dremel tools

[brianw]

what attachements do you guys use to trim hard bodies? I have a dremel and it has two speeds - no cut or melt (low/high).

what blades do you use or what works best?

 

[DrIsotope]

My ABS go-to for soooooo many years are the run-of-the-mill 1/2" sanding sleeves, but I buy mine from McMaster in bags of 25. I use the 1/2" x 1/2" sleeves, I keep 50 grit for non-metals and 50 grit long life on hand. For cutting I have to go with Dremel, the reinforced cutting wheels for plastic are great.

I think the real difference is I absolutely no longer use Dremel-- not for 15+ years now. Their current tools are absolutely not worth the pricetag, I've been using the Black & Decker RTX for all those years now (so long that it's been discontinued) and it has a lot of speeds-- it says it's a 6-speed, but there's detents between each number on the dial, so it's more like 15 speeds. ABS really does like a "medium" speed.

Back in my more fine woodworking days, I got inches from buying a Foredom Woodcarver, but never managed to get myself to do it. These cheap ($20 at the time) B&D rotaries just keep going.

 

[brianw]

I think you confirmed my suspicion...I need something with more speed control...like I said, mine has two speeds. Low won't cut anything and high melts it all.

 

[mikemcE]

I stopped the dremels years ago, went to a foredom flexible shaft machine, has a foot control and standard chuck. I prefer the diamond wheels for smooth cuts

 

[Ghonda99]

I have a black and decker dremel that has 3 speeds. The medium speed with the diamond wheel makes the best cuts as mikemce stated. If you want to make nice straight cuts a razor saw works very well.

 

[high plains drifter]

Whether Dremel brand or something else... I really think that a variable speed is a must have. I use my Dremel a lot for all kinds of projects but when it comes to trimming bodies, I'd say that I use the sanding drums and cut-off wheels the most. Keep in mind that Dremel makes two different grit sanding drums and I like to have both on hand. I even save worn out sanding drums for doing very precise jobs like on very thin plastics and metals... where too much grit even at low speed is simply too much. Dremel used to make ( maybe still does but I can't find em anymore) a smaller diameter sanding drum that came in really handy for shaving down/ grinding in smaller/ tighter areas. But yeah... variable speed is the way to go imo.

 

[DRED805]

I got these recently... they're good for hard body rough cuts, and spraying molten plastic in your eyes...

https://www.harborfreight.com/diamond-rotary-cutting-discs-5-pk-69657.html