I need to cut a small 1/4 deep slot in my drive to allow for water flow from a low spot to the edge of driveway. I can start at driveway edge so it is possible to start at open edge. the cut would be about 10"long. Could this be done with a dremmel tool and if so what type of wheel or bit would be best. I don' t want to use a saw or large wheel because I want to keep th drain as neat as possible. Frank
Use an angle grinder with a fiberwheel. This tool should cost around $30, much cheaper than a Dremel. The Dremel is far too small and weak a tool for what you ant to use it for. You might consider using a cold chisel to chip the slot first and then use the grinder to smooth out the slot.
The blades for dremels are not thick enough to give you a cut that would drain the water away (at least not with just one pass. You can get a wide enough cut with a grinder with a masonry wheel. From my experience, you will get a neater cut with the grinder than you will from a dremel, anyway.
If you must use the dremel, then use a masonry wheel. The cut is only going to be about 1/32 wide unless you make 2 passes and then chip out the material between the passes.
And I'd think it would take a zillion of the little Dremel cutters as ime they'll just melt away w/ that kind of abuse...
I'd get a masonry blade for the hand circular saw and use it w/ a guide block to make two or three passes...
You'll never get it done with the Dremel. I have fixed such low spots by drilling a 1/2 inch hole completely through the concrete which "should" be about 4" thick. Lets the small amount of water seep away. Use a masonry drill, of course, but be prepared for some frustration if very hard rock was used to make the concrete.
SJF
While I agree that an angle grinder is a better tool for this job then the dremel.
I agree even more with Duane that a circ saw and masonry blade is the way to go. Multiple passes and you can make it deeper towards the edge if necessary.
The drill a hole suggestion may be the winner for best looks.
Colbyt
As others have said the Dremel isn't the right tool. You didn't say if it was concrete or asphalt. If its asphalt you may be able to heat it with a blowtorch and then use a wide blade chisel to compress a trough in the blacktop.
If you have a cicular saw, DeWalt sells a 7" high performance masonary diamond blade. You can pick it up at stores like Home Depot for about $20. This produces a very thin cut ( and one heck of a lot of concrete dust) For a 10" or even a 10' cut the job will take take longer to set up than do.
If you try and use a Dremel tool it will probably cost you more than $20 in discs alone. You probably will not end up with a neat cut anyway. Gary Dyrkacz snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net Radio Control Aircraft/Paintball Physics/Paintball for 40+
You can find them in "job lot" liquidation stores for about 3 or 4 dollars.
Commodore Joe Redcloud
Gary Dyrkacz wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
You might want to rig op a ShopVac to suck up the dust before it gets into the circ saw.
Or you could RENT a concrete saw that uses water to keep the dust under control. And do the job a lot faster and easier.
I used the "drill a hole with a masonry bit" technique and it worked great. Most functional, not visible, easy. If you do decide to go the dremel route, please borrow a video camera with a time lapse feature so we can watch your progress. Make sure you have enough tapes for it though. ;-)
So it's unanimous that a Dremel won't work.
I'll just add that if you actually could make a little slot with it, I'm not positive the water would drain out. It might get sucked into the slot by gravity or capillary action, but refuse to leave at the driveway edge. Same problem with holes. That's why the other poster recommended a half inch hole. The world is a complicated place, even at this level.
I"m not recommending it, and I hate it when two kinds of cement don't match, but is there a nice way to fill the depression?
.Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.
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You can get cheap masonry abrasive blades for your circular saw for a couple bucks. One of them should do the job. You could even set the saw to a 45 degree angle to make it a notch, if you are very careful. Set up a fan to blow the dust away from you and the saw.
Bob
I have a co-worker who is very very smart in the microwave/RF world and for his garage floor he had the idea to mix up some BONDO to even up a low spot.
Haven't heard how it worked yet. I'll ask him if it did the trick.
Well, I stopped by and asked my co-worker how the bondo worked. He is very pleased with how it worked out. Made me want to go out and do a patch in a local road just to do a wear test.
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