What are Dremel tools actually used for?

[David]

grinding my dog's toenails down.

[John DeBoo]

[B a r r y]

Got a video of that? Do you drug the dog before you start?

[mac davis]

Small stuff.... I use the little bitty drum sanders to make dowels fit through holes, the wheels and brushes for deburring small stuff, etc...

Anything that you need to do and can't get a "real" drill or grinder into... Most folks use them on too big of things, IMHO... That's like using a skillsaw to cut compound miters... Mac

[mac davis]

I bought a deluxe one for the wife for Christmas for her carving and wood burning.. First thing she used it for, (and it's most common use for her), was to do her nails... *g*

I thought it was pretty funny, using power tools for nails, but she told me that all of the local nail places use Dremels... whodathunkit..

Mac

[jtpr]

Sharpening my chainsaw, hedge clippers, and lawnmower blade. Tuning the bottom of the keys on the tongue drums I made. The planer attachment works great to remove 1/64 of material on wood. The reciprocal saw attachment for cutting sheet rock. Somebody recently showed me he uses the router attachment to finish the flats on the bottom of his dovetails so they are all exactly the same depth. It's just one of those tools, for the money, that is worth having for that occasional "perfect" use. It is well made and the accessories and attachments are inexpensive.

-jtpr

[Brian Henderson]

I don't think I've ever used mine for woodworking, but I do use it for small things, cutting screws, drilling holes, grinding, etc. It's handy when you need to do things in tight spaces where you can't get a full-sized tool.

[Roger Haar]

HI,

I do a lot of small grinding and cut-off with mine. At work someone else lost the keys to a dozen pad locks, and cut then all off. At home I use mine to do some carving, but I really like it as a tiny router. I admit the I could be a wimp, but in a router base, the dremel makes short work of mortising for hinges.

Thanks Roger Haar

Billy Smith wrote:

[Zz Yzx]

I use mine with small burr bits for family dentistry, even for the pets.

Talk about a money-saver.

-Zz

[Squarei4dtoolguy]

Tried that, worked great.

Saw it done, worked great.

Also cut a drain pipe from inside, beautiful.

One of my friends got one for Christmas several years ago. I think the only time he used it was to carve a pumpkin.

Tom in KY, nice to have, maybe not necessary.

[Jerry]

MAN! What a great idea! Mine will pay for itself just for the kid's dental work alone! Why didn't I think of that....

Zz Yzx wrote:

[Phil at small (vs at large)]

I have the sears version & made a edge routing base. I used a metal tap (I think 3/4 x 3tpi?- used a pitch gage to figure it out & have slept since then) to cut threads into a piece of 1/2" maple. Glued it to another piece of wood. Then used a drill bit to center the hole up on the drill press & drilled a 3/8" hole into the other piece of wood. Then used the bandsaw to cut thru the edge of the hole lengthwise so only a little of the 3/8" hole edge showed thru. Used the dremel to widen the slot a little. Then I removed the screw-on cover, added a

3/16" router bit (with 1/8th shank), screwed on my little 'fence' and used it to rout a real tiny rabbet in the edge of a piece of wood. Depth of cut is controlled by unscrewing the 'fence' & resetting the depth of the bit in the collet. I could have used a rabbeting bit with a dremel router base, but did not have either & was short of funds at the time. I WAS going to use it to cut the binding slot in my mandolin I was making at the time, but chickened out-- was too afraid of tear-out in the soft spruce. Will most likely use it on my next instrument. I think I'm a little braver now. Phil

[Larry Blanchard]

I'm using carriage bolts (upside down) as levelers in a freestanding cabinet. I used a cutting disk in a Dremel to cut screwdriver slots in the top (un-headed) end.

[Australopithecus scobis]

Were the resulting slots different from those made by a hacksaw? (That is asked in an inquiring, not a snotty, tone.)

[CW]

[Steve]

Lets see--here's what I've used one for recently (all related to guitar bulding):

1) Routed circular channels in an acoustic guitar top to install the rosette 2) Routed rabbets in the edge of the guitar top & back to install decorative bindings 3) Make minor adjustments to various wood parts of guitar necks, bodies, etc. 4) Enlarge holes for guitar tuning pegs 5) Make adjustments to neck-to-body-joints of electric and acoustic guitars 6) Make minor changes to pickup cavities in electric guitars and basses

My next task will be to cut out the sound hole in that acoustic guitar top mentioned in #1 above, using the same circle-cutting jig that I used to install the rosette.

I have two Dremel tools - one AC powered and the other battery powered. The Battery powered one doesn't see much use since I got the other one--it was pretty short on power.

As a guitar builder, I find the Dremel to be a tool I could not survive without.

--Steve

[jimmy]

Yep. You can get a nice deep slot using a dremel that doesn't extend to the edges of the head. Easy to turn it into a Philips drive as well.

[Leon]

TV ads.

[Oleg Lego]

The [e-mail] entity posted thusly:

I like being able to use a burr to cut slots in screw heads that are recessed, without damaging the surrounding work.

[Brooks Moses]

I've used mine with a diamond-tipped bit to grind out chips in the lips of glasses that have been dropped (or have banged together in the dishwasher), so that they're safely usable again.

- Brooks