Dremel Owners - corded vs cordless

[patthebrewer]

More umph , and no worry about batterries

 

[blefferd]

Are dremels used a lot in homebrew projects. I am young but never been great with tools or a DIY kind of guy. But I will probably move away from home to live with friends soon so.... Is a dremel used a lot in homebrew projects because if i rent i wont be doing a lot of around the house improvements. If not used in homebrewing a lot i could always drive 3-4 hours to have my cousin teach me the ways of a DIY guy and help me build my STC temp controller

I guess it depends on how crafty you are and how much stuff you build on your own. For a basic AG set up the only thing I could see it used for would be to cut slots in your mash tun manifold, or the top off a keg if you dont have a brew pot already. Other than that I cant think of anything in a basic set up you would really use one for.

With that being said they do come in handy at times around the house for removing excess material, cutting or grinding on small projects. I wouldnt tackle a single tier stand build with one or polish a keggle with one lol.

Just remember if you buy one that you are working with a "high speed" cutting/grinding tool and to go slow cause you can remove to much material quick. A strong slow steady hand is best with all hand held high speed cutting/grinding tools. Drilling steel is a different post all together.

I would not rent something like a dremil, they are cheap enough and have enough uses that you could quickly pay for one 5x over if you rented one for several different projects. Dremil has some good advertising though cause they will make you think you will be using it on a daily basis when in reality you wont.

 

[emyers]

Dremel is for women and children arts and crafts. Get a 1/4 corded electric die grinder.

 

[patthebrewer]

Dremel is for women and children arts and crafts. Get a 1/4 corded electric die grinder.

I disagree, I have used a dremel for fine scroll work, Inlay, intracate detail work, and antique furniture resto work. Think of die grinders as broadswords, and dremel rotatary tools as a surgeons scalpel.

Also Not gonna make many friends here with the women and children comment. Quite a few women here on these boards and I'd say a few are MORE than capable of running a die grinder. Seems a bit sexist.

 

[emyers]

When it comes to cutting holes in stainless and alluminum or trimming holes i would never even waste my time with a dremel. Yes if your doing scroll work on wood i agree that's a good application for dremel. But once again that's arts and crafts. A 1/4 die grinder will do the job from cutting kegs open all the way to making a 1/4 steel burner cart. I haven't seen much scroll work on anyone keggles... Not saying it wouldn't be sweet.

 

[patthebrewer]

I haven't seen much scroll work on anyone keggles... Not saying it wouldn't be sweet.

Ya Know you just gave me an idea for a dremel project.....I wonder what a corny would look like with engraved flames and skulls. Hows that for arts and crafts buddy!

 

[blefferd]

When it comes to cutting holes in stainless and alluminum or trimming holes i would never even waste my time with a dremel. Yes if your doing scroll work on wood i agree that's a good application for dremel. But once again that's arts and crafts. A 1/4 die grinder will do the job from cutting kegs open all the way to making a 1/4 steel burner cart. I haven't seen much scroll work on anyone keggles... Not saying it wouldn't be sweet.

yeah but you would need a good air compressor to run that die grinder, and a good compressor that will keep up with a die grinder is not a cheap. I agree that the die grinder is a superior tool when it comes to cutting and grinding but not every one has the means to run one.

 

[Sebas83]

I like my cordless a lot. I live in an apartment and don't have a workshop space, so it's nice to be able to put it away. Plus, I can take it out to my car to do any polishing detail stuff, or take it to job sites to do other small work. Also great for dealing with tile. It makes good on a lot of the required work to make a nice small keg fridge (tiled, wood, etc).

Definitely struggles with heavy work. I chopped up a mini fridge to make a keg fridge and it blew through about 6-7 cut off wheels and took about 2 hours. Something an angle grinder could have done in about 10 minutes.

It's small, inexpensive, reasonably versatile, handles the work I need. I don't do any work that's too large and definitely fits into the arts & crafts field but can pull its weight when you need to do the rare heavy work.

But no, not used for much homebrew stuff.

 

[emyers]

yeah but you would need a good air compressor to run that die grinder, and a good compressor that will keep up with a die grinder is not a cheap. I agree that the die grinder is a superior tool when it comes to cutting and grinding but not every one has the means to run one.

An electric die grinder, dremels big brother. I find air die grinders are great but become freezing cold for long cuts or prolonged grinding such as in porting cast iron auto manifolds. electric is where its at. I've had a Makita for almost 10 years now and use it regularly. And even more so than with dremel, always wear PPE eyes AND ears. And a full face shield is 2ndary

 

[brewinginnc]

Variable speed corded

 

[Breworx]

Think of die grinders as broadswords, and dremel rotatary tools as a surgeons scalpel.

Seconded - great analogy. I have both a die grinder and a Dremel and they're different tools for completely different jobs. That said, I find myself using the Dremel far, far more frequently than the die grinder or just about any other tool in my shop. The bits that I use most:

Flex shaft attachment - using the above analogy, the flex shaft is the attachment that turns the Dremel into a scalpel. Before that it's more like a paring knife.

Tungsten carbide cutter - I tap threads rather than welding or using nuts when mounting things like pumps or casters. Often I need to enlarge the holes in the mounting plates to get all of the holes to line up. The tungsten carbide cutter is far and away the easiest way for me to do so.

Stainless steel brushes/cups - easiest way to clean tight areas like where my fittings are brazed on.

Cutoff wheels - this is the scalpel vs broadsword thing.