Sealey rotary tool
Tested by Bertie Simmonds I Around: £85-£100 I www.sealey.co.uk
For the last three or four years this has been one of my most used tools. I’ve used it to cut things, chamfer things, remove things and do the general things we need from a good rotary tool.
Sealey marketed it as a ‘12-volt 49-piece Cordless Rotary Tool & Engraver Kit’ (CP1207KIT) and back then (circa 2019) it was retailing for around £100.
Firstly, you get a very handy canvas bag, in which all the various bits can be handily stored – they include the base-plate charger which has a simple ‘red’ and ‘green’ pair of charging lights. This base-plate charger apparently can charge the battery in just one hour and you even get two li-ion 1.5Ah batteries, so you’re never short of power. Also you have a useful LED power light/battery indicator so you know when you’re about to conk out.
The main tool itself is a compact, lightweight cordless multipurpose rotary tool ‘and engraver’ (probably the one thing I’ve never done with it) and it has what Sealey describe as ‘a comfortable composite housing with a soft grip to reduce vibration'. It does feel a tad ‘lightweight’ when it’s in your hands (don’t we all sometimes prefer a bit of ‘weight’ to such things) but in the three years I’ve been using it, it’s never let me down and it’s easy to hold steady in two hands.
On the housing you’ve got a chunky ‘on-off’ switch and then the six-speed slider control.
It’s not just a ‘one to six’ but a wheel which gives you perfect rpm control in between. As the name suggests, you get lots of bits and tips/wheels/ pieces/attachments to use, including sanding discs, dressing stones and a chuck spanner. Fast tool changes are achieved with the quick-release collet and spindle lock.
The array of tools is impressive and you simply use the spanner to fully tighten each one in the chuck. Also you’ve got a useful pot of cutting discs. One thing I will say is that (obvious I know) do use gloves and suitable eye protection because as handy as the cutting discs are, they can break – and I’ve had one do that, although it was a particularly tricky bit of metal I was cutting and I’m quite heavy-handed.
Good points: There are many. I do suffer from vibration making my hands go numb (on a bike and when using tools) but this doesn’t give me any issues – perhaps it’s the ‘soft grip’ on the casing. Also I like the fact that the charging station and batteries can be used with a number of other Sealey tools.
I've yet to have any issue with the normal ‘rechargeable’ problem of limited battery life as the years go by. And they do seem to charge in an hour, as advertised.
Bad points: Well, the elephant in the room is those similar tools which begin with ‘D’. Personally, having owned one of those, too, the Sealey rotary tool looks at least as good quality and performs just as well, but for a cheaper price than I paid (admittedly many moons ago) for a similar Dremel kit in a nice plastic box, but I’ve yet to sample any of their modern offerings. All I know is that this Sealey cordless tool works and works well and is dependable, so it’s highly recommended.
Do shop around as I’ve recently seen this wonderful canvas bag bundle of fun for just £85 on a popular website selling site…