Dremel tool

On 8 Jul 2004 04:53:57 -0700, [email hidden] (John Forrest

Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

I have a Craftsman 9.6v cordless that works great, but I wish I also
had a corded one. It's perfect for cable housings and such. I
understand the corded ones have a little more torque, which I
sometimes want when doing large quantities of heavier work (usually
not bike-related).
--
Rick Onanian

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

JT

I've always wanted one but haven't been able to figure out exactly
what I'd use it for.

What kind of things is a Dremel good for w.r.t. bike maintenance?

What about other uses around the house?

Thanks,
Michael

In article <[email hidden]>,

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

JT

Yep to both.

The cordless is the tool of choice for bicycle thieves.

With a diamond cutter blade, it only takes about 20 seconds to cut a U Lock or
cable.

HAND

--
³Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness³

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

Any Dremel tool with a cut off wheel should make short work of a cable
housing. Just take your time so you don't melt the end into a big
blob.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

JT

Hi, get the variable speed one. I have a single speed model, I got a
deal on it, but often use it with a variac, so I can regulate speed.

Life is Good!
Jeff

"Mark Hickey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

Any Dremel tool with a cut off wheel should make short work of a cable
housing. Just take your time so you don't melt the end into a big
blob.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

If you have a Harbor Freight tool store in your area, they sell a decent Dremel
clone for about $20. Looks just like the Dremel I bought for $65.

Neal

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 08:42:04 -0500, Jeff Starr <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi, get the variable speed one. I have a single speed model, I got a
deal on it, but often use it with a variac, so I can regulate speed.

I'll second that. When cutting or shaping plastics, too much speed
can overheat the material.
--
Rick Onanian

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

My friends won't allow me to be near -- much less own -- any type of power
tool or equipment.

Bill "the bolt stripper" S.

On 8 Jul 2004 04:53:57 -0700, [email hidden] (John Forrest

Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

A cordless model's battery will eventually fail to take a charge (as a
neighbor discovered), and none of the cordless units I've tried (of
which all were more than a year ago) had the power of my old
plug-in-the-wall unit. Variable speed is very handy. I wouldn't buy
one that didn't have it, particularly if you're going to use it for
buffing ridges from inner tubes with a sanding drum, where max speed
is probably way too fast. A good variable-speed cordless is probably
close to being as powerful as the regular unit, though, and has the
decided advantage of being able to go to the work instead of requiring
that the work be brought wihin range of the extension cord.

In my experience, the no-name imitators are not the equal of the real
Dremel, but that may have changed.

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Michael Press said:

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

JT

I've always wanted one but haven't been able to figure out exactly
what I'd use it for.

What kind of things is a Dremel good for w.r.t. bike maintenance?

Cutting cables and housings square and burr-free, grinding down small
nicks, removing lawyer lips from forks, buffing the ridges from an
inner tube before applying a patch, grinding small rivets down to
punch them out of things like cassettes, putting a slot in the head of
a screw that came as phillips- or hex-only, shortening a skewer rod or
spoke without crimping the threads at the end, taking the burr off the
end of something that's freshly cut...the list could go on for quite a
while.

Quoted message said:

What about other uses around the house?

Thanks,
Michael

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

S o r n i said:

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

My friends won't allow me to be near -- much less own -- any type of power
tool or equipment.

So buy your own, and don't tell them!
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Werehatrack said:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:37:41 GMT, "S o r n i"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My friends won't allow me to be near -- much less own -- any type of
power tool or equipment.

So buy your own, and don't tell them!

I would...but I like having fingers.

Bill "all thumbs (ironically enough)" S.

Checker Auto Parts regularly has one on sale for $19.99. While it is not
quite as nice as a real Dremel, I am sure I won't go through three of them
in the time it took me to go through one Dremel. It came in a plastic case
with a small but versitile tool set, and included a router base which has
turned out to be surprizingly handy for non-bike tasks.

I don't think the battery units cannot match the power of corded units.
Having spent time building electirc powered radio control airplanes, there
seems to be no way to pack much power into a battery small enough to be
comfortable to hang on the back of a Dremel. That said, if you are only
using them occaisionally for limited tasks like cutting cable housings or
buffing tubes, I can see no reason not to take advantage of the convenience.
With my 13-year old son as a helper, I'd want a beeper button on the charger
like a cordless phone so I could find it.

