A friend just linked me to this:
Has anybody used one of these and can comment on its quality? Can this thing handle the sort of things that we typically machine in FIRST? Are there other things like this that exist, but I’ve just never seen before? For $500, it seems like a pretty good solution for a team that doesn’t have much in the way of machinery or money. I would definitely consider picking one up for the next build season if it would be useful.
Those things have been around for years and sold under different names. They are tiny toys. The whole thing is really only about a foot long. Even Harbor Freight sold them for a while as a 6-in-1 version or a “deluxe” 8-in-3 version. IIRC the HF 6-in-1 was less than $50 and the 8-in-1 was less than $100. I can’t seem to find them on the HF website now but I have seen them in the store recently. The HF item number for the 6-in-1 is 40101 and the 8-in-1 is 40102. They still seem to sell the accessory kit item 3116 for $25. As with everything at HF, things come and go. I sure wouldn’t waste $500 on one of these little toys but if you wanted a toy to play with check your local store. I think I have even seen them in there on “sale” for less than $30 and just couldn’t talk myself into it and I will buy anything just about for the fun value. If you want something cheap for ~$500 you are probably better off with one of these and one of these.
Here are the online manuals for the HF 40101 6-in-1 and the 40102 8-in-3 to give you and idea what a toy they are. You are really probably better off machining with a Dremel than one of these. YMMV.
Edit: Here are some more links:
http://www.xendoll.com/english/file/products.asp (real slow)
http://www.sunequipco.com/Mechanical/wood/INDEX1.HTM
That thing is a toy…looks like thee biggest thing you can hold with it would be maybe 1/2" tube at most 6" long…maybe. Look at the additional images and go to the picture with the kit components. Look at the wall plug for a size comparison.