Homebrew PCBs

At 07:44 PM 06/11/2002 EDT, you wrote:
>Denny:  I ordered one "to play with", too; thinking, for THAT price, no 
>biggie either way.  Was curious about the "Sioux" model that costs nearly 
>twice as much in same catalog, thought.  Wonder if that is "noticeably 
>better"?????

Hi Jan,
 Like most industrial tools I suspect similar die grinders by Dotco, Sioux,
Nu-Line or Foredom are substantially better, though they do cost a couple
hundred bucks more. I have tools by Sioux and Foredom/Engis in the shop,
you can't kill 'em with a stick. The Enco seems to be a decent value for
the money so I'll give it a shot for starters. Unlike my Sioux and Foredom
tools I don't expect to see the Enco grinder still working daily in my shop
in 20 years. ;-)
It would probably be worth keeping a spare Enco on hand and/or making a
universal V-groove mount to accept a better quality grinder in the future
if it were needed.

>Clippard makes some super-fine electropneumatic valves, and those coupled 
>with their piston-actuated two-way valves might make it possible to turn 
>on/off the air except when this thing is "going down" for a hole.

Adding a solenoid valve to the mill is almost a given anyhow, I think
you've got a good idea shutting the grinder down whenever possible. There's
very little rotating mass so spool time is very short.
Denny