Mostly 3d printed Modular Dremel tool holder system

thingiverse

This is a little project to build a mostly 3d printable dremel drill press and table saw. I iterated a bit over the project and this is the final version i ended up with (for now as i see room for improvement!). The project is based around 2020 extrusions as a nice modular base. The actuation mechanism is a lever that presses down on a contact roller and this design is manually actuated. I came up with design by playing around in algodoo until i found a design i was happy with which gave a decent amount of travel. For the guidance i used some cheap 2020 extrusion wheels left over from a 3d printer project (in hindsight using a large dovetail guide with a rack gear or sliders that run inside the 2020 extrusions is likely better as it is hard to get this to run without SOME slop). The dremel tool is mounted with a modular bracket that bolts onto the slider and is positioned with some dovetails. Some slots are available to run a strap or zip tie through to tie the other end of the tool down to prevent too much flex but this is not really needed here. The modular bracket makes it easy to also put other tools or a bare motor or something like that onto this design. The table is built on a slider and this allows it to easily be adjusted or swapped out. By designing the platform to be rather small and be aligned with the center of the dremel tool is is also possible to use it as a miniature saw with a cutting disc which is great for precise cuts in PCBS or for the purpose i will be using it for : slitting tiny 1.27mm headers. Because the sliders and ends of the sliding part are at the same distances it is possible to take the sliding part out and flip it 180* for a side without a clearance hole for the drill. The 3d printed dovetails are a little too rough for direct use for cutting without alot of polishing but are very hand for adjusting the table or taking the entire table part out for easy access. If you want to mount this part you will need to make a simple bracket , for my bracket i simply recycled a failed part of the build and bolted it onto a piece of lumber as a base.