Didn't see a chuck at all today when I went into Walmart. I've never had to use the wrench either
but I guess thats just me.
The sets that I got with my dremel works well enough for the basics of armor making. Grinding wheels, sand bits, engraving tools, rotary disks, and lots of extras for them all. What else could you need?
Maybe it's just a matter of preference with those collets. It certainly got on my nerves that I had to remove that whole metal thing at the front, replace the collet and put it all back together just to simply replace the accessory with a smaller or larger one. And I'm also someone who screws stuff on
really tight, so I did need the wrench. Every time.
Not missing something is exactly the problem of those sets. They are usually "multipurpose", because that's the general mentality behind the tool, but trying to cover all the accessory categories with a small number of items means that no category is covered really well and with variety.
For example, these are the two 300 series sets Dremel advertises on their US website:
- 300 Series Variable Speed Rotary Tool
- Circle Cutter Attachment
- 191 High Speed Cutter
- 401 Mandrel
- 402 Mandrel
- 403 Bristle Brush
- 407 Coarse 1/2" Sanding Drum
- 414 Small Felt Wheels (2)
- 420 Heavy Duty Emery Cut-Off Wheel (2)
- 421 Polishing Compound
- 422 Cone Polishing Tip
- 426 1-1/4" Fiberglass-Reinforced Cut-Off Wheel
- 428 3/4" Carbon Steel Brush
- 429 Large Felt Wheel
- 430 Coarse 1/4" Sanding Drum
- 432 1/2" 120 Grit Sanding Band
- 438 1/4" 120 Grit Sanding Band
- 442 Carbon Steel Brush
- 540 1-1/4" Cut-Off Wheel
- 561 MultiPurpose Cutting Bit
- 932 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
- 952 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
- 8193 5/8" Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
- 85422 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone
Everything I marked red is pretty much useless in armour making, mostly stuff for polishing, cleaning and sharpening.
This means you get, excluding the mandrels:
1 Dremel
1 Somewhat useful attachment
12 Not so useful accessories, one of which is double
10 Useful accessories, one of which is double, meaning 9 actual "functions" out of a set with 24 accessories (Note how they count the mandrels as well!)
- 300 Series Variable Speed Rotary Tool
- Lawn Mower and Garden Tool Sharpener
- Multipurpose Cutting Guide attachment
- 105 Engraving Cutter
- 107 3/32" Engraving Cutter
- 150 1/8" Drill bit
- 191 High Speed Cutter
- 194 High Speed Cutter
- 401 Mandrel (2)
- 402 Mandrel
- 403 Bristle Brush
- 405 Bristle Brush
- 407 Coarse 1/2" Sanding Drum
- 408 Coarse 1/2" Sanding Band
- 414 Felt Wheel
- 421 Polishing Compound
- 426 1-1/4" Fiberglass-Reinforced Cut-Off Wheel
- 428 3/4" Carbon Steel Brush
- 429 Felt Wheel
- 432 1/2" 120 Grit Sanding Band
- 445 1/2" 240 Grit Sanding Band
- 481 3/32" Collet
- 511 Coarse Buffing Wheel
- 540 1-1/4" Cut-Off Wheel
- 560 Drywall Cutting Bit
- 561 MultiPurpose Cutting Bit
- 932 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
- 952 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
- 7144 Diamond Wheel Point
- 84922 Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone
Here you get:
1 Dremel
1 Useless attachment
1 Somewhat useful attachment
10 Not so useful accessories
14 Useful accessories, out of 28 (Dremel again counts the mandrel and the second collet)
I'm not saying either of these two sets is per se "bad", but I do believe that you can get more for your money if you buy stuff specifically for your needs. I'd start with just a handful of accessories to test the waters, and then see what you really need.