Outlet surge

[Eigenvector]

I experienced this at my old apartment and I always wondered what the reason for it was.

The outlet in my bathroom was a GFI and I used to do light metal polishing over the sink with my Dremel. Anyway, after using the Dremel for a bit the tool would start to bog down so I'd back off the polishing head and as soon as pressure was released the polishing wheel would spin up dramatically actually overspeeding then the GFI would trip.

I can see the Dremel slowing down, I can see it rev'ing back to its original speed once the load was removed, but why would it overspeed and why would that trip the GFI?

[Art Todesco]

I don't know about the GFI tripping, however, most of the newer Dremel tools just don't have any torque. These are the ones with the slide speed control. The older units with the speed dial, even though it was clumsy, had way more torque and were much better balanced, especially at high speeds.