Hi
Had a bugger of a job today, changing the taps on a 30+ year old bath.
Backnuts (brass) for the taps seemed welded in place, tried everything, blow lamp, hammer - you name it.
In desperation I managed to get a 4" angle grinder in and cut off a section of the backnut. Difficult to get it in and I had to be very careful not to damage anything else.
Would one of these Dremel type things with a cut off wheel have done the job? I've always regarded them as a model making machine.
Yes I think so. I have a Dremel with loads of different attachments and have found the cut-off wheels do work quite well on metals in "real" applications like this, although I have broken loads and those that I haven't broken have had a very high wear rate.
Spouse uses his for all manner of jobs. Yes, he's broken lots of bits and today the power plant died but he reckons he's had very good value from them and intends buying another.
Mary
One tool to fit them is a fibre glass type cutting disk about 3cm in diameter. One of those doing 5000rpm in a steady hand will kill most things like you had.
With brass, definitely and reasonably easily as well.
There are several types of cut off wheel, some harder and more expensive than others.
The softer ones would do this job - they wear down in diameter fairly quickly but are very inexpensive anyway - they come in plastic tubs of quite a number (maybe 20 or so).
I use my Dremel quite a bit for these kind of jobs - another is cutting copper tube in confined spaces in order to remove it.
You all beat me to the comments about the cheap thin but brittle abrasive disks and the thicker but tough fibreglass ones. However yesterday I used the first of my metal/diamond disks from Ebay and that worked very nicely too (taking a crimped alloy cap off a glass perfume spray bottle). Real Dremels are pricey but fortunately the clones aren't. I have a Tandy cordless, a Draper mains, and another much smaller "engraver" that still takes the disks. Don't need them often, but sometimes they are the only thing that works fast in a tight space.
I had to modify a lath and plaster wall (basically, truncate the laths halfway across a stud). The Dremel did the job beautifully, using one of the metal disks.
They're good for some small jobs, though IME cutoff wheels are the only really useful accessory. Much easier than a hacksaw if you've got to remove an olive from a pipe in a tight space.
Not particularly for this job, but I think another tool that you would get a lot of value from as a handyman is a Fein Multimaster. I use mine a huge amount for the jobs that are between Dremel capacity and heavyweight specific power tools.
If you put one on your Christmas list I'll put in a word next time I'm in Rovaniemi.
This week I saw my first hotel reception area with decorations, parcels and a tree - all plastic of course. I crossed it off of my approved hotels list.....
The Aldi/Lidl/Netto will be back on the racks soon,keep your're beadies out for one at 12.99GBP
In message , Newshound writes
Real Dremels aren't that pricey anymore. Got a Costco card?
solid carbide bit is very good for cutting holes in tiles - done 8/14 sockets/fcu light switches in the kitchen (10x8 tiles)
I dont use one often, but when I do, nothing else will do. One thing that can be uesful for difficult access jobs is to keep a very worn down angle grinder metal cutting wheel. Being much smaller it can get in spaces where whole wheels wont go. If a grinder wont get in there, drilling into the metal can weaken it and almost cut it right through.
Have been disappointed by the pink grinding bits that come in various shapes, load of crap, but the wire wheels are quite useful.
NT
Not as well as my Fein Multimaster would have done.
You're a jobbing handyman. You need one of these things! I still don't know what it's for, I just keep using it for stuff.
Probably. The main uses for dremels as far as I can see are the cut off disks, and the amateur dentist bit that's mint for getting through seam sealer on bolt heads...
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