I'm looking into to purchasing a dremel to maybe port my tb and cut some metal for a ram air setup. I want to hear your opinions before I buy one. Please mention the model number of the dremel you recommend.


Thanks

 

anyone?

 

Really, a Dremel is a Dremel, unless you step up to a real electric die grinder. I've used both Dremel brand and Craftsman, and they're both pretty much the same (I think Dremel makes the Craftsman). I've used both variable speed and the 2 or 3 speed version, and I do like the variable speed a little better, but it may or may not be worth the cost difference.

I wouldn't use a dremel to port. Yikes. That would take forever. The dremel is best used for deburring or cutting lighter materials (like plastics). It can cut metal with the cutoff wheel, but it can take a while - and you want to use the thick wheels, not the thin ones (the thin ones break EASILY). It's probably a 5:1 or higher ratio for durability for the cutoff wheels between thin:thick.

If you can squeeze out the extra bucks, consider the Makita die grinder:

http://www.mytoolstore.com/makita/mak08-08.html

(just an example, you can find it for less elsewhere)

That way you can use "real" 1/4" die grinder bits, "real" sanding rolls, etc, and not be limited to the toy stuff that Dremels use.

Just don't buy junk from Harbor Freight. There's a reason their tools are so cheap. They WILL burn up on you if you try to do much work with them.

 

^^^^^ Thanks

 

i bought a black n decker from walmart for 25 bucks and works great

 

Does it cut metal?

 

I have both a Dremel Tool (variable speed) with a number of attachments and a die grinder and a number of burrs, sanders, etc. If you ever want to do much than an occasional job, get a decent die grinder. Mine is a cheap Makita knockoff from eBay and I use a separate speed controller. My advice is to buy a Craftsman or Makita or something similar with a built in speed regulator. They are very versatile tools.

Steve

 

umm yeah it has 3 speeds its pretty strong just that the attachements i purchased at walmart are week but the dremel is pretty strong

 

I think im going to go with the Makita die grinder.

 

I have a dremel, an assortment of similar small grinders, a few electric die grinders and at least 2 or 3 air die grinders. The thing is that they all have their place. Like you’d never want to try to do some of the really find cutting and grinding that you can do with a dremel with a proper die grinder, even though some do come with adaptor collets to use 1/8” shaft tools.

OTOH, for porting and that kind of stuff, die grinders are the right tool.

If I had to get rid of all of them and just keep one, I’d probably keep either my Ingersoll Rand or cheapie Harbor Freight air die grinder. They’re probably the best compromise since they have the power of a big electric die grinder in something the size of a dremel. I’d say that the HF one works a little better (more power, better throttle) but the IR is built better.

As far as electric die grinders… stay away from the craftsman one, it’s junk. I don’t own one but a few of my friends do and they’re all broken. First thing that breaks is the spindle lock which for some reason they made out of aluminum and should have been _hardened_ steel, after that they self destruct.

_a lot_ of people that make a living with them use the smaller Makita, the bigger one most feel is a better tool, and better shaped for porting but has too much power and has a tendency of getting them into trouble. I have one and I don’t think I’ve used it since I picked up the harbor freight one… it’s a little clunkier, shaped more like the big Makita, but has more power than the little one and seems more controllable then the big one. I use mine with an adjustable router speed control (used a dimmer, extension chord and outlet in a box before that) and am quite happy with it. What it doesn’t have is a spindle lock (so you have to use 2 wrenches to change bits) and a speed control.

I’d love to try the Milwaukee or some of the extreme high end ones, but it’s hard to justify spending the $$$ when they run $270 or more and my $29 grinder + $9 speed control from harbor freight really do everything I need.

As a note, when looking for tooling, double check the size…. A lot of the cheep chineese stuff out there is coming with 6mm shafts instead of ¼”, and the difference is just enough that the ¼” collets won’t hold them right no matter what you try. I’ve never run across anything that actually came with a 6mm collet.

 

dont use a dremel for porting i bought a dremel and was stroker clearancing my block wasnt even taking off a lot of metal and the motor burnt out after an hour of use. we use dremels at my machine shop for small jobs and they work awesome for that, and for cutting metal the small cut off wheels that they give u are **** they snap easy as hell. it would be good for doing small **** but if your going to be doin a lot of porting id buy a nice industrial rotary tool like dewalt or makita and for cutting use a cut off wheel.

 

I bought a Makita die grinder online and it should be here within the next 2 days. Now my question is what bit or wheel do I need to buy so I can cut metal( radiator support).

 

dremels are more toys then real tools. keep that in mind when using it.

 

bump..

 

I've got a dremel. It's barely used because I got an air compressor right after I got it. It's corded because I hate relying on batteries, and has the pencil attachment, the router attachment and a bunch of other stuff.

Send me a pm if you're interested.

 

just get your self a couple cutoff wheels and a cutoff wheel attachment

 

Whatever you do don't buy the cordless dremel, I got one for christmas one year and it is so annoying having to recharge it. If you think about it most of the time if you get the dremel out it is going to take longer than 20 mins to do what you need to do with the little sucker anyway. Opt for the cord model.

 

Ive got to different dremels, one is the one that plugs i got it from walmart, its decent, but not really good at cutting through anything stonger then aluminum. And the other is a air powered one that is run off of an air compressor now that one has alot higher rpm to. But its not like it is going to cut through cast iron or anything.

 

I have one of these: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00926561000P

And it works great. Great all around tool. It's worked great for any kind of cutting I've had to do and also allows me to do anything you would do with a dremel. It even works as an angle-grinder. It's kind of a middle-of-the-road tool, between a dremel and an industrial quality die grinder. I had a regular dremel I used before this, and it was absolute ****. Dremels are really for hobbyists, for small jobs and soft materials like wood.

 

Is the makita die grinder strong enough to cut the radiator support?