Thread: Do I want a Dremel?

of course you should buy it and if you start labouring under the belief you dont need it feel free to give it to santa to put it into my stocking.
lloyd.

Silent,
I have owned a Dremel, and more latterly the Triton equivalent, for nearly 20 years.
I mess about with R/C models a bit so I find it useful there for cleaning up/polishing bits and pieces, cutting small timber and metal items to size etc.
I've also used it to cut out the slots for deadbolts in metal door frames, cutting out the bottom of gutters, in situ, to fit additional downpipes and so on.

Usually the answer to these sorts of questions is "It depends", but in this case I reckon you can't go wrong, especially for that price.
They are just useful when nothing else will do the job.


Ian

I guess I have been in a lot of workshops over the years. I can honestly say I have never seen one in use, or even laying on a bench ready for use. Lots of boxes on the shelves, never one in use. Closest I have come is a carvers workshop where he had a Foredom hanging from the roof and it got a real flogging.

Of course you need it

I've had one for about a year and I must admit that I don't use it a lot, but there are some jobs that it is perfect for and no other tool seems to be right for the job. When I need to get into tight spaces or do some accurate, small scale cutting or grinding it is worth its weight in gold.

I would certainly recommend you buy the unit. I have a wonderful German 40 year old mini flexible shaft unit on my bench and it usually has a 1 mm or smaller drill permanently in the chuck!. Whenever I want to use small nails I predrill the hole. I also have an elcheapo Ozito unit and it often gets used for grinding or using a rotary burr.......It also hangs on the same stand as the flexible shaft unit.
Ruddy

I can honestly say I have never seen one in use, or even laying on a bench ready for use.

I suspected that might be the case, but then maybe it's the sort of tool that lives in it's box most of the time, is used infrequently, but is found invaluable when it is used, as alluded to above

I wonder if you could use one to sharpen a bandsaw blade for example?

I tend to mess about with all sorts of things in the shed and there have been times I've thought one would be useful. I owned a cheap version of something similar about 25 years ago but found it not of much use at the time. I bought it ostensibly for etching glass, which it was OK for, but found it was ineffective as a grinder. I'd say it was under-powered. I'm assuming the Dremel is made of better stuff.

Thanks for the comments so far! As if any of us need an excuse to buy a tool

Silent,
I have the Ozeetoe and the Dremel original. I also have the plunge router and router table attachments. Don't use it every day, but for things like making my own dominoes or for sanding a through tenon or very small dados, its the bees knees. I'd say go for it. Also, the new Dremels do not lack power.

Regards,

Rob

Originally Posted by silentC

I wonder if you could use one to sharpen a bandsaw blade for example?

Each tool brings with it opportunities, why not!

Yes, I know a few people who use them to sharpen bandsaw blades - while blades are in the bandsaw. Useful for lots of jobs.

Originally Posted by silentC

...
I wonder if you could use one to sharpen a bandsaw blade for example?

Yes, google will give you a few hits and there are video tutorials on youtube. I have one and find it useful for small jobs. Most of the time is in the box but when its out, it gets a workout.

Originally Posted by LGS

Silent,
I have the Ozeetoe and the Dremel original. I also have the plunge router and router table attachments. Don't use it every day, but for things like making my own dominoes...

Regards,

Rob

I was going to pipe in with that, but thought you'd already beat me to it, but SilentC doesn't need one as he doesn't like Dominos

I've got the old-style Dremel and a fairly comprehensive set of bits. Most of which need replacing with sharper ones.

It's a bit like a pair of pliers: there's not much need for it in a woodworking shop, but there are times when it's a bloody nice thing to have!

silentc, you are going about making your dicission the wrong way, everbody knows the right way to do it is, to buy the tool then you find a use for it

I bought my sons dremel when he was low on cash. I thought I would not use it much but I use it all the time. Mainly for doing inside radii on metal and wood. Here are just a few products when I have used it.

The inside curve on these M2 chisels was rough ground with a grinding/cutting wheel then a small cylindrical stone in the dremel was used to tidy up followed by a mini sanding drumin the drenel


Handles rough cut with a rasp and coarse file then finished with a minidrum in a dremel



The fine wire brush dremel brush also make a real nice finish on small metal pieces.

Home made chainsaw dogs.
Inner radii of the spikes finished with a minidrum on a dremel.