{"title":"Machines","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe machines themselves: bench drills and a small lathe. Parts, vises and upgrades for them are in their own sections.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"mikrabench-mini-drill-press","title":"Mikrabench Mini Drill Press — 0.3 to 4 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eA bench drill small enough for watch plates and steady enough to trust with the part you already spent an evening on. Aluminium body, belt drive, 12 V. The chuck takes bits from 0.3 mm to 4 mm and brings them down straight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFactory model TZ-525.\u003c\/strong\u003e We put that number here because nobody else does, and because it is what you search for when you need a part in two years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWe opened one. Here is what the listings do not tell you.\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur sample arrived on 19 September and we assembled it the same evening. Four things were not what the catalogues said, and all four are now on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is not fully assembled.\u003c\/strong\u003e This page said it was. It comes as three pieces: the head complete with motor, pulleys, belt and chuck, the column, and the base. You slide the column into the base, drop the head on, tighten two screws. Ten minutes, no experience needed, and the tool for it is in the box. But you should know before you open the carton, not after.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe base has no mounting thread.\u003c\/strong\u003e This is the big one, and it is corrected in full further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe hex key in the box only fits the large screws.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is 3 mm. It turns the column clamp and the base screws. It does not touch the grub screws on the feed handle, the pulley or the chuck collar - those need 1.5 and 2 mm, and neither is included. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mini-hex-key-set-0-7-to-3mm\"\u003eA seven-piece mini set is $8.99 and we sell one.\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA spare belt is already in the box.\u003c\/strong\u003e A second rubber ring, loose, alongside the one fitted. We sell \u003ca href=\"\/products\/spare-drive-belt\"\u003ea bag of twenty spares\u003c\/a\u003e, but you do not need it on day one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhich kit is yours\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe photographs below are the manufacturers' own. Ours are being shot now that we have the machine on the bench.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBench Kit - $129.\u003c\/strong\u003e The machine, the speed-control adapter, the chuck key, the hex key and a spare belt. One parcel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Sbc0b4bfd89974959896810cefed3f4c8B.webp?v=1789511346\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"The drill press assembled\" width=\"220\"\u003e \u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Se7445a697fc042c8bc288d3e1ec4bbbaC.webp?v=1789604960\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"Speed-control power adapter\" width=\"220\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMicro bits used to be included here and are not any more. We took them out and took twenty dollars off, because you can buy better ones from us for nine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWatchmaker Kit - $169.\u003c\/strong\u003e Everything above, plus a drill press vise, a 3.5 in clamp-on bench vise and a dial indicator with magnetic base. About 4 parcels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/S66f869285c774edd956041ff26588569k.webp?v=1789511586\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"Drill press vise\" width=\"200\"\u003e \u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/S695e7b170d79464e90fbd92e74875652N.webp?v=1789511454\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"Clamp-on bench vise\" width=\"200\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRead the base section below before you buy this kit.\u003c\/strong\u003e The drill press vise does not bolt to the machine on the revision we received.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePCB Kit - $189.\u003c\/strong\u003e Everything above, plus a 10-piece cobalt drill set 0.5-3 mm and an automatic centre punch. About 5 parcels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Sd4041dd0bf57483a9dd3a6ab84fccc25m.webp?v=1789521692\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"Cobalt drill set\" width=\"200\"\u003e \u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Sa12536fe7d6548a0b762024bdb0b099fw.webp?v=1789511615\u0026amp;width=320\" alt=\"Automatic centre punch\" width=\"200\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spare belt that used to be in this kit was dropped, because one already ships in the machine's own box.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe base, and the correction we owe you\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUntil today this page said the base has one centre hole and six M3 threads, the same pattern on every vise and platform we sell, nothing to buy to make it fit. On the machine we received, that is false.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere is what is actually there. Four countersunk screws at the corners, which hold the rubber feet on. One hole through the middle, about 5 mm, chamfered on top, \u003cstrong\u003ewith no thread in it\u003c\/strong\u003e - we checked it under a loupe. Nothing else. No slot, no tapped holes, no mounting pattern.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo you cannot bolt a vise to this base the way we said you could. You can pass a screw down through the centre hole and put a nut underneath, but that is your workaround, not our design, and one hole is one fixing point - a single point lets a thing pivot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhere the wrong claim came from.\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a second, heavier machine in this family whose base does have a slot and a bolt pattern. We copied a specification line from that model and never had a machine in front of us to catch it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe now sell that machine.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-collet-drill-press\"\u003eThe collet drill press, $149\u003c\/a\u003e, has two long slots through its base and a ring of holes around the centre. If bolting the work down is the problem you are solving, that is the one to buy. Its threads have not been on our bench either, and its page says so.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you bought the Watchmaker or PCB kit on the strength of the sentence we got wrong, write to us. We will make it right, and you do not have to argue about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe plug and the voltage - now measured, not promised\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis section has been wrong twice and both corrections stay on the record. It once claimed our supplier sells a designated US-plug version and an Australian one at the same price. That came from a different machine in a different catalogue and it was not true.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat we can now say because we read it off the label on our own unit:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe adapter is model \u003cstrong\u003eSHD1220A\u003c\/strong\u003e. Input \u003cstrong\u003e100-240 V, 50\/60 Hz\u003c\/strong\u003e. Output \u003cstrong\u003eDC 3-12 V, 2 A\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe unit that reached the United States \u003cstrong\u003ecame with a flat two-pin US plug\u003c\/strong\u003e, moulded to the cord.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe speed dial is on the adapter, marked OFF \/ Min \/ Max. There is no switch on the machine itself.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo on 120 V American mains and on 230 V Australian mains the voltage is a non-issue: no converter, no transformer. We have held a US-plug unit. We have not yet held one posted to Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOrdering from Australia or New Zealand?\u003c\/strong\u003e We send \u003ca href=\"\/products\/plug-adapter-for-australia-and-new-zealand\"\u003ean Australian and New Zealand pin adapter\u003c\/a\u003e with your machine, free, in its own small parcel. It takes both the flat US pins and the round European ones, so whichever plug is on your adapter, it goes into your wall. If it still does not, tell us and we post you the correct one free, or refund you in full with the return postage on us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe numbers\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePower supply 3 to 12 V, 2 A, adjustable.\u003c\/strong\u003e About 24 watts at the top of the dial. Read off our own label, not copied from an advertisement. You will see 30 W and even 12 V \/ 5 A quoted elsewhere for this machine; the supply that comes with it cannot deliver either.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSpeed 200 to 4800 rpm.\u003c\/strong\u003e We used to print two ranges because two sources disagreed. The stockist's figure is the one that keeps appearing on the spec sheets, so that is what we print now. We still have not put a tachometer on ours.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRunout about 0.05 mm\u003c\/strong\u003e on the 0.3-4 mm chuck, which is the version on this page. That is the maker's figure - our dial indicator has not been on our own spindle yet. There is a version of this head with a fixed 3.175 mm collet instead of the chuck, quoted at 0.02 mm, and we stock it now: \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-collet-drill-press\"\u003ethe collet drill press at $149\u003c\/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-micrometer-drill-press\"\u003ethe same collet with a micrometer fine feed at $179\u003c\/a\u003e. That 0.02 is the maker's number too, and it has not been on our indicator either.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eChuck 0.3-4 mm, marked JT0.\u003c\/strong\u003e Engraved on the chuck itself, so you can read it too. JT0 is a Jacobs taper zero, which means the chuck comes off. Worth knowing if you ever want to fit something else in its place.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMotor 3-12 V\u003c\/strong\u003e, per the plate on its body.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMaker's drilling capacity: 4 mm in wood, 3 mm in metal.\u003c\/strong\u003e Read the owners' section before you take the 3 mm at face value.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 x 80 x 180 mm. The column is 13 mm across and 165 mm long, and that one we measured ourselves\u003c\/strong\u003e - column out of the machine, rule against it - because which accessories fit depends on it. Stroke 13 mm, about 100 mm of clearance between chuck and base, 70 mm from bench to table. Worth knowing before you shop elsewhere: the wider bases and column clamps sold for machines like this are almost all cut for a 16 mm column, and they will not close on this one.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e800 g\u003c\/strong\u003e per the spec sheet. Ours has not been on a scale yet.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIt is quiet.\u003c\/strong\u003e Owners mention working at night without annoying the house.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat owners actually say, including the bad part\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe torque is modest, so the honest working limit in metal is nearer 2 mm than 3.\u003c\/strong\u003e One owner drilling brass for model railway work put it plainly: good precision, quiet, low torque, and in practice he would keep it to 2 mm. The 3 mm figure is the manufacturer's. The 2 mm is a man with brass in front of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe speed regulator is the cheapest part of the machine.\u003c\/strong\u003e Another owner said the drill itself was excellent and the regulator looked assembled in somebody's garage - and still worked. That matches what we expect at this price, and it is why we keep spare regulators on the shelf: if yours dies inside 12 months, you tell us and we post one, free.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAbout the photographs on this page\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEvery picture above is the manufacturer's own.\u003c\/strong\u003e We are telling you that instead of implying we shot them. Our sample is now here and our own photographs are being taken - including whatever we do not like about it. If what arrives does not look like what you saw here, that is a return and we pay for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat is in the machine's own box\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe head with motor, pulleys, belt and chuck fitted. The column. The base. The speed-control adapter, 3-12 V 2 A, with the US plug. The chuck key, T-handled. One 3 mm hex key. One spare rubber belt. No bits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause the adapter has the dial on it, you do \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e need to buy a separate variable supply to run this machine. We sell one, and we say the same thing on its page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat it is built like\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAluminium body, CNC machined parts.\u003c\/strong\u003e The mass is the point: a base that sits still is what keeps a 0.5 mm bit from walking.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBelt drive, stepped pulleys, round rubber belt.\u003c\/strong\u003e Move the belt to another step and the whole speed band shifts. Five seconds, no tools. It is a round rubber belt, not a toothed one - a toothed belt belongs to the heavier machine in this family and will not run on these pulleys.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHead rotates on the column\u003c\/strong\u003e and slides up and down it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo words on the cobalt drill set, because padding it would have been easy. Kits like this usually ship a 19-piece set running 1 to 10 mm. It reads generously until you notice that this chuck closes at 4 mm, so most of those bits would never turn in this machine. Ours stops at 3 mm because that is where the machine stops, and its ten pieces are five sizes with a spare of each - 0.5, 1, 2, 2.5 and 3 mm - not ten different diameters. At this scale the spare is the part you want, because fine bits break.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it stops\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt drills wood, plastic, resin, composite panel, PCB, brass, copper and aluminium.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHardened steel, no. A 10 mm hole through a steel plate, no. That is a floor drill press job, and we would rather you bought one of those than returned one of these.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStainless we are not claiming either way. You will see clips online of a machine like this going through a spoon handle - that footage is shot on the heavier 24 V version with a synchronous belt and a 6.5 mm chuck, not on this one. That machine's plate reads \u003cstrong\u003e24 V, 120 W, brushless, 5000 rpm.\u003c\/strong\u003e This one runs on about 24 watts through a rubber belt. That is a fivefold difference in power at the chuck.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCan it mill?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot with the chuck it ships with. A drill chuck grips for downward force. An end mill cuts sideways, and side load pulls the bit out of a drill chuck - at best a ruined cut, at worst a broken bit thrown across the desk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMilling on a machine this size needs a collet spindle in place of the drill chuck, plus an XY cross-slide underneath. The chuck coming off is the easy half: it is a JT0 taper and it lifts. Every clip you have seen of one of these cutting a slot in brass was shot with that spindle fitted, even when the ad does not mention it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis page has been wrong twice about that spindle and both corrections stay up.\u003c\/strong\u003e The maker publishes two spindles that are not interchangeable: a 16 mm one for the 12 volt press and an 18 mm one for the heavier 24 volt machine. This is the 12 volt press, so the 16 mm one is the part. What we still do not have is a way to buy one - the people who list it will not sell it on its own. We are asking. When we have one in hand and have turned it in this head, it goes on the shelf with its price on it, and collets and end mills go up with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe collet machines we now sell are not the answer to this either. Their collets hold a 3.175 mm shank for drilling; they are not milling spindles and we are not going to suggest they are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDelivery\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFree and tracked, to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. \u003cstrong\u003eTwo to three weeks.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to Canada, for now.\u003c\/strong\u003e The rest of the shop ships to Canada; this machine does not yet. The only version we can source for Canada right now takes five to six weeks to arrive, and we are not going to sell you a two-to-three-week promise we cannot keep. When we have a faster route, Canada goes back on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe hold no stock and we have no warehouse of our own: the order is picked and posted by the supplier after you place it, which is why we give a range and not a date. The smaller items in your kit travel in their own parcels and usually arrive sooner.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30-day returns from the day it arrives. Return postage is yours, the price of the item comes back in full.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e12-month warranty on the motor and spindle. And for those 12 months, if a part fails, tell us which one and we ship you a new one free - you do not pack the machine and you do not pay postage. Belts and regulators we keep on the shelf for exactly this reason.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mikrabench","offers":[{"title":"Bench Kit","offer_id":46207864144063,"sku":"MB-DP-BENCH","price":129.