Hands-On: Dremel’s XPR 400 Series Kit
By Sean O'HaraIn Use
The XPR 400 is the well-mannered tool that you’ve come to expect from Dremel. It generates smooth power and a runs all day. After about 45 minutes of consistant use, the 400 does get hot to handle, but a three to five minute cool down session brings it back to room temperature.
Throughout the history of Toolmonger we have yet to see a Dremel fail to accomplish a task we thought it could handle — and we’ve also seen them handle a few they shouldn’t have. So the fact that the 400 is a work horse didn’t come as a surprise. We put the 400 throughly through its paces, which included probably a hundred hours of run time — and more than a few drops and knocks. It zipped its way through all our torure with no issue.
The first attachment we tried our was the MultiSaw. We put on the “driver” collet, which is just like the regular colletbut hex sided to better drive the internal attachment mechanism. The saw attaches by screwing it down to the threads that are exposed underneath the collet cap.
Then wel loaded the bit into the saw. This requires the use of a hex key — which is annoying but most likely a good idea as we found out later. The tool becomes strangely shaped with the saw mounted, however it’s manageable once you get the hang of it.
Start up the saw to make a cut, and you now have a recip saw that can and does rattle your fillings out. At high speeds the rig is difficult to hang onto and makes cutting straight difficult. Then again, cutting with reciprocating saws isn’t fine detail work anyway. It does however, cut quite fast, so be careful and take your time.
Our next stop was the circle and straight edge guide. This attachment was simple to load up and use. It screwed in and lined up just like a normal foot guide and turned the Dremel into a detail router in about ten seconds flat. The guide also included a built-in cut depth gauge that was easy to read and well marked. It was easy to push the tool along in this mode, and made a great straight line jig. The cutting guide attachment was similar. The only difference was that it had no guide track attachment, making free form cutting possible.
The PL400 planer attachment was a bit strange to hook up at first, but worked great once we got it going. The planer attaches like the MultiSaw, but the use of the driver collet is not required and the large planer bit has to be tightened into the collet first. Then the attachment slides over it.
Once we got the planer attanched, it’s three-inch span ground up anything in its path quickly and cleanly. We were surprised at how easy it was to control and how fast you could shave up wood at higher speeds without difficulty.
As we mentioned earlier, the flex shaft is best for detail work where the snout and big barrel grip of the 400 are more than you need to get the job done. The flex shaft is a much more elegant solution to sanding and grinding — especially if you have an artist’s task ahead of you.
The real advantage of installing this long flexible shaft with pen stylus is that the speed controls and bulk are still located on the 400 – including the vibration from the motor. The super-slim stylus-type feel of the flex shaft allows you to hold it like a very steady fat pen — instead of a 35,000 rpm vibrating monster.
But my favorite tool included in the kit is defiantly the FlexLite. It basically functions like the side lamp on your drill press or bench grinder, attaching to the back of the 400 via rails and pointing whereever you need light. The bulb doesn’t move or turn off accidentally while in use thanks to a slick ring switch located at the end of the LED tube. When you turn it on, it stays on — and stays put. We like that.
Read on to page three for our conclusions.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:51 pm
There is a slot to attach the light on the edge of the carry case. I just thought that was a cool little addition.
September 4th, 2007 at 6:25 am
After I had 2 bad RotoZips I bought one of these. While it’s a very nice toolset, it’s not a replacement as it’s less sturdy. Though it’s real handy in confined spaces.
So after using it on a couple projects, it just stopped working at all. I have tried to get new brushes but it seems only the manufacturer is shipping these.
Anyway, overall I would recommend this sit with the right mindset. This is not a contractor tool but merely a fine hobbyist.
September 24th, 2007 at 10:52 am
everything you ever wanted to know about a product except the frick’n price
09-24-07
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
This set up is about $128.00 on dremelfactoryoutlet.com right now (no tax, but there is shipping) and I am really thinking of getting it- I’m a fumble fingered divorced lady and was left with few tools so this would do the maintenance tasks I can do - if something extensive needs to be done, I’d be hiring someone ELSE with their own tools anyway… it also will fulfil as a dream machine for my jewelry and other hobbies and encourage me to try other things. I think it’s a great deal for the price though perhaps the work station and flex stand would be a must have addition. A neighbor told me the garden tool/lawnmower blade sharpener works GREAT, and I’m thinking that flex attachment will be terrific for my fairly small hands.
January 27th, 2008 at 2:17 am
I bought one of the first XPR 400 kits when they were first released, this make my fifth tool kit with Dremel I really love their tools. This handset though has given me nothing but fits and Dremel has done a wonderful job of trying to trouble shoot the situation but now I am faced with sending it into them for them to get their hands on it physically.
What is the problem? The handset’s exhausted air gets verrrrry hot and the shaft lock slips. I started out the same way I do all of my tools by unpacking it all and looking over absolutely everything, removing the collar and collet and finger turning the rotor to feel for free rotation and replacing the collect and collar and reading the owners manual( yes I really read everyone- I am hopeless…) and then i plug in the tool and run it on the slowest setting possible without a load on it for 5-10 minutes to break it in and see how it “feels” how it is going to handle. This handset however made it about 45 seconds before the exhausted air that ports out onto your hand got so hot I had to shut it off. I have even tried on several occasions to repeat this process to see if it just needed multiple attempts to break it in the handset. The oddest thing is that the handset does not get hot to the touch it is the ported exhaust air that is the culprit.
Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any ideas or helpful insight?
Don’t get me wrong I love Dremel and I fully endorse all of their products completely this is a very isolated incident and they are more than willing to replace and inspect the set if I send it to them and pay for the shipping. I just want to know, again as I said, has anyone else had this problem or does anyone have any ideas or helpful insight?
January 27th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Also for Ivan many big box retialers like Lowes carry and sell the brushes right off the shelf with their Dremel tools and accessories.