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Is Dremel any good?


ModellerCH

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I like Dremels, but I have had an issue with my more recent wired one, whereby it suddenly stopped working, after only a couple of hours of use over around 2 years.  Turned out it's quite common for a wire to come loose in the coil where it joins the connector, as the wire's under tension over a sharp edge.  I managed to unwind a loop and re-clip it on mine getting it working again, but it strikes me that in this day & age this sort of thing is an engineered-in weakness, but isn't everyone doing that now?  Everything is built to fail once it's out of the guarantee period, and repair is too expensive, so we chuck it away, buy more and through no fault of our own contribute to the wasted energy. :yes: thanks manufacturers :poop:

 

All that said, the spares are easily available for Dremel, and they're likely no worse than any other for making things that break. :shrug: Do you pay more for Dremel to obtain access to spares, or go generic?  I had a generic one that was still working when I gave it away, although the bearing was getting noisier.  If you're considering a Li-Ion one, consider what you'll need it for.  Cutting anything tough like steel and tiles will be a PITA with a cordless tool, as it just can't supply enough power when compared to the wired ones, while the cordless ones are able to go very slow, which is why I have one of each ;).  Horses for courses :)

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I've had my Dremel for probably 20 years now. I have a separate variable speed control unit and a flexible extension shaft to make it easier to work with. I have used it for everything from fine grinding styrene to reaming rivets out sheet metal. Still works great.

 

 

 

Chris

 

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3 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

I've had my Dremel for probably 20 years now. I have a separate variable speed control unit and a flexible extension shaft to make it easier to work with. I have used it for everything from fine grinding styrene to reaming rivets out sheet metal. Still works great.

 

What's the lowest speed you can get to with this, Chris?

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Barely moving. Just a few rpms. Of course, you can't really do anything with at that slow a speed.

 

Here is my setup. I sometimes mount the end of the flex shaft in the vice, so I can hold something in both hands.

 

Dremel

 

 

Chris

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I've had a Dremel for about 20 years as well. It is a variable speed unit, from 5000rpm to 30,000rpm. I've used it to replace a kitchen faucet to sharpening the lawn mower's blade to cutting through the rusted frozen nuts on my toilet so that the closet seal could be replaced. With the last, the space was very confined; it was difficult to hold and it hit the side. The shaft was knocked a bit off the perpendicular(I could see the wobble as it was spinning); I was able to finish the job. I contacted the company(their headquarters and factory are in Racine, Wisconsin; just a few miles from me); and, told them the problem. They wrote(yes, I wrote an actual letter, paper, envelope, and stamp) back and instructed me to send my tool to the Racine, Wis. address. They fixed it and returned it about a week later. It was no longer under warranty when I mailed it to them. The only cost to me was the postage; Dremel did not charge me for the repair. This was about '05-'06. It has worked fine for me since then, in a variety of other jobs. It is a wired one similar to (but, a different model) the one shown in Chris' setup above.

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I have just the motor tool part of that, bought mine little over ten to fifteen years ago. Beat the hell out of it and it keeps going. It seems like the Cat of tools, vibrates like crazy, chucks not the greatest, have to re torque it for some tools. I've seen better ones, but keep this one going. Beats hand sanding, just wear some eye protection. Your variable seed unit is a plus.

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20 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Barely moving. Just a few rpms. Of course, you can't really do anything with at that slow a speed.

Many thanks, Chris. I want to bring the speed down to the point where the tool doesn't melt styrene, so this seems like a good way to get below the 5,000 rpm lower limit.

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ModellerCH, it comes down to what works well with you. No right or wrong, just what is the best tool for you. Mike had a bad experience with his; he found a fix for it. But, he shouldn't have had a break-down.  Incidentally, most, if not all, rotary tool accessories are designed to fit almost all brands. Dremel is the big guy; but, generic and other brands should work.

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Hi ModellerCH

 

I had the battery Dremel for about three years, not really often used. I loved it, then it broke down. Repair was far too expensive, so I decided to change to Proxxon. I never had to regret.

