are 4.34 mm / 0.171 inch in diameter.

I also tried the Procyon collets, without success.

[AZRhino]

The included Tamiya collets measure 5.97 mm / 0.235 inch in diameter, while the Dremel collets are 4.34 mm / 0.171 inch in diameter.

The conical tip is what allows other brands of collets to work in the Handy Drill. When you tighten down the chuck, the conical shape helps center bit as well as tightening down the collet (hopefully) preventing the bit from slipping. The base of the collet is smaller that the diameter of the opening so you may need to fiddle with alignment a little so that you don't have wobble in the drill bit, but I have had no problems using the Dremel collets or the cheaper Sona Enterprise versions.

[totty100]

I've got 2 of these. Bought one last year and loved it - perfect for drilling windows in sci-fi models.
I found myself swapping drill bits too often, so I bought a second drill this year. I can keep my 2 most common
bits installed without too much swapping.
Also, had a lot of holes to drill and didn't want my only decent drill packing up !
It's way lighter than my Dremel, so doesn't put too much strain on my 0.3mm bits, just the right speed for plastic.
Does anyone know where you can buy these in UK? I had to import mine from Japan

[seam-filler]

Does anyone know where you can buy these in UK? I had to import mine from Japan

eModels usually has them (a trifle on the pricey side), but they're currently showing as out of stock - but you can set up a notification...
https://www.emodels.co.uk/tamiya-model- ... 74041.html

Tamyia also do a router - (item number 74042) - has anyone given that a go?

[Rogviler]

Tamyia also do a router - (item number 74042) - has anyone given that a go?

I wonder what the difference is

[jonfak]

Same body different color. No gear reduction so it goes faster. Tamiya sells bites for it too.

[Rogviler]

Ah, that makes sense. I thought they looked suspiciously similar.