Ok. try and imagine the situation... We are working on our new layout. I have a huge number of mini drill accessories to hand. but my dremel is in Hereford, I am in London and all I have is a pendant motor. while being perfect for working at my desk, the pendant motor leaves allot to be desired for layout work. its simply not designed for that! its not really portable and unless you are working within about 2 feet of it then its really impractical.

So, we needed some other bits and bobs anyway. we needed some more clamps (it was a particularly cold weekend and the glue was taking an age to cure...) so off we went to B&Q.

Surprisingly there was a pretty good selection on display. they had cordless variants and the saws and a few other bits and pieces. but I was just after a simple, reasonably priced multi-tool.

I had some reservations about going down the Dremel path again. My original 395 is about as close to perfect as a mini drill can get. but since then they have been sold to Bosh and some of their products leave allot to be desired. for instance the Dremel Stylus is an excellent tool, but it has a limited battery life and the batteries cant be replaced!

I also find some of their other recent products a bit gimmicky. does the market really need yet another gas soldering iron?

Some of their accessories have also deteriorated in quality. my original multi-tool cane with a good little bag of accessories. these days they are really cheap and in some cases, junk

(a good example is the mandrel. this is a really important accessory. the original was nicely machined from steel, this new tool came with a poorly machined item, chrome plated (why?) that had an ordinary screw in the top! perhaps I should explain that a properly machined screw gives even pressure around a cutting disc whereas a junk screw will give uneven pressure and cant be fully tightened without breaking the disc.).

But lets not waste time discussing the accessories. In B&Q (I know! I was desperate!) The one that fitted the bill for me was the 3000 series.

I was pleasantly surprised by the price. I was expecting a £60 bill but it was only £43! (my 395 was £60 when I got it back in the 90s!)

I think its a little bulkier than the 395 and they have redesigned the tip. but on the whole this is quite a respectable tool.

Plenty of power as I would expect. and it also comes with a nice soft blue case which is not just a gimmick!

All in all, a big thumbs up for Dremel.  

The Dremel 3000 is available from B&Q here

Peter