Dremel Tool Questions

[ROY!]

My Dremel is over 20 yrs old, corded and relegated to trimming my dogs toenails. (? paw nails?)

[Tim]

Bill, Go with an AC version! The power is always there and no fumbling with batteries or rechargers! There are many, many accessories made by Dremel and some made by others that will fit dremels,

or Ebay has a special tool to hold a Demel on a lathe for cut off work like brass pen tubes or screws etc. and other functions). I may not use my Dremel every day, but when I need it I'm always glad I have one around, (actually two, I picked one up cheaply at a garage sale, good place to look)! Tim

[Father Haskell]

The cutoff wheels are good for reslotting gnarled screws, otherwise the Dremel does nothing that I can't do faster and better with hand tools. The planer attachment looks like a bad joke.

[mac davis]

Bill.. Personally, I find it pretty useless as like you, I have other tools in the shop...

OTOH, I bought my wife the corded VS model a few years ago that came with power shaft, a couple of jigs for routing or something, a sharpener and a couple hundred bits and disks.. She loves it..

She uses it often on everything from buffing or sanding her wood burning to doing her nails..

BTW: the addition of a Dremel keyless drill chuck made the collet system pretty much obsolete and was about $10..

I think that if I had a need for something to work with itty-bitty tools like that, I'd probably get a good mini air grinder, but I do 99% of my work in the shop and don't need to be mobile..

mac

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[HeyBub]

Don't get the cordless. If you do, you'll think the whole concept is goofey and forever mutter under your breath when someone praises a Dremel.

[Michael Faurot]

Similar situation here. I don't use my Dremel on wood very often, but I have been using it a lot to fabricate the profiles for the metal blades I use in a scratch stock.

[Andy Dingley]

I really wouldn't. Get a Foredom instead - an electric motor hung on a stand, with a flexible drive and a speed control footpedal. Compared to this, even compared to the cheap-and-nasty Foredom copies, a Dremel that requires you to hold the motor in your hand is always a clumsy beast.

[David Starr]

I have had my Dremel for a lot of years. My father gave it to me as a Christmas gift when I was in Middle School. It still runs well, and I still use it for jobs within it's capablity. Dremels work on sheer speed, they rew up very high. They don't have much torque and if you press down hard on the work they slow down and stall out. I would go for a AC powered unit 'cause I doubt that the battery has enough omph to keep the tool going for long. Unless the "no extension cord" convenience of cordless is super important to you, the AC powered unit will work harder, and not run down in the middle of a job. Nor would I pay extra for variable speed. The Dremel only works well at full speed, why slow it down? Dremels are good for grinding/sharpening, light weight routing (VERY light weight, like balsa wood) buffing, polishing and cutting. The abrasive cutoff wheels are extremely useful, they will go thru stuff so hard that a hacksaw won't touch it. They aren't all that useful for drilling, too fast and not enough torque.

David Starr

[Andy Dingley]

Or very light cuts.

If you use the tile-cutting base (a mini router stand) then you can use them for shallow routing on tougher stuff like oak or walnut with accurate depth control. This can be useful for inlay work, especially oval escutcheons where you don't have to worry about corners.

[mac davis]

Andy... My wife's dremel came with the shaft and I hung the main actual tool on a tool rack over her table with a foot switch... OH.. senior moment there, she didn't like the foot switch so I made one that she hits with her elbow..lol

I've used it for little stuff before, like running the little drum sander into screw holes to add clearance for dowels, but never on anything where I couldn't use one of her bits or disks in a drill, though... I guess if you needed to get into a tight space?

mac

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[B A R R Y]

So... Mac got the shaft and he hangs his tool.

Seriously, once you buy a flex shaft, foot speed control, and all the other goodies to add on to a Dremel, the Foredom deserves a serious look.

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[Andy Dingley]

Couple of problems with that:

• It's fixed speed on the footpedal switch, not a real speed control. One of my pet hates about Dremels is that you can't slow-start them

• The power is far less than a Foredom

• The price of a flex-shaft Dremel and stand is the same as that of a cheap clone "hanger style" machine (with the advantages of power and control). Admittedly a real Foredom is rather more.

[Leon]

My Dremel has electronic variable speed and starts slow.

And smaller.

[Leon]

That is a matter openion. My Dremel is VS and I seldom use it on high speed. When cutting small screws it has less grab and cutting wheel breaks when cutting at the lower speeds.

Actually when starting a hole in ceramic tile the pointed carbide bits do an excellent job of penetrating the tile exactly where you want it to be. Follow up with the common masonry bit is very easy from that point for making the hole larger to the size you need.

[mac davis]

Andy.. I don't think she changes the speed setting much for different jobs, much less during one... Sometimes the K.I.S. method is the best way to get the job done and on to making shavings..

mac

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[Bill Ray]

Thank you all! I have been amazed at all the responses. Most of you even dumped the sawdust and splinters out of the envelope before you responded. For what it's worth, I decided to get the 10.8v battery powered unit. I got it from Lowes. They ordered me an extra battery for $30 and change. I don't have the extra battery yet, but the unit seemed to do the job fine. With light pressure it didn't bog down or stall. I don't think I needed a battery unit particularly, but I had messing with electric cords. Most of my had tools are now battery powered. Some are PC and some are Dewalt, but I have been pleased with them.

I had one small job that I thought was designed for the Dremel--cutting a rectangular hole in a steel door. I just needed to change a round hole to add a different dead bolt lock. I think that was my excuse to buy one. A carbide bit worked wonders. Now, let's see, what can I do with it now?

Thanks again for all the responses.

Bill

[Andy Dingley]

From a control that's mounted on the motor, so is inaccessible when you're using it with a flex shaft.

[Andy Dingley]

Did you read any of them?

It's not worth much. As you were told, the balance is bad and the battery life is appalling.

[Leon]

I suppose you could very easily hang the motor so that you could reach it.

[J. Clarke]

That has not been my experience. The 10.8 volt battery seems to run the thing practically forever.