Minicraft drill spares availability

[essdee]

Squires inform me that Minicraft range and spares are now unavailable?

I need a replacement keyless chuck, MB 1932, as my current (replacement) one is so worn that it will not grip properly. Has anyone had experience of substituting other makes of chuck on a Minicraft drill, please?

Many thanks,

Steve

[Jol Wilkinson]

Steve,

I have had the same response from Squires about Minicraft, but a search turns up a couple of suppliers who still have stocks of the drill so may be able to help with spares.

https://www.electronelec.co.uk/acatalog ... n72c0x2uUk

https://hobby.uk.com/power-tools/rotary-tools.html?p=2

Jol

[essdee]

Thanks Jol, I will give them a try now...

Steve

[essdee]

Just to complete the Minicraft drill query; thanks again Jol, I have this morning ordered two chucks from Hobby's.

They advise me that they have taken over the production of the Minicraft range themselves, so future availability should be assured.

Cheers,

Steve

[nigelcliffe]

That's useful to know about Hobby's. I have a couple of Minicraft drills, and eventually will need new spares, plus adaptors for my Cowell lathe which fit the Minicraft chucks.

btw, no excuse now, get on and build that lathe you've always wanted for making boiler fittings and the like: http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/fonly/fonlypt1b.htm

[essdee]

NIgel, thanks - and especially for that fascinating link! Given that (3 hours heavy snow imminently forecast) I am taking a loco body down to Sheffield for a mate to turn up some replacement boiler fittings, that is highly relevant for me.

I will see about getting one under way....

Regards,

Steve

[nigelcliffe]

NIgel, thanks - and especially for that fascinating link! Given that (3 hours heavy snow imminently forecast) I am taking a loco body down to Sheffield for a mate to turn up some replacement boiler fittings, that is highly relevant for me.

The Fonly does work. With the little three-legged hand turning rest, it will do boiler fittings and similar items very well.
Use decent ply for its construction. Unfortunately, most suppliers (diy sheds and timber yards) have rubbish ply suitable for concrete shuttering and not much else. Try suppliers who sell to laser-cutters.

Sorry about the tiny pictures, its a webpage from 1996, when server space and speed over dialup lines were a serious issue.

- Nigel

[essdee]

Minicraft drill, replacement chucks from Hobby's - beware, and check it if you have one unused!

Delighted to receive two replacement keyless chucks from Hobby's this week; but now considerably disappointed. Both run far from true when fitted to my Minicraft drill, while my previous chuck runs concentrically.

Alerted by a 'flailing' cutting disc on initial set up of one of the new chucks, I checked the mandrel's seating and the jaws; no problems. But I then found, rotating the chuck by hand with the drill set firm on my worktop, that the chuck itself - whatever the jaws were doing - was significantly off-centre in its rotation. The same applied to the other chuck. The original chuck runs dead true.

I will be phoning Hobby's tomorrow morning to put the problem to them. Meanwhile, if anyone has recently bought a keyless chuck from them and not yet used it, I would advise that you check its behaviour at an early opportunity.

Regards,

Steve

[essdee]

Phoned Hobby's Monday am; they sounded surprised, suggested I return the chucks - no apologies for inconvenience. Sent them recorded delivery that afternoon, with my mobile and landline phone numbers.

Tracking showed Hobby's received the faulty chucks Tuesday morning; no communication from them during day.

This, Wednesday morning; 10am, two replacement chucks delivered by first class post; blank compliments slip. No re-imbursement of even first class post incurred by me....... (my choice actually had been to use recorded delivery, six quid more, on top of that.)

NB: - The replacement chucks differed from the faulty ones returned, in having a less yellowy finish to the steel chuck turning; in fact they matched my original chuck much more closely. In the absence of any explanation from Hobby's, my own conclusion would be that these are older Minicraft stock, while the other two were from a newer batch of production..........

Caveat Emptor!

At significant over-expense, in cash and time, I now have two acceptable keyless chucks.