brand comparison...

[susieq]

Just a quick note here..... the power source/speed control box for my Master Carver micro motor, just died today..... it was fine yesterday. I went into my shop to carve this afternoon and when I flipped the switch...nothing. It's about 3 years old. I bought the unit as a backup for when my 12 year old Foredom unit was down for maintenance. Of course, only the handpiece was down for repairs, not the controller box.

Luckily for me, I have 3 units that all have the same plug in on the handpiece cord. I can just unplug one handpiece from a box, and plug in a different one. The dead box will sit on the shelf until my brother comes to visit in April. He can fix anything electrical.

But I find it interesting that my OLD OLD Foredom controller is still working fine (knock on wood), and the Master Carver controller pooped out at 3 yrs...
I do have a slightly newer Master Carver unit. Now I'm wondering how ling that power source will last.

[mateo]

You've checked your fuse?

[susieq]

Yes..... after it died, I tried a different outlet to make sure it wasn't that. Then I brought it into the house, where hubby removed the cover and had a look at the fuse. It looked fine but he tested it with an "oms" meter. (I know I didn't spell that right...) It's not the fuse. I'm reasonably sure it's not the cord. There was no bending or kinking of the cord at all during it's use. Other than a little dead spider under the cover, it was surprisingly clean of wood dust, etc.....

My brother is an electrical genius and if the thing can be fixed, he can fix it. In the mean time, I have that handpiece plugged into an old Foredom controller.

To be fair, the current crop of Foredom controllers for their lower end units, is probably not much better than Master Carver or Ram controllers..... Back when I bought the Foredom unit, it was $600. I should expect more from something I paid that much for.

The current high end Foredom is the 1050. It has the high torque, brushless handpiece rated at 50,000 RPMS. I've had that one for a couple of years now and it's great. It should be for what they are asking retail for it. I didn't pay retail because I have a friend who is a Foredom rep. He got it for me for what it cost him...saved over $300.

If that option wasn't open to me, I would have gone with the Marathon because I am fairly sure that Marathon makes the 1050 for Foredom and you can buy it for about what I paid for the 1050.

The Marathon is Japanese. The old high end Foredoms were also Japanese. Foredom's new low end models are more than likely made in China.

I also have an Automach reciprocal gouger. It is also Japanese and is a great tool. It's funny how way back in the old days, we put down anything made in Japan..... Now days, I'd much rather have a Japanese tool than one made in China.....

[susieq]

Well, I have to eat my words on something I just said....
The Marathon 700 is NOT Japanese... Maybe it was at one time but it's currently made in Korea. And I was checking out some of the smaller units that compare with Ram and Master Carver....China.

[susieq]

This is a followup to my first post in the thread. My brother arrived for a visit and had a look at my power control box for the Master Carver Micro motor.
He got out his meter and checked all the solder joins/connections, fuse, etc.... everything seemed fine so he checked the switch. It was the switch. He wanted to know if I could live with just leaving it on and he would wire the wires on the switch together. The handpiece doesn't move at the zero speed, so I could have lived with that....just turn up the speed and it would start running... but hubby went out in his shop and found an old soldering iron controller with a similar switch, the same size. So we checked it out to make sure it worked and then put it into the micro motor power box and voila! Good to go.

So, if anyone's power box takes a dump on you, check out the switch. You can by pass the switch if you want to. If you are nervous about opening the collet on the handpiece with the power on (and I was nervous about that) you can always unplug the handpiece from the box to change the bit..... Happy carving.