25 replies to this topic

[ibrooks]

That's the FERM one I've got (and from the same seller) and I'd recommend it over the Dremel any day. It's every bit as good and less than half the price.

 

Having said that..... I prefer the dremel's way of driving the flexi-extension - it's a bit simpler and more elegant than the Ferm/Clarke method. It's not enough of a difference to justify the extra cost though as the Ferm/Clarke one is perfectly adequate.

 

Iain

[finch661]

I eneded up buying a clarke multi tool, nice bit of kit, but some of the attachements are pretty poor. But for £30, cant complain too much, plus it has the flexi drive thingy as well. The FERM one looks identical to the clarke.

[cubby1701]

I've just ordered a ferm one from amazon for £35

[evansisgreat]

I've had my Clarke one for a out 4 years and it's still going strong. True some of the accessories are crap, I went through all the cutting discs in a day. I now use dremel cutting discs and they're excellent.

Make sure you use the correct collets in the right place though. Use the silver one to hold the wire of the flexible extension and the brass one to hold the bit you're using. Otherwise there'll lots of spinning and swearing.

[finch661]

I've had my Clarke one for a out 4 years and it's still going strong. True some of the accessories are crap, I went through all the cutting discs in a day. I now use dremel cutting discs and they're excellent.

Make sure you use the correct collets in the right place though. Use the silver one to hold the wire of the flexible extension and the brass one to hold the bit you're using. Otherwise there'll lots of spinning and swearing.

 

The cutting discs you get with the clarke are very brittle, didnt manage to cut anything before they broke apart. I bought 36 silverline ones for £3, and they are not bad, though i have ordered some dremel ones, which i hope will be better!

[finch661]

Used the clarke tool tonigth, and its fantastic! i had several spot welds i couldnt get a normal grinder into, so used the clarke with some grinding stones. ground the metal enough that the panel popped off!

 

One warning though, is that the accessories you get in the clarke are crap, all the grinding stones (bar the disc ones) fell of the shaft. I would buy the clarke, but then buy dremel or decent accessories!

[Richie83]

FERM!!!
 
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5664e2a7e9
 
 
Doesn't matter about attachments as they are cheap. I pay £11 for a 500 piece set

Where do you buy your 500 piece set? That's cheap!

[finch661]

pay peanuts, get monkeys

[Ben_O]

 

FERM!!!
 
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5664e2a7e9
 
 
Doesn't matter about attachments as they are cheap. I pay £11 for a 500 piece set

Where do you buy your 500 piece set? That's cheap!

 

eBay. Ill try and find the link.

 

Finch, you may laugh but the kit had pretty decent quality bits in. Obviously not the very best but for 11 quid they are fine. Nothing fell apart and i used most of the attachments in it. Only slight pain which you get with all sets is the cutting discs are easy to break but only if you expect them to do more than they were designed for.

 

Why pay over the top for brand name stuff when you can get a perfectly adequate kit for much less. Often the brand stuff is no better anyway although i did have a dremel accessory set which seemed better but far more expensive.

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

My mistake, it was a 216 piece kit. I thought it was 500 because i bought 2 sets!   lol

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item485fdccc31

[finch661]

the clarke cutting discs were pretty bad, very very brittle. will buy a 200-300 piece kit at some point. the wee sander attachement (small cylinder ones) were very good for cleaning surface rust, but found the sander paper kept flying off lol