 

Check out this shop: http://www.suter-meggen.ch/zubehoer/proxxon/index.htm, he has more than fair prices (also for kits btw:-) 

I work with a Proxxon MM50 EF / 12 Volt (speed adjustable) and the NG2/E Trafo (also adjustable) with this you can use your tool on lower speeds for plastic and slightly higher speed for Resin.

 

From Proxxon you have a wide range of tools, nevertheless you can use the Dremel tools as well. I even use my Proxxon with drills >= 0.6 mm, I never destroyed one until now. 

What Puente54 mentioned, the tool has to fit you. In my opinion the price should be second priority, you know the saying 'the one who buys cheap, buys twice'. 

 

Maybe you go to a Coop Baucenter to compare, they have both brands, there you can compare which one meets your need, your hand and maybe your future add-on plans.

 

Hope i could help

 

Cheers Thomas

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I bought Dremel all those years ago because that was all that was available, here in this industrial town, way up here on the backside of beyond. There were a large assortment of various tools and tips to go with it. I bought this box set and have used it as storage ever since.

 

Drem

 

I did have another unit before the Dremel, a gift from my mother. It was awkward to hold and didn't have any speed control. It could burn through styrene in nothing flat. Some of the tools were useful and readily fit the Dremel unit.

 

Drem2

 

 

Chris

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On ‎02‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 19:25, dogsbody said:

Barely moving. Just a few rpms. Of course, you can't really do anything with at that slow a speed.

 

Here is my setup. I sometimes mount the end of the flex shaft in the vice, so I can hold something in both hands.

 

Dremel

 

 

Chris

Those were engineered to last, wish I could find an older one as I think they will go forever.

 

Julien

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I have a Dremel; it's great, however it's far too fast for plastic as the lowest it will run is about 6000 rpm. I need some way of slowing it down.

 

I also have an old Wolworth's cheap and cheerful motor tool and that is perfect for modelling; 10000 rpm down to barely moving. However it's old and the bearings are starting to go.

 

Karl

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  • 11 months later...

I have a corded dremel, well actually on the second one due to some brutal cutting of 9mm mdf on mrs karmas dolls house with the first one.

can be pricy to buy the extras but they seem to be sturdier than most generic ones

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  • 1 month later...

I have an old battery model dremel that has been great for light work especially models and a heavier mains unit that chews through everything that I've used it on so far. They don't go slow as such as they need the RPM to work as they don't have a lot of torque.  Most of the time though I use a Tamiya 74041 Mini Electric Drill. You build it yourself and it runs off 2 x AA batteries but it's great for just drilling small holes free hand. Proxxon TBM 220 Bench Drill is a very handy bench top drill for accurate work.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/3/2018 at 3:25 AM, dogsbody said:

flex shaft in the vice,

Now that is clever garage engineering! I have a dremel tool that I bought back in the 90's, not sure if it even works. One reason I bought the tool, was the cutting tools and grout removal tools I needed for my carpenter days. I sprang for the "pro" dremel, based on the variable speed it offered, not just on/off, now I am happy I did. Since I moved to the Philippines, I forgot about it, that was a decade ago. I remembered I had it when I joined the forums and learned that people used it for modeling. So I pulled it out of mothballs storage and looked her over, but have not tried to see if she still works. Sort of scared it will do nothing, that is my kind of luck it would seem.

 

Now that I found this thread, I think I will try her out! If she does work, I probably need to start a new thread asking what the tool is used for, beside grinding off ejector pin marks.

 

Anthony

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On 2/3/2018 at 2:03 PM, busnproplinerfan said:

Beats hand sanding

Anything beats hand sanding, I hate sanding at all, try to avoid it when ever possible. My dremel is the variable speed version, I just hope it still works. Finding a new dremel tool in the Philippines is robbery, they double the price because of import duties, and they also only carry the basic model that I have found anyway.

 

I will likely buy the tooless chuck if my still works, the collet system is pretty old school for such a tool, slow, difficult to work with and those tiny wrenches are like laundry, where one sock just mysteriously vanishes, never to be seen again!

