Dremel Tools

[Tod Gilding]

Does Anyone have any feedback or thoughts on these tools, I have very limited space in my work area and thought one of these could do several jobs without the storage probs,

Tod

[Puff]

Would not be without them.
There are store bought attachments galore from router bases through mini drill presses .... and they will give you heads-ups on building your own
With flexi-drive even more useful.
Any use or application you can put a rotary drive to you can put these to. An underbench mounting and those wee sanding drums - or a length of small diameter rat-tail file - makes for a grand miniature spindle/pin 'sander' setup.
Just have to keep in mind they are lightweights and don't give them too much of a gobfull.
Not as robust as pneumatic die-grinders but a whole lot quieter.
Diamond or carbide burrs are inexpensive, Bits from Stewmac etc a bit more expensive.

[Dominic]

I got one but after a short time the bearing must have worn a bit and it vibrates like crazy. Things like cutting saddle slots where hopeless as the cut wandered all over the place and the slots looked like they were cut with a blunt pocket knife. I now use a lam trimmer for this job at get perfect slots. And I got a air die grinder from Blue Creek to use for inlays and other stuff where i would have used the dremel. Much nicer to use, very small and very smooth operation. I wouldn't get another dremel. I wouldn't want to use one for cutting bindings.

What other jobs were you thinking it could be used for?
Dom

[kiwigeo]

Does Anyone have any feedback or thoughts on these tools, I have very limited space in my work area and thought one of these could do several jobs without the storage probs,

Tod

I've got one but it only gets used for one job....routing saddle slots. All other work gets done with my Trend T5 router or the Porter Cable laminate trimmer. The Stewmac router attachment and rosette cutting jigs are nifty but Ive found there's to much flex in the jigs for my liking so they don't get much use in my shop.

[jeffhigh]

After bad experience with dremels dying on me 12 years or so back, I really did not want another, but the stewmac router base and rosette cutter are sized for it so I leave it mounted in the router base and it only gets light use.
For binding I use a laminate trimmer and for freehand drilling, cutting and small drum sanding etc where you would use a dremel, I use a proxxon (240 volt).

[Lillian]

There are better options than Dremels. If you want something that small, Foredom is a much better choice. http://www.foredom.net/

[Puff]

I took "Dremel" as a generic term for a small electric drive. Both Proxxon and Foredom offer options in this smaller class. To an extent 'tis same as everything else - you gets what you pay for. Have two Dremels and two 'others'. They don't get a lot of use as I have other options for work that would challenge their boundaries but I say as I find. Use them gently for what they are intended and they take up little space and do - have done for me - as I expected. Small, light work for small outlay.

[Tod Gilding]

Thanks everyone, the more I look at what attachments are available for these things, the more jobs I find that they could be used for.
I think they could even be used for shaping and slotting nuts ,saddles,fret slots,inlay carving/shaping and routing,sound hole cutting,rosette channel routing,saddle slots,bridge pins the list goes on, me thinks I'll get one of these and just be gentle with it.

Thanks again for all the feedback

Tod

[kiwigeo]

Thanks everyone, the more I look at what attachments are available for these things, the more jobs I find that they could be used for.
I think they could even be used for shaping and slotting nuts ,saddles,fret slots,inlay carving/shaping and routing,sound hole cutting,rosette channel routing,saddle slots,bridge pins the list goes on, me thinks I'll get one of these and just be gentle with it.

Thanks again for all the feedback

Tod

I found my Dremel and Stewmac router/rosette cutting jig no good for doing rosette channels..too much flex in the jigs.

If you do get one check the bearing play in the thing.....

[DarwinStrings]

I prefer a pendant motor with a flex shaft and good hand pieces, one collet and one Jacob chuck. They will take any tool a Dremel will and provided the bearings in the handpiece are good then there is no worries. I suppose a downside compared to Dremel is that you always have to swing that motor above your work and you don't have that with a Dremel. Pendant motors are usually more powerful than a Dremel as well, mine is 1/3 horse and I think those Dremels (check that, I may be wrong) are about 1/8 horse.

