I picked up a used dremel tool at a yard sale this weekend. It did not come with any attachments or bits. I would like to use this on my models but I am not sure what to use. I have a set of verlinden figures and a M113 that I plan to use as practice. Any help on what type of cutting and sanding discs to buy would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, You’ll have lots of fun with it as you model. As far as attachments/accessories, there are plenty of places you can get that stuff. I bought a nice set at Menard’s for about $25-30. You can find Dremel brand and other brands that work the same at stores like Wal-mart, Sears, Lowes, Menards, just to name a few. Also look on the net. You can find a lot of stuff at reasonable prices. Good luck
leadsled,
Thanks for the info. I will go to the local walmart and see what they have. Any suggestions for what type of of items to get for cutting and sanding? I am not sure what to buy but figure I will practice with different types.
If the Dremel you purchased is an older single high-speed model you will find that with whichever bits you get you will be melting plastic instead of cutting it. Plastic will melt into all of the grinder grooves on the cutting bits. You have to stop and peel the plastic off. In my first childhood of plastic modeling I had such a Dremel - could never master it - and ended up throwing it away. To properly use a high speed Dremel on plastic you will need a speed controller to step it down some. See the Dremel website - http://dremel.com/ - to see about ordering one.
As far as bits, get some diamond abrasive bits in various shapes, ball, flame, pear, and point. Grinding stones and sanding drums probably will not have much utility. Some carborundum flat cutting discs will be good for cutting brass & copper rod and tube. You will need to get a mandrel to mount them on. I got some small drills and grinding burrs at the local Harbor Freight tools which I use quite often.
My Dremel is a battery powered one sold to golfers to clean their clubs and sharpen their spikes. It uses 4 replaceable AA batteries instead of a rechargable battery pack. It is two speeds. I also have a variable speed Dremel clone with a flexible shaft.
As an addition to the post above - Dremel makes Sears’ tool - so parts bought at Sears should be a 1:1 match for a Dremel. Another brand name to look at is Foredom. They make a high-end cutting tool which many wood carvers (decoy ducks, etc.) use. There are Fordom bits available in my Lowes which fit my Dremel. They make some ceramic bits which work real nice versus resin. They also make some rather agressive grinding bits.
I have used several dremel tools in the past form model building. Here is what i learned
-Cheap = bad
-What you really want in a dremel tool is low rpm and high tork. Unfortunently dremel tools are the opposite of this. You will find that high speeds will creat excessive friction that will melt plastic, and the low tork will will get your bits stuck depending on what you are doing, and this will damage the dremel tool over time (i’ve fryed one so far), so go slowly and after some pratice you will know when to let the bit/platsic cool. I do not know of the perfect brand/type out there, or i’d have it.
-The most usefull attachment i have found is a cutting bit that looks like a drill bit. It can drill like a drill bit but cuts along the side of the shaft quite nicely. It however is not a percision tool.
-Second most usefull attachment is the VERY VERY tiney drill bits(i haven’t seen these at any hardware stores). If the plastic is thick they WILL melt the area around the hole, you WILL break some off no matter what. You may be better off most of the time with a “Drill Pen” from your LHS most of the time, but there are cases when you have so many holes to drill you just dont care.
-There is also the drum sander bits, but i find these melt plastic quite nicely.
-If you try sticking a flat tooth pick in there and mix paint with it, expect bubbles and a splatter pattern of paint if your not carefull.
There is also the buffing bits, i’m pritty sure there are uses for them but i have not looked into it, but someone here might know.
So all in all, dremel tools are not percsion tools, but they help with large (for scale models) projects such as removing sections form a model, and you do the finishing by hand.
And that is my experence.
I’ve been fooling around with Dremel tools for about thirty years, and I agree with ZzZGuy. The company, despite its claimed interest in the hobby market, hasn’t yet figured out what model builders need in a rotary tool: small size, precision bearings, reasonably high torque (though not as much as the current generation of corded Moto-Tools), and a speed control that runs from 5,000 rpm DOWN to zero. Even at the slowest speeds on the dials, the current generation will melt plastic and burn wood unless the bits are extremely sharp.
My first Dremel tool was a single-speed, full-size model that I won in a contest back in about 1973 or thereabouts. (Buying such a thing would have been out of the question for a college student in those days.) I quickly discovered that it was utterly worthless for model building. Then the local hobby shop sold me (for the enormous sum of about $15.00) a Dremel “Tabletop Speed Controller.” That changed everything. With the Moto-Tool plugged into the speed controller, the speed could be dialed down to zero. (None of the Dremel tools with built-in speed controls will do that.) I got into the habit of turning the tool on with the control at zero, putting the drill bit where I wanted it, and turning the dial gradually. The motor would start to turn at a few rpm, then gradually accelerate just as I asked it to do. Great. But the single-speed Dremel tool and the Tabletop Speed Controller have long since been discontinued. And whenever Dremel brings out a new tool, the ads boast about how fast and powerful it is.
My current favorite rotary tool is this one, which I picked up at a Woodcraft store: http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3736
It’s small (not much bigger than a large pencil), and (though the ad doesn’t say so) takes standard Dremel chucks, so it will hold drill bits down to #80. There’s no built-in speed control, but I plug it into my Dremel Tabletop Speed Controller - which still works perfectly at the age of about 33. ( That old gadget comes in handy for all sorts of things. I use it to control the speed of my old Unimat lathe - and any other 110/volt motor that needs to be slowed down. It can also be used to control the heat of a soldering iron, and even to change the size of the picture on a small black-and-white TV set. Don’t ask me how I found that out.)
Dremel - if you really care about the hobby market, give us a small rotary tool with variable, SLOW speeds.
Thanks to everyone for the helpful hints on using the dremel. I am sure I will have some learning issues as I practice with it. I have a Russian figure set and a M113 APC that are going to be used as my practice pieces.
I have several Dremels and knock offs and no, they do not go slow enough. I need to invest in a speed control but still after modelling for 35+ years I really do not use them much. Heck my wife bought me a Lithium Dremel for Xmas and it has never been out of the box!
I have the same 4AA golfers unit that Ed has. I got it on clearance at Home Depot. This is EXACTLY the same as my rechargeable little Multi-Pro. The battery pack from the Multi clicks in place instead of the AA battery holder!
Anyway I find this to be more use than a Dremel. Get a Cordless Screwdriver. They run at low speed / high torque. You can get a chuck to fit into it at the Home depot. Or Check out Micromark.
Cheers,
Max Bryant
Dremel also made [makes] a 4AA battery unit for carving pumpkins [Eeewww, messy!]. It is transparent orange as opposed to transparent green for the golfers. With Halloween approaching, keep an eye out for these tools. I saw them last year. If Lowes/Home Depot stocks them, they will likely go to the clearance table soon after Halloween. One can probably be had for 10 bucks or so. (I think I paid 19 for my golfers unit - regular price. A Minimite with the rechargable battery was about 30.)