Dremels...what do you use them for?

[Chris Knight]

I have a dremel on back order - wanted one after christmas and seems like everyone was sold out, i guess it was a popular christmas present! Still waiting. It's a bit late now, but I wanted it to speed up carving lovespoons for a valentines craft fair as per this link from my web page. (more lovespoons visible if you go through the gallery after clicking on the main lovespoon image. http://www.qdscarpentry.co.uk/gifts.html

Anyone got any advice on using them for carving like this?

I find the structured carbide rasp bits best for carving type jobs. They do cut cleanly and fast unlike the really horrid little cheap milling type bits. However, they are expensive!

 

[Finial]

I find the structured carbide rasp bits best for carving type jobs. They do cut cleanly and fast

Don't they clog up?

 

[dickm]

Use a cheap 110V B&D "Dremel" with those diamond bits to carve house name signs in slate. Works better if kept wet, so 110V gives a bit less of a hazard. One bit lasts for about 15 letters!
And the "proper" Dremel is a godsend for small scale metalwork. But not much use in wood, IMHO.

 

[Mike Wingate]

Slotting damaged screw heads.

 

[Mike Wingate]

The Swiss Army Knife of small power tools (Victorinex brand).

 

[yetloh]

Sharpening bandsaw blades- why buy a new one every time?

Jim

 

[Jake]

The Swiss Army Knife of small power tools (Victorinex brand).

A very good analogy - rarely of any use at all, but when it is, no substitute will be available - oh, and 90% of the accessories will never be used.

 

[Sportique]

Well I suppose it partly depends upon the scale of your work.

In my case - 1/12th scale furniture - it is very useful.

However I have also used one for detail sanding close to skirtings/corners after using a huge cylinder sander on the floorboards :shock:

Dave

 

[Shultzy]

I have the Minicraft variety. Some tow-rag snapped off my aerial and I used it to drill a pilot hole to unscrew the old thread. Good for cutting train tracks and I also use drill burrs that my dentist saves for me on the baseboard. One of the most useful accessories I have is the foot control, great for hands-free.

 

[wizer]

Did you see this:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/28214

I'm sure a better version would be made up. Would be great for inlay work.

Oh, in fact... found this also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbpAiVDT5n8

 

[RogerS]

Permanently fitted with a chainsaw sharpening bit.

 

[wizer]

Sharpening bandsaw blades?

 

[chipchaser]

Hi Jim,

You might find something interesting if you search some of the CNC sites as they use dremels and rotozips in desktop CNC mill and router set ups. I guess you have Googled for Dremel inlay cutting.

I have a very old Dremel which rattles alarmingly but keeps running. Does anyone know if bearings can be replaced? I also have an Axmister AMT kit with the flexshaft and heads for rotary use and carving. Not used this so much and would have said it was very good but just a couple of days ago it started to cut in and out. Haven’t tracked down the cause yet but it sounded as if the wire in the cable or at the connector in the tool might be broken/making intermittent contact. Hope it’s not the speed controller.

The AMT is bulkier than the Dremel and has a very stiff cable not like the “flex” that older tools have. Is this use of lower grade cable to cut costs? The chisels supplied with the carving head don’t cut as well as a Flexcut chisel although to be fair I haven’t honed or sharpened them yet.

I use the Dremel mainly for cutting and shaping bits of metal or wood and de-rusting small things. Recently I used the AMT for making blades to go in my scratch stock. The thin cut off discs cut an old steel hand saw blade easily and the grinding and sanding wheels shape the cutter quite quickly. These cutters would be harder to shape on a standard bench grinder.

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... de0793.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... es0836.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... ck0815.jpg

I needed to match an old sash window profile and the process of routing out the bulk of the waste then scratching to shape works quite well. It was cheaper than the £77 I was quoted for a purpose made HSS router bit. The biggest problem is actually making the cutter a good enough match to the original. Even a small error shows up and due to decay and shrinkage it can be hard to get a good profile from the original. One of those large rectangular magnifiers would probably help when cutting the blade.

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... ew0824.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... ng0847.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq27 ... ed0828.jpg

Graham

 

[jimi43]

That's pretty clever stuff there Graham and I agree, the Dremel is fantastic for cutting hard steel. I cut down the Isaac Greaves tapered plane blade to size for the Galoot block plane with a disc and it only used one. The blade was darn thick too!

I will go check out the CNC forums...I never thought of that!

I might make a clamp for mine today...they could form the body on those things a bit more sensibly...there is nothing to clamp to and the neck is tiny compared with the body so that point of clamping is not stable at all.

I want to make a refined version of the bandsaw blade sharpener that Tom showed....looks like a good idea for getting a bit more life out of my ripping blades...I have a lot of resawing to do.

Cheers mate

Jim

 

[Vinny]

Have just been using mine for tile cutting - awkward corners and cutting round water and waste pipes in a bathroom is a breeze. Also very handy for going through tiles to hang mirrors etc etc (if you don't have a tile drill bit)



Vinny

 

[jimi43]

Tile cutting made me think of the Rotozip that I have which was supposed to do that!

Is it just me or is the Rotozip the biggest load of junk going? It looks the biz but it is totally uncontrollable. I have only managed to burn one spiral cutter and snap another....

I tried it a number of times but that is all I can get it to do...destroy itself with uncontrolled mess in between....

Jim