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Watchmaker Kit","offer_id":46207864176831,"sku":"MB-DP-WATCH","price":169.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"PCB Kit","offer_id":46207864209599,"sku":"MB-DP-PCB","price":189.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Sbc0b4bfd89974959896810cefed3f4c8B.webp?v=1789511346"},{"product_id":"mikrabench-collet-drill-press","title":"Mikrabench Collet Drill Press — 3.175 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe bit does not sit in a chuck. It sits in a 3.175 mm collet with a brass nose, and a collet grips a shank all the way round instead of on three jaws. That is the whole reason this machine exists. At 0.3 mm the difference between a collet and a chuck is whether the bit walks before it bites.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3.175 mm is the eighth-inch shank.\u003c\/strong\u003e PCB micro bits, tungsten carbide engraving bits and most rotary-tool burrs are ground to it. If your bits have a coloured plastic collar on them, they are 3.175 and they will go in. If you need to hold a plain 2 mm twist drill by its own shank, this is the wrong machine and \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-mini-drill-press\"\u003eour chuck version takes 0.3 to 4 mm\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe base is the part to look at\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo long slots through it, and a ring of small holes around a hole in the centre. That is a mounting pattern, and it is exactly the thing our smaller drill press does not have. We said so on that machine's page, in public, after we got it wrong once. On this one you can bolt a vise down instead of holding the work with your fingers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat we have not measured:\u003c\/strong\u003e the thread in those holes, the slot width, the hole spacing. Our own machine is in transit and lands in early October. The day it is on the bench those numbers replace this paragraph, and our own photographs replace the ones below.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat we can see, and what we are only told\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBelt drive, round green belt, stepped pulleys.\u003c\/strong\u003e Move the belt to another step and the whole speed band shifts. Five seconds, no tools.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLever feed, two arms, brass ball handles.\u003c\/strong\u003e You pull it down and let it back up. There is no fine-feed screw on this one. If you need depth set by the hundredth, that is \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-micrometer-drill-press\"\u003ethe micrometer machine\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe speed control lives on the power adapter\u003c\/strong\u003e, a dial marked POWER CONTROL. There is no switch on the machine itself.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 to 240 V\u003c\/strong\u003e, per the maker's own title. So mains voltage is a non-issue on 120 V American and 230 V Australian supply. No converter.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe plug in this box is not confirmed yet.\u003c\/strong\u003e The seller photographs a US plug and a European one side by side; which one ships, we will know when ours arrives.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOrdering from Australia or New Zealand?\u003c\/strong\u003e We send an Australian and New Zealand pin adapter with your machine, free, in its own small parcel. It takes both flat US pins and round European ones, so whichever plug is in the box, it goes into your wall. If it still does not, tell us and we post you the correct one free, or refund you in full with the return postage on us.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eRunout, rpm and wattage are not printed here. Nobody has published them for this machine, and we are not copying a figure off somebody else's advertisement and putting our name under it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat the owners say, including the bad part\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFive ratings, 4.8 average, every one a verified purchase. One owner: it works very well and precisely with a 0.3 mm drill, no trouble. Another, and this is the one worth knowing before you buy — \u003cstrong\u003ehis arrived with the rubber feet missing.\u003c\/strong\u003e If yours does the same, write to us and we send you a set. You should not have to open a dispute in another language over four pieces of rubber.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it stops\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWood, plastic, resin, composite panel, PCB, brass, copper, aluminium. Hardened steel, no. A 10 mm hole through a steel plate, no — that is a floor drill press job.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd it is a drill, not a mill. An end mill cuts sideways, side load pulls the shank out of a collet this size, and the best case is a ruined cut.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDelivery\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFree and tracked, to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. \u003cstrong\u003eOne to two weeks.\u003c\/strong\u003e We hold no stock and we have no warehouse of our own: the order is picked and posted by the supplier after you place it, which is why we give a range and not a date.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to Canada, for now.\u003c\/strong\u003e The rest of the shop ships to Canada; this machine does not yet. Our supplier does not post it there, and we are not going to sell you a delivery we cannot make. When we have a route, Canada goes back on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30-day returns from the day it arrives. Return postage is yours, the price of the item comes back in full.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mikrabench","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50480026845375,"sku":"MB-DRILL-COLLET","price":149.