Brian

"Werehatrack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 8 Jul 2004 04:53:57 -0700, [email hidden] (John Forrest

Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

A cordless model's battery will eventually fail to take a charge (as a
neighbor discovered), and none of the cordless units I've tried (of
which all were more than a year ago) had the power of my old
plug-in-the-wall unit. Variable speed is very handy. I wouldn't buy
one that didn't have it, particularly if you're going to use it for
buffing ridges from inner tubes with a sanding drum, where max speed
is probably way too fast. A good variable-speed cordless is probably
close to being as powerful as the regular unit, though, and has the
decided advantage of being able to go to the work instead of requiring
that the work be brought wihin range of the extension cord.

In my experience, the no-name imitators are not the equal of the real
Dremel, but that may have changed.

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

S o r n i said:

Werehatrack said:

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:37:41 GMT, "S o r n i"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My friends won't allow me to be near -- much less own -- any type of
power tool or equipment.

So buy your own, and don't tell them!

I would...but I like having fingers.

Then buy the tools and invite the friends to come over and donate
*their* fingers. (Why stop with a collection of just 10?)

--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Quoted message said:

If you have a Harbor Freight tool store in your area, they sell a
decent Dremel clone for about $20. Looks just like the Dremel I
bought for $65.

It's total [censored]. If you try to cut paper with it, it will stop turning just
from the friction.

It is also insanely unbalanced and vibrates your hand completely numb within
seconds.

DON'T buy into their prices... it's cheap for a reason.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

The newer (variable speed) cordless Dremel is the one tool I will not do
without. It does much more than cut cable housing; it cuts water pipe,
type-NM electrical cable, etc.

Cordless is powerful enough. Used to be not the case, but now it is.
AFAIK it only comes in variable speed.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Accept risk. Accept responsibility. Put a lawyer out of
_`\(,_ | business.
(_)/ (_) |

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

The newer (variable speed) cordless Dremel is the one tool I will not do
without. It does much more than cut cable housing; it cuts water pipe,
type-NM electrical cable, etc.

Cordless is powerful enough. Used to be not the case, but now it is.
AFAIK it only comes in variable speed.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Accept risk. Accept responsibility. Put a lawyer out of
_`\(,_ | business.
(_)/ (_) |

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

I like it at $20 (generic, variable speed) from KMart. Don't worry
about the dremel corporation; they make a ton of money by selling the
bits to me (currently at $100 and counting.)

This is the most useful power tool i've ever owned. The top five
applications, from a bike restorer's perspective, are as follows:

a. brass/steel wire brush for de-rusting chrome parts
b. grinding bit(s) for shrinking bolt heads
c. buffing wheels and compound for polishing steel / aluminum /
newly chromed items.
d. flap wheel for prepping badly rusted surfaces for new brush
chroming
e. cutoff wheel for shortening bolts :-)

Don't forget to buy good goggle and NEVER TURN ON A DREMEL WITHOUT
GOGGLES ON. In particular, the wire brushes can expel metal splinters
in 360 degree directions, e.g. into skin and eyes.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

(John Forrest Tomlinson) said:

I'm thinking of getting one, mainly for cutting cable housing. Does
it matter what model? Is the cordless one powerful enough? Is
variable or dual speed important?

I like it at $20 (generic, variable speed) from KMart. Don't worry
about the dremel corporation; they make a ton of money by selling the
bits to me (currently at $100 and counting.)

This is the most useful power tool i've ever owned. The top five
applications, from a bike restorer's perspective, are as follows:

a. brass/steel wire brush for de-rusting chrome parts
b. grinding bit(s) for shrinking bolt heads
c. buffing wheels and compound for polishing steel / aluminum /
newly chromed items.
d. flap wheel for prepping badly rusted surfaces for new brush
chroming
e. cutoff wheel for shortening bolts :-)

Don't forget to buy good goggle and NEVER TURN ON A DREMEL WITHOUT
GOGGLES ON. In particular, the wire brushes can expel metal splinters
in 360 degree directions, e.g. into skin and eyes.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA