springer82
Well-Known Member
When it comes to finish work, what works best for you. I just got a dremel. It came with kind of a cheesy kit. What do you find works best for guards, handles and whatever.
What are your favorite tools for a dremel?
- Thread starter springer82
- Start date
mike miller
KNIFE MAKER
The 1/2 by 1/2 drum. I have covers from 60 grit to 400 grit to finish guard curve.
The cut off discs can be found in better discs up to 1 1/2 inch reinforced.
I use the triangular stones to grind pins in stag then cratex wheel to polish them with.
The cut off discs can be found in better discs up to 1 1/2 inch reinforced.
I use the triangular stones to grind pins in stag then cratex wheel to polish them with.
Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
The sanding drums work well. One thing that I purchased not to long ago is a chuck for my Dremel. They cost about ten dollars. I love mine. Now I don't have to worry about different size collets etc. Saves a lot of time and much easier to use than the standard collets.
Mark Barone
Well-Known Member
Mike, where do you get the higher grit covers? I can’t find them anywhere?
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
I'm gona rock the boat.... I don't use a dremel for anything in my shop. For knives, it creates more trouble/work then not. They are difficult to control, tooling and consumables are overly expensive and cheaply made, and there are far better tools out there for the purposes. The main problem I find with any dremel tool is that they have far too much torque.....often "grabbing" and chattering across whatever is being worked on. Don't get me wrong..... dremels are well advertised, and most folks don't really realize just how bad a dremel tool is, until they get their hands on something better.
Air operated rotary tools or a Foredom are far more controllable, and just overall better choices for just about any work. Even a $50 flex shaft machine from Harbor Freight is better then a dremel.
Personally, I have 3 different air rotary tools in my shops, including one of the el-cheapo Harbor Freight air/rotary tools https://www.harborfreight.com/pneumatic-18-in-micro-die-grinder-kit-60244.html ....and I even prefer it to any dremel. I also have a couple of expensive models.....one for GRS (Engraving company), and another from Lindsey (engraving). These are the tools that I do my handle carving and texturing with.
The Foredom tools (flex shaft) are top shelf, in that most of them not only offer speed adjustment, but the torque (which is what causes the grabbing/dragging) auto adjusts with the speed adjustment.
Air operated rotary tools or a Foredom are far more controllable, and just overall better choices for just about any work. Even a $50 flex shaft machine from Harbor Freight is better then a dremel.
Personally, I have 3 different air rotary tools in my shops, including one of the el-cheapo Harbor Freight air/rotary tools https://www.harborfreight.com/pneumatic-18-in-micro-die-grinder-kit-60244.html ....and I even prefer it to any dremel. I also have a couple of expensive models.....one for GRS (Engraving company), and another from Lindsey (engraving). These are the tools that I do my handle carving and texturing with.The Foredom tools (flex shaft) are top shelf, in that most of them not only offer speed adjustment, but the torque (which is what causes the grabbing/dragging) auto adjusts with the speed adjustment.
Redbaird
Well-Known Member
I bought a super bulk pack on amazon for less than 20 dollars. It had thousands of drums in it from 80-600 grit. I sorted them by grit and size and put them in a big compartment box I bought from home depot. This box fell off my work bench (I didn't put it in it's proper place and turned on my belt grinder for 10 seconds) and scattered thousands of drums all over my shop floor. I got a little frustrated so I swept them into the trash and used the "BUY AGAIN" button on Amazon. They are cheap but work well enough.
Randy Lucius
Well-Known Member
I use a dremel with a flex-shaft. The flex-shaft makes it alot eaiser to control and doesn't seem to grab. I can do some very delicate work with it. I also have a mini air powered die grinder that I sometimes use. But working out of a two car garage I hate hearing that compressor run.
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
Love my Foredom!! They are expensive though!! I do have a Dremal I started with but once i got my Foredom I sent it to my Leather Bench to use as a Burnisher. Another thing before I got my Small wheel kit for my Grinder I used the Dremal with the sanding drums Mike Miller was talking about.
Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
The first Dremel I bought years ago was the single high speed model. And your right it was very difficult to control for precise work. The one I have now is variable speed and I almost always used it on it's lowest or low setting with a light touch. So far so goodI'm gona rock the boat.... I don't use a dremel for anything in my shop. For knives, it creates more trouble/work then not. They are difficult to control, tooling and consumables are overly expensive and cheaply made, and there are far better tools out there for the purposes. The main problem I find with any dremel tool is that they have far too much torque.....often "grabbing" and chattering across whatever is being worked on. Don't get me wrong..... dremels are well advertised, and most folks don't really realize just how bad a dremel tool is, until they get their hands on something better.
Air operated rotary tools or a Foredom are far more controllable, and just overall better choices for just about any work. Even a $50 flex shaft machine from Harbor Freight is better then a dremel.
The Foredom tools (flex shaft) are top shelf, in that most of them not only offer speed adjustment, but the torque (which is what causes the grabbing/dragging) auto adjusts with the speed adjustment.
If I had an air compressor I'd be all over one of the air driven ones.
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
The first Dremel I bought years ago was the single high speed model. And your right it was very difficult to control for precise work. The one I have now is variable speed and I almost always used it on it's lowest or low setting with a light touch. So far so good
If I had an air compressor I'd be all over one of the air driven ones.
Nice thing about the air driven stuff is that unless you buy really high end air tools they are very reasonable. For what we do the Budget stuff is probably more than adequate for knives.
mike miller
KNIFE MAKER
I went to Ebay and got a package with 60,120,240,400
springer82
Well-Known Member
I'm gona rock the boat.... I don't use a dremel for anything in my shop. For knives, it creates more trouble/work then not. They are difficult to control, tooling and consumables are overly expensive and cheaply made, and there are far better tools out there for the purposes. The main problem I find with any dremel tool is that they have far too much torque.....often "grabbing" and chattering across whatever is being worked on. Don't get me wrong..... dremels are well advertised, and most folks don't really realize just how bad a dremel tool is, until they get their hands on something better.
Air operated rotary tools or a Foredom are far more controllable, and just overall better choices for just about any work. Even a $50 flex shaft machine from Harbor Freight is better then a dremel.
The Foredom tools (flex shaft) are top shelf, in that most of them not only offer speed adjustment, but the torque (which is what causes the grabbing/dragging) auto adjusts with the speed adjustment.
There is no comparison between Dremel and Foredom. I have been using Foredom tools for more years then I care to think about. Most ??? of the guys here are more familiar with Dremel. There is one very big difference. $$$$ I agree with you completely. For the most part the same type of tools will be used the exact same way on both tools sets. That is all I cared about. Thanks for pointing out the differences between the two. It was a good time for a Teaching Moment.
C. Killgore
Well-Known Member
I also made the switch to a foredom years ago. Haven't seen the dremel since. Oddly enough, my favorite tool is a cranioblade that came out of the medical world. It is great for hogging out a little extra material in the tang slot of a handle or other spacer material, etc. Only problem now is finding more of them.
This is what the end of it looks like. Doesn't clog up, at all. Shaft on this is probably around 1/8" just for scale. Haven't measured it recently though. Fits nicely in one of the collets that came with the foredom.
May be something that works better than this but most of the other burrs I've tried, I didn't like much.
This is what the end of it looks like. Doesn't clog up, at all. Shaft on this is probably around 1/8" just for scale. Haven't measured it recently though. Fits nicely in one of the collets that came with the foredom.
May be something that works better than this but most of the other burrs I've tried, I didn't like much.
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Sean Jones
Well-Known Member
Cool tool...though I'm not certain I want to know what a cranioblade was used for .
izafireman
Well-Known Member
I'm gona rock the boat.... I don't use a dremel for anything in my shop. For knives, it creates more trouble/work then not. They are difficult to control, tooling and consumables are overly expensive and cheaply made, and there are far better tools out there for the purposes. The main problem I find with any dremel tool is that they have far too much torque.....often "grabbing" and chattering across whatever is being worked on. Don't get me wrong..... dremels are well advertised, and most folks don't really realize just how bad a dremel tool is, until they get their hands on something better.
Air operated rotary tools or a Foredom are far more controllable, and just overall better choices for just about any work. Even a $50 flex shaft machine from Harbor Freight is better then a dremel.
The Foredom tools (flex shaft) are top shelf, in that most of them not only offer speed adjustment, but the torque (which is what causes the grabbing/dragging) auto adjusts with the speed adjustment.
This is the part where I slap my forehead!...as bought a Dremel recently and completely forgot about going the air route. Odd as there is a rather noisy red cylinder that sits in the shop
springer82
Well-Known Member
You can find them at MSC or Granger.
MSC Industrial Supply - Metalworking tools and MRO Supplies
MSC Industrial Supply is the source for your metalworking tool and MRO needs. Over 1.5 million products from industry leading suppliers in stock and ready to ship
www.mscdirect.com
supply products - Grainger Industrial Supply
Shop for supply at Grainger. Log-in or register to view your pricing. Over 1.5 million maintenance, repair & operations (MRO) products. For the ones who get it done!
C. Killgore
Well-Known Member
You can find them at MSC or Granger.
MSC Industrial Supply - Metalworking tools and MRO Supplies
MSC Industrial Supply is the source for your metalworking tool and MRO needs. Over 1.5 million products from industry leading suppliers in stock and ready to ship
supply products - Grainger Industrial Supply
Shop for supply at Grainger. Log-in or register to view your pricing. Over 1.5 million maintenance, repair & operations (MRO) products. For the ones who get it done!m.grainger.com
I’ve not found anything similar anywhere. For a while I didn’t know what this thing was used for so I searched for hours on all the supply shop websites looking for something with similar end on it to no avail. Then I posted a picture of it on another forum and someone knew what it was.
I like it a lot. There may be something better but it’s my favorite tool for boring stuff that I’ve found so far.
springer82
Well-Known Member
Is there a hole running through the endmill?
If so it is a coolant through tool. The flutes look a little different.
If so it is a coolant through tool. The flutes look a little different.
C. Killgore
Well-Known Member
No hole through it. This is used to cut holes in people's skulls. The flutes are definitely different. Spent a long time looking for something similar and couldn't find it. It's very aggressive and small and doesn't clog up with oily woods or anything. Could probably use a long endmill to do something similar but this cuts different, for sure.
C Craft
Well-Known Member
Cool tool...though I'm not certain I want to know what a cranioblade was used for .
https://www.adeor.com/template/userfiles/images/pdf/adeor_MERIDIAN_Classic.pdf
According to this site it is what they use to create a hole in the brain bucket!! Been there, done that, and while it is better than the stroke you will have if the pressure on the brain is not relieved. It is not a fun trip to the hospital. I woke up in recovery and they had my head down to aid in drainage from the holes they had drilled into my skull.
I felt like I was standing on my head and awoke to an orderly that looked like Billy Bob Thorton. I thought to myself, I have died and gone to Hell. I thought I was a better person than that and I went back out!! Next time I woke, I was on the ward. One side of my head had been shaved and the other side still had all the blood and debris in it!! LOL