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/Sdf163b3be84641c2a57dffbbe35c5c81r.webp?v=1789996467"},{"product_id":"mikrabench-micrometer-drill-press","title":"Mikrabench Micrometer Drill Press — 3.175 mm","description":"\u003cp\u003eA micrometer head sits on top of the spindle. You turn it to set the depth, the thimble reads in hundredths, and the stroke is 10 mm. That is the one thing this machine does that the other two do not, and for a blind hole you have to stop at a depth rather than go through, it is the only thing that matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bit is held in a 3.175 mm collet with a brass nose, not a drill chuck. \u003cstrong\u003e3.175 mm is the eighth-inch shank\u003c\/strong\u003e that PCB micro bits and carbide engraving bits are ground to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eIt is the TZ-525 head, and we would rather you heard it from us\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead the plate on the motor in the photographs: \u003cstrong\u003eTZ-525, 3 to 12 V, 0.3 to 4 mm.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is the same head as \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-mini-drill-press\"\u003eour $129 drill press\u003c\/a\u003e, with a micrometer fine feed built on top and, on the version we sell, a collet nose in place of the chuck. We are telling you that instead of letting you work it out after the parcel opens. If a fine feed is not the thing you are short of, buy the cheaper one and keep the difference.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe base, and the same warning as before\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlat plate, four countersunk screws holding the rubber feet, one hole through the middle. No slot. No bolt pattern. We printed a wrong claim about this base once on the other machine's page, corrected it in public, and left the correction up. So we are not going to let you discover it twice: \u003cstrong\u003eyou cannot bolt a vise to this base.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf holding the work down is the problem you are solving, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/mikrabench-collet-drill-press\"\u003ethe collet machine at $149 has two slots and a bolt circle\u003c\/a\u003e — and no micrometer. The two machines solve different halves of the same job.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe power adapter, and the complaint about it\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSix ratings, 3.7 average. Two of them are one star and both say the same thing: the supply in the box is 3 A, and at 3 A the motor will not reach its top speed. \u003cstrong\u003eBoth of those owners bought the 0.3 to 4 mm chuck version.\u003c\/strong\u003e The one owner who bought the collet version — the version on this page — gave it five stars, called it well made, and said it was worlds better than the battery rotary tool it replaced for jewellery work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe print the bad reviews because they are the useful ones. That adapter is the weak part of this entire family of machines and it has been written up on our other drill press page for weeks. If top speed is what your work needs, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/adjustable-bench-supply-3-24v\"\u003ewe sell a 3 to 24 V bench supply\u003c\/a\u003e that does not have that limit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe plug\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSame adapter family as the other two machines in this line: input 100 to 240 V, 50\/60 Hz, per the maker's title, so Australian and New Zealand mains are inside its range and no transformer is needed. Which pin shape ships in this particular box, we have not confirmed yet — ours lands in early October.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOrdering from Australia or New Zealand?\u003c\/strong\u003e We send an Australian and New Zealand pin adapter with your machine, free, in its own small parcel. It takes both flat US pins and round European ones, so whichever plug is in the box, it goes into your wall. If it still does not, tell us and we post you the correct one free, or refund you in full with the return postage on us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat comes in the box, per the seller\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe machine, the speed-control adapter with its dial, and a set of tungsten carbide micro bits from 0.15 to 1.0 mm on 3.175 mm shanks. \u003cstrong\u003eThe bit set is the seller's claim, not ours yet.\u003c\/strong\u003e Ours is in transit; when it lands we will say what was actually in the carton, including anything that was not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat we are not printing\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eRunout, rpm, wattage. The seller publishes none of the three. We are not copying them from a competitor's listing and signing our name to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat happens in early October\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur sample ships now and arrives in the first week of October. Then this page gets the collet's real runout on a dial indicator, the micrometer's actual backlash, and our own photographs — including whatever we do not like about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDelivery\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFree and tracked, to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. \u003cstrong\u003eTwo to three weeks.\u003c\/strong\u003e We hold no stock and we have no warehouse of our own: the order is picked and posted by the supplier after you place it, which is why we give a range and not a date.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to Canada, for now.\u003c\/strong\u003e The rest of the shop ships to Canada; this machine does not yet. Our supplier does not post it there, and we are not going to sell you a delivery we cannot make. When we have a route, Canada goes back on this page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30-day returns from the day it arrives. Return postage is yours, the price of the item comes back in full.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mikrabench","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50480028614847,"sku":"MB-DRILL-MICRO","price":179.