Tamiya Craft Tool Series No.41 - Electric Handy Drill

The drill as advertised is a drill. Fair enough, that's what it actually is. But, being Tamiya, it's also a kitset, complete with sprues of parts and bits and bobs, some of which are very hard to identify. (Tamiya also supply a very minute amount of grease for the moving parts. Don't go too heavy with it in the early stages of assembly or you'll run out. Anyone'd think the stuff was made of diamonds or something.)

If like me, gentle reader, you have eyesight problems, putting this baby together might pose somewhat of a problem. It caused me a fair amount of bad language-provoking stress and angst, but eventually it all came together, and I...view more The drill as advertised is a drill. Fair enough, that's what it actually is. But, being Tamiya, it's also a kitset, complete with sprues of parts and bits and bobs, some of which are very hard to identify. (Tamiya also supply a very minute amount of grease for the moving parts. Don't go too heavy with it in the early stages of assembly or you'll run out. Anyone'd think the stuff was made of diamonds or something.)

If like me, gentle reader, you have eyesight problems, putting this baby together might pose somewhat of a problem. It caused me a fair amount of bad language-provoking stress and angst, but eventually it all came together, and I was most gratified when I finally pulled the trigger and it actually worked. However, the collets provided do not grip the drill bit as firmly as I would like, resulting in the drill bit locking while the collet and chuck assembly spin merrily around it. I bought this drill for hobby work, and it does work for very light materials, but if you're drilling anything harder than thin styrene sheet or cardboard, I think it will disappoint.

The drill works great and feels rather solid despite being made of plastic components save for the shaft, collet chuck, screws and contacts. I was surprised and amused upon finding the drill came in the form of a model kit with sprue frames and all. My desire to remove the flashing for all parts in one go meant I didn’t benefit from the part numbers moulded in the sprue frames, but they are all easily identifiable by their shape anyway. Spares were provided for the C clip and the metal washers.

The instructions were very clear except for the orientation of the trigger lock. (The cam lobe and the lever should be anti-parallel so the assembly ...view more The drill works great and feels rather solid despite being made of plastic components save for the shaft, collet chuck, screws and contacts. I was surprised and amused upon finding the drill came in the form of a model kit with sprue frames and all. My desire to remove the flashing for all parts in one go meant I didn’t benefit from the part numbers moulded in the sprue frames, but they are all easily identifiable by their shape anyway. Spares were provided for the C clip and the metal washers.

The instructions were very clear except for the orientation of the trigger lock. (The cam lobe and the lever should be anti-parallel so the assembly forms a Z shape.) The supplied grease was sufficient but only just, and required careful spreading, mainly with the aid of the assembled gear train.

On first assembly, the trigger lock turned out to be too loose to hold back the trigger. I fixed that by filing a wee bevel on the cam lobe (top front when lock engaged), inserting a washer (from my collection) between the lock lever and the case, screwing down the cam lobe until the detent action felt right and gluing the screw top to the cam lobe for good measure. The washer needs to be on the outside because the detent dimple is on the inside surface of the shell close to the hole for the trigger lock. (An alternative method to tighten the trigger lock would be to shorten the lock shaft by very careful filing.)

The moving copper switch contact for the battery is a bit iffy, but should last well if care is taken to insert the (anti-parallel) batteries just as the manual instructs so that the final clipping action occurs at the more durable contacts under the motor.

Good eyesight or a head-mounted loupe helps. I got by with the wee industrial inspection microscope I use for electronics work. (A lab microscope would be overkill.) A precision side cutter typically used for electronics work is vital.