[Donna_T]

Ok, I'm in the market for a micro motor tool. Yeh, I have a Foredom and a Dremel but I want the ease, control and convenience of a micro carver. I always thought the Ram was what I wanted, but I was at a bird carving workshop over the weekend and several had the Optima and something else with 'Pro' in the name. All are priced around $300, but I'd like to hear from some of you who have experience with each of them. What's good--what's not?
Thanks,
Donna T

[Colin_Partridge]

Donna,
I have tried a slew of these power carvers unfortunatly for me because of the size of my carvings some of them are not powerful enough. I actually own five of them the old Skil carver was my favorite but they dont make it anymore but once in a while at these tool shows they show up for sale. The Proxxon was an excellent carver but not powerful enough for me but anyone that has one swears by them. I have an Arbortech that is very powerful and removes a lot of wood fast but maybe too cumbersome for smaller carvings and it is a little heavy but I just love mine does a pile of work. The Weecher is also very small but too small for my big carvings and it will fit on a Dremel carver have heard good things about it. The Riobi is also inexpensive but I am not sure they make it anymore either.
Just some of my observations from the power (reciprocating) carvers I have used I dont think any of them are that bad I think you get what you pay for. Hope this has helped
Colin

[David_Aaron_Sercel]

I own the Ram Power 45. It has a surprising amount of torque
and it is designed so that when you are carving and the bit
digs in and starts to slow the motor down, it automatically
gives you and extra burst of power too bring the tool
back up to speed. I have been using for a few months
and haven't experienced any problems with it.

The NSK E-Max is also an excellent tool, though somewhat cost
prohibitive (it costs about three times as much as the Ram). I
Don’t own one but I have had an opportunity to try one.

[woody01]

Donna T,

I have the Optima. Used it when I was into doing birds. It worked well for me. I gave it some heavy use for about 2 1/2 years. It still operates as good as when it was new. You will like using this type of tool.

Woody01

The only one I have is the Optima. A nice little machine with an easy to hold handle for detail. I feel that it is a bit underpowered, but then i am a more power freak. It would over heat with very hard material and turn itself off. I will be looking forward to the information that shows up here. Thanks for asking.
Barb

[Donna_T]

Now more questions.

Is there more than one sized optima? I know there is a Ram 45 and one with a much higher number. I did try the NSK and it was 'sweet' but about twiceor more the price I am willing to pay; it had virtually NO vibration in the handpiece and I could feel some in the Optima and Ram 45. BUT the Ram and Optima were soooooo much better than the inflexible 'flex shaft' of my Dremel and Foredom, that I couldn't believe the difference.

Learning how to do birds well is my next quest and I just can't get the control and ease of detailing with my existing two power carvers. That's why I'm looking at the Micro Motor carvers. I'll still use my two big power carvers for roughing out--plus my Ryobi when the job calls for big chunks to come off the cutout.

So the next level of questions would be to compare the Optimas and the Rams--for the torque, rpms, and price--which is the best?

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.

Donna T