Wolfgang or Bosch Colt?

[HereinCS]

I'm building a mini cnc system and am considering either the Bosch or the Wolfgang. About the same price. I'd like to cut some soft metal along with wood. Any thoughts on the advantages of these?

[jalessi]

HereinCS,

The Wolfgang is very light duty. Designed for engraving, cutting wax and milling PCB's.

The Bosch has at least five times the power and torque, it would be a much better choice for cutting metal.

Jeff...

[HereinCS]

Thanks. Is the Wolfgang as powerful as a dremmel?

[jalessi]

HereinCS,

I would guess the Dremel is twice as powerful due to current consumption, the size of its armature and direct drive configuration.

The Wolfgang is driven by a extremely small O-ring rubber band style belt and the armature of the Johnson motor is 1/2 the physical size of a Dremel.

The Johnson motor on the Wolfgang is rated at .81 amps max at 120 volts

The Dremel 4000 is rated at 1.6 amps at 120 volts.

Jeff...

[.xXACEXx.]

my 2 cents..

i found an online calculator that says 120v at 1.6 amps is 266.~ watts, thats ~about 1/3 horsepower if that helps any...

120v at .81 amps is 134.68 watts , so its a good bit less than 1/4 horsepower

1 horsepower is about 746 watts

sorry if my figures are wrong ,maybe some math-magician will input better numbers

[bobsch]

My calculations come up with 120V x 1.6A = 192 watts or .26 HP.

129V x .81A = 97 watts or or .18 HP

[HereinCS]

I just browsed some other forums. Seems that most people like the kress as well. Seems similar in spec to the colt. Is there any advantage to the kress?

[wcarrothers1]

The wolf gang spindle is a great piece. The motor is under powered though. Fit it with a proper sewing machine motor (ie mutilate your wife's old unused sewing machine) and drive it with that and maybe a bigger O ring belt and then you have something. Plus variable speed.

I used mine for engraving before I treated myself to a proper spring loaded engraving head spindle.

Really pointless compairing the 2 to eachother. The colt has more power although would not be as good for engraving.. Wolf gang can only old 1/8" bits... Probably some one makes a smaller collet for the colt to hold 1/8" engraving bits..



b./

[.xXACEXx.]

yeah i'd say it mostly boils down to this , are you going to do mostly engraving with the machine or are you going to do 3d "meat eating" with larger cutters taking big cuts..if so the Bosch colt would prolly be better for heavy cutting and some intricate details but if you are going to mostly engrave the wolfgang may be better

kinda like comparing a shovel to a dozer..sure the dozer will push more in one pass that the shovel will do in a week ,but you can get the shovel in between your wifes precious gladiolas so much better

you will have to decide mostly what you intend to do and go from there ,and that may be the hardest part if you want a "do it all" type machine

[ger21]

Probably some one makes a smaller collet for the colt to hold 1/8" engraving bits..

They're out of stock right now, but:
http://www.precisebits.com/products/...h_Colt_Collets

[HereinCS]

They're out of stock right now, but:
http://www.precisebits.com/products/...h_Colt_Collets

That's awesome! They are right by me. Got to stop by for a visit

[lovebugjunkie]

Go with the Colt and as Ger suggested get the collets from precisebits. You will not regret it, which IMO you might if you get the Wolfgang. I use the precisebits collet on a porter cable, works great. They hold bits much better than adapters.

I had a spindle from wolfgang, not a good experience, it went in the trash and sent the motor and mount to another user on the forum as he had a use for it.