Jim

Someone please turn up the Tele!

[Kim]

I still use a dremel for polishing frets, touch of polish and a rub up and down and the job is done with a mirror finish.

Cheers

Kim

[Nick]

I have a Foredom now ( the handpiece & motor Stewmac sell then you can still use the Dremel accesories) & find it so much more substantial in the bearings & a bit more torquey than a Dremel (it will get 'stuck in to' the job a bit more), great for rosette channels.Plus the foot speed control is better than groping with the slide adjuster of the Dremel but I still use a Dremel for routing my inlay pockets.

[DarwinStrings]

Why don't you use the pendant then Nick for inlay pockets too?

Jim

If a computer is the tool for today, does that make a craftsman like me a geek of yesterday?

[Puff]

Now you got the kids squabblin Tod
Let's get Martin in too -"I LOVE OZITOS"

[peter.coombe]

Would not be without one. My old Dremel is around 17 years old and still going strong, and still gets a lot of use. With these older Dremels, the bearings tend to come loose in the plastic housing. I put some slips of paper in there to tighten it up and it is still going fine. Has seen a lot of use. Bought a new one recently and there is lees slop in the bearings, but it makes more noise. I use the new Dremel for rosettes in a jig I made myself.

[vandenboom]

I use it for a couple of steps...
- inlays
- scraping off the finish on the top before gluing on fingerboard and bridge
- cutting out small rebates in sides that the top and back braces fall into - good for this as you can set the depth, though it gets a bit messy around the transverse brace and top of X-brace area. I used to chisel these rebates out by hand and only chisel out the kerfed lining, endeavouring to leave the side timber intact. The John Mayes DVD showed this was pointless - you can route out the sides, and even flair them out a bit on the outside as bindings will fill all that space.

I used them to cut f-holes on an archtop once - I got away with it, but never again. The dremel, sitting in the router base, was arching laterally as the bit grabbed even though I was moving it as slowly as I could.
Frank

[charangohabsburg]

My old Dremel is around 17 years old and still going strong, and still gets a lot of use. With these older Dremels, the bearings tend to come loose in the plastic housing. I put some slips of paper in there to tighten it up and it is still going fine. Has seen a lot of use. Bought a new one recently and there is lees slop in the bearings, but it makes more noise.

I have no Dremel but it seems that you can have more or less luck when buying one. Here Frank Ford described more than 10 years ago how he fixed a bearing problem on a brand new Dremel exactly the same way you described above.

[Nick]

I have no Dremel but it seems that you can have more or less luck when buying one. Here Frank Ford described more than 10 years ago how he fixed a bearing problem on a brand new Dremel exactly the same way you described above.

Had exactly the same problem with mine, anytime you went to make a cut the bit would chatter and you could see the chuck visibly wobbling off axis. Went back to the shop where I bought it & the guy told me of the lower bearing problem they have, his fix used a wrap of masking tape instead of Frank's heatshrink but same result. Don't know what the modern body moldings are like whether they've tightened up the clearances on the bearing housing?

Why don't you use the pendant then Nick for inlay pockets too?

Slackness Jim The router base I have for the Dremel is the real old factory model that clamps to the much larger body of the Dremel, I made my own perspex base when I first got it which allows me to see not only at the point of cut but the whole area of cutting. I haven't gotten around to making a base (similar to the Stewmac one) for the Foredom yet.Found a picture on the net of pretty much how mine looks but without the additional bases

I made a pattern following base for cutting Rosettes (I haven't cut a 'straight' circular rosette on any of my guitars as yet!) when I first got it but haven't gotten down to making a precision base for inlay work.

[DarwinStrings]

Ha! Thank Dog for that, if you had some amazing reason for using the Dremel I might have had to add one of them to my list of tools to get. Looks like you just saved me 50 bucks or what ever a Dremel is worth, well done.

Jim

If a tree falls in the bush and nobody hears the chainsaw, did I really fell it?