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/S87d2101b774d41708b6c4c167d82d796u.webp?v=1789996468"},{"product_id":"mini-wood-lathe-24v-7-speed","title":"Mini wood lathe, 24 V, 7 speeds","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA bench-top lathe for small wooden parts:\u003c\/strong\u003e pens, knobs, handles, dowels, spindles for models. It sits on a desk and runs from a mains adapter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e24 V DC, 96 W motor, 7 speed settings\u003c\/strong\u003e, per the maker.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTurns work up to about 70 mm across and 160 mm long\u003c\/strong\u003e (2.76 x 6.3 in), per the maker's title.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe seller's photographs show a chuck, a tailstock, a tool rest, turning chisels, sanding discs and the power adapter in the kit.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it stops\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWood and soft plastics. It is not a metal lathe and we are not going to call it one: 96 watts through a small motor will not take a cut in steel or brass bar, and the frame is not built for it. If you want to turn metal, this is the wrong machine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe have not had one on our own bench yet. Runout and the exact speed at each setting are not published, so we are not printing them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDelivery\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUnited States only.\u003c\/strong\u003e This one ships from a warehouse inside the US, which is why it is fast: \u003cstrong\u003eusually under a week\u003c\/strong\u003e. The same warehouse does not post to Australia, New Zealand or Canada, so we do not sell it there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFree and tracked. We hold no stock and we have no warehouse of our own: the order is picked and posted by the supplier after you place it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30-day returns from the day it arrives. Return postage is yours, the price of the item comes back in full.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ARVONELLE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50499837198527,"sku":"14:193#4250-8500 RPM;200007763:201336106","price":129.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/S22b277eac631454cb5235427b8f55aa6C.webp?v=1790303452"},{"product_id":"mini-metal-lathe-24w","title":"Mini metal lathe, 24 W, for brass, aluminium and wood","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA working metal lathe small enough to sit on a desk. It turns brass, aluminium, plastic and wood, a few millimetres at a time.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the classic all-metal mini lathe that model makers and watch hobbyists buy as their first one. Red headstock, black bed, a three-jaw chuck, a tailstock and a cross slide you wind by hand. It comes as a set, mostly assembled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe numbers, per the maker\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTurns work up to 45 mm across\u003c\/strong\u003e (about 1.8 in), and \u003cstrong\u003e135 mm between centres\u003c\/strong\u003e (about 5.3 in). A riser block in the set lifts that to about 50 mm across.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCentre height 25 mm.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMotor 24 W, 12 V DC, up to 20,000 rpm.\u003c\/strong\u003e The maker says to slow it to around 2,000 rpm for metal.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHolds work in a three-jaw chuck, or in a collet from 1 to 6 mm.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHigh-speed steel cutting tools.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRuns from a mains adapter with a \u003cstrong\u003eUS plug, 110 V\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat it is good at, and where it stops\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePins, bushings, pulleys, knobs, small shafts for models, brass fittings, turned pens. Soft metals and wood. Steel is a different story: 24 W is not a lot of power, cuts have to be light and slow, and hardened steel is out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne owner's review is worth reading before you buy. It arrived nearly assembled, but the chuck was not tightened properly and the tools needed sharpening. Check both before the first cut. Sharpening a lathe tool is part of owning one anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat we have not checked\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe have not had one on our own bench. Every figure above is the maker's. The runout of the chuck and the real speed at the spindle are things we would measure before printing, so we have not printed them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhy it is in the gift section\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause a lot of people who would use one every weekend will never buy it for themselves. If you are buying for someone who builds models, repairs clocks or turns pens, this is the tool they point at in videos.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDelivery\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUnited States only.\u003c\/strong\u003e This one ships from a US warehouse, with a 110 V plug. We do not send it to Australia, New Zealand or Canada: the mains there need a different adapter, and we would rather not sell you one that does not match your wall. Free and tracked, usually one to two weeks. We hold no stock ourselves; the order is posted by the supplier after you place it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e30-day returns from the day it arrives. Return postage is yours, the price of the item comes back in full.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mikrabench","offers":[{"title":"US plug, 110 V \/ United States","offer_id":50501278793919,"sku":"14:193#110V US plug;200007763:201336106","price":219.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/files\/S0a89fc50a8ca42999dc8fa398a245b72o.webp?v=1790344285"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0760\/5826\/3743\/collections\/S0a89fc50a8ca42999dc8fa398a245b72o.webp?v=1790355404","url":"https:\/\/arvonelle.com\/collections\/machines.oembed","provider":"ARVONELLE","version":"1.0","type":"link"}