 

Anthony

Edited by Stalker6Recon
Correct wording
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8 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Now that is clever garage engineering!

 

Anthony

 

More like old farmer make-do engineering. I grew up on an old farm that had been in the family since the mid 1800's. Some of the tools and machinery would not have looked out of place when Victoria was Queen.

 

My last use of my Dremel was to help shape wing-tip lights on my Airfix 1/72 Hurricane. It was my first attempt at something like this. I cut out the moulded-in lights, then glued in some large clear sprue bits. I Dremelled those down to close to what I wanted, then used needle files and sanding sticks to finalize the shape. After that, a quick coat of Future. They came out rather nice, if I do say so myself.

 

41645555770_6b7479f42c_b.jpg

 

 

Chris

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14 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

They came out rather nice, if I do say so myself

You have every reason to be proud of those lights, I questioned when I first saw the picture whether is was real, looks cut and paste, or in this case, cut, shaped, paste, more shaped, polished and then thankfully, pictured for the rest of us to fawn over.

 

I am still a bit hazy though, my eyes are not what they once were, did you drill a hole and insert the red "bulb" as well, leaving it with a clear lense for effect?

 

It's really cool, I am shocked you could make two cuts in oddly shaped anything with that much accuracy using a dremel. It is really cool effect, have not seen anything like that before. I have seen some nice landing lights scratch made though, and they were also very nice, refective back end done nicely, looked real as I have seen.

 

Anthony

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I first cut out the moulded lights with a CMK razor saw. I then used small files to do cleanup. I had some old clear sprue that was extra wide enough for the job. I cot one end to a 90 degree angle, then sanded one side of the round sprue flat. I drilled a small hole in the round end and put a drop of Tamiya clear red & green ( red to port, gren to starboard ) into the holes. Next I painted the flattened sides and ends with aluminum/silver I forget which paint I used. I the superglued those into place on the wingtips. After a day, I then gave them the Dremel, sanding and Future treatment.

 

Here's the other wingtip.

 

41645555820_0d41a3fd06_b.jpg

 

 

 

Chris

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12 hours ago, dogsbody said:

drilled a small hole in the round end and put a drop of Tamiya clear red & green

That is really nice, the light looks like photoshop almost, as it is perfectly square in this pic, which I am certain is an illusion based on have the hole the same depth as it is wide, hence the square side view. First I thought you drilled from the outside in, but now my slow brain is figuring it out. You drilled inside (ie, from the flat spot that connects to the wing) into the core of the light, added the red/green, then painted the flat side(s) with the silver to created the lense reflectors?

 

Forgive me, sometimes when I see something that makes my jaw drop, I am unable to figure space/time/relativity/twilight zone stuff, I think I have snapped back to reality again.

 

That is really cool, and more ingenious than I originally realized, far better than the grey styrene painted lights that we mere mortals are accustomed to doing. You would think that kit makers would include these cutouts and clear parts by now, it would not be difficult to engineer that into the kit, unless they are scared of wing-tip alignment issues, which these would become a nightmare to fix for the average modeler.

 

Just out of curiosity, how many other kits have you modded this way?

 

Thanks,

 

Anthony

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None! It was my first attempt at it. This is also the first kit I have started in at least 10 years. The last aircraft model I finished was an Italeri/Revell Ju188, in 1978.

 

I was inspired by the great builds by the great modelers, here on this forum. I also had another kit in the stash, in case I faffed this one up too bad.

 

 

Chris

 

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5 hours ago, dogsbody said:

inspired by the great builds by the great modelers, here on this forum.

I find it really easy to be inspired by the guys on this and other forums I use. Modeling has surpassed being just a hobby in my opinion, and is now as powerful as what is considered "fine arts". I would rather go to a modeling museum and learn the history behind the models, over going to a modern art museum, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

That is amazing work for your first go at it. I am sure you had some sweat on your brow when you were about to put the grinder into the wing! Pucker factor has to be up there!

 

Anthony

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