Fun with Dremel

[Alchemist]

I just bought a Dremel 200 for a great price ($35 on Lowes.com)--my wife thinks I got it to \"do stuff around the house\" but in reality I mainly got it to use for my miniatures . Anyways, I\'m experimenting with it a bit and so far have used it to polish miniatures--it gets them really nice and shiny. I\'ve mainly been using the Nylon Bristle Brush, which gets it really shiny although may be a tad abrasive--but so far I haven\'t noticed anything. I also purchased the Rubber Polishing Tapered Point and found it not that useful, although it could be good for details and hard-to-get-to places. I\'ve also used the Felt Polishing Wheel, which does an OK job but is not nearly as effective as the Nylon Bristle Brush.

Anyway, what attachments do you use? I\'ve heard a few folks mention the Diamon Wheel Points for shaving off mold lines and such. I also bought a few different Anything else?Collets so that I can use the drill bits from my pin vise, although am a bit leery of drilling miniatures with the Dremel--it seems like it would be very easy to make a terrible mistake, whether into metal or flesh.

Share your fun with Dremel experiences...what have you found especially useful? Is there an accessory that I haven\'t mentioned that I should know about?

 

[No Such Agency]

WORK GLOVES. With prolonged contact, the Dremel will chew through them like paper, but in the event of a quick slip up they\'ll save your fingertips from a nasty gouge.

And I find \"high speed cutter\" bits useful, they\'re not the same as the diamond bits. With care, I\'ve actually used this bit type to grind the sleeve off a mini\'s arm! But yeah, you could take the arm off in a flash if you\'re not careful.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Would love to see some replies to this myself. I have used the Diamond cutters, though I actually find I have more control and get better results with my x-acto and needle files. The main thing I have used my Dremel for is removing Reaper Brocoli Bases. I just use the cutting wheels to get rid of big chunks and then one of the grinding discs to smooth out what\'s left.

 

[DarkStar]

Just finished a bunch of dremeling myself this evening.

Had mine (got a couple of \'em now) for years and still to this day wonder how those who don\'t have one get along in this hobby.

Still want a flex-shaft attachment though, never got around to picking one up.

Let\'s see, for miniatures... on just one mini I\'ll typically use the thin cutting wheels for cutting off big hunks of metal like integral bases and such, or for conversions where pieces need to be rough cut, chopping arms and torsos off etc... I\'ll use the very small cutting bits, mainly the Carbide Round in a couple of different sizes, mainly the smallest size though, for removing hard to get mold lines.

Then I use it for pinning. I use the carbide round to get a pilot hole going, just a divot in the metal, then take my pin vise bits and lay my dremel down on the table and manually turn the collet, spinning the bit into the metal to get the hole started. Once it\'s got a good bite I\'ll spin up the motor and in short time have an easily made pinning hole in whatever part, even the most annoyingly small fits like sword handles and hands and such if I feel they need pinning.

Took me awhile to get the hang of it but now it\'s second nature after doing it like that so often. Between today and yesterday I must have drilled about 20 pin holes in 6 different metal minis all the same way.

Hrm let\'s see, the metal can get hot to the touch when drilling like this so to work around that, grab the little piece you\'re drilling (that would sound dirty if this was the 1950\'s) and wrap it up in some poster tac, blue-tac, white-tac, whatever you have and grip the piece that way, exposing only the area you need to drill. You won\'t get toasted fingertips that way.

For larger pieces and for resin I use those compound abrasive cylinders for the grunt work and alot of those diamond tip attachments. Generally for minis I only need the first tips that I mentioned. OH, and different sizes of collets are a must. Especially if you\'re going to use pin vise bit as you\'ll need the proper collet for that.

I guess if I had a tip for the dremel user it would be to check your local area for any kind of \"swap meet\" and check it out, especially the large permanent swap meets. The one nearby me has dirt cheap dremel attachments in every kind of flavor. Those diamond tip cutters, polishers, all the different interesting bits, like, 20 for a dollar and whatnot, 25 cents each for the bigger style. I went to my local hardware store to buy a bit I needed a month ago, as it\'s closeby and the same thing they charged me 6 dollars for. One bit.

Oh yeah, last thing. Eye protection. Wear it. You never know when that little piece of metal or that cutting wheel will break off and blind you. I\'ve heard the blind don\'t get as much out of this hobby as the sighted.

Edit: I also clean my tobacco pipe with the dremel. Once the cake gets too thick (thicker than a nickel) you dremel it out and you\'re ready to smoke moar. Just thought I\'d share that handy info.

 

[fiesta0618]

Dremel is possibly the best modeling tool ever. In fact, that and an xacto knife are the only tools I own. These guys halve already named most of the key bits imo--cut-off wheel, high speed cutter, sanding drum, and drill bits. I haven\'t used the brush much though. By the way, DarkStar...the flex shaft is waaay overrated. The business end is not narrower, so you can\'t really get into tighter spots, and the flex shaft doesn\'t like being bent much so you actually end up restricting your range of motion rather than enhancing it.

The only other thing I\'ve got to say is that you\'ll have to be extra careful, Alchemist, because the 200 series can\'t spin slower than 15k RPM and that\'s still pretty fast! I grind mold lines at about half that speed, typically.

 

[Jericho]

I\'ve said it before: Dremel Stylus ftw

Cordless pistol grip > flex shaft. And the Stylus is barely more expensive than a flex shaft attachment... let alone the entire rig

I love this little thing. It\'s never bitten me either. The old one (with only 2 speed settings, compared the Stylus which has an analog dial) came close a few times, I grazed my knuckles with a grinding/cutting bit once or twice but never drawn any blood.

 

[sanctuary13]

i hand prepped for about 10 years before i got my dremel, a 400 XPR (the big kit, with flex shaft and whatnots) I mainly use the lateral grinding/polishing wheels, mostly the brass since its softer and more forgiving than steel, then follow up with the nylon. I\'ve yet to try really modifying (ie major cutting) using the dremel, but I\'ve only been back to painting for a few weeks now.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Jericho
I\'ve said it before: Dremel Stylus ftw

Cordless pistol grip > flex shaft. And the Stylus is barely more expensive than a flex shaft attachment... let alone the entire rig

I love this little thing. It\'s never bitten me either. The old one (with only 2 speed settings, compared the Stylus which has an analog dial) came close a few times, I grazed my knuckles with a grinding/cutting bit once or twice but never drawn any blood.

yeah they rule. had mine since xmas and havent needed to charge it yet! was drilling through plastic without melting (couldn\'t find my pin vice).

awesome

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Alchemist
Anyways, I\'m experimenting with it a bit and so far have used it to polish miniatures--it gets them really nice and shiny. I\'ve mainly been using the Nylon Bristle Brush, which gets it really shiny although may be a tad abrasive--but so far I haven\'t noticed anything.

If you use any rotary brush like this indiscriminately you\'ll tend to round off sharp edges and corners, so keep an eye out for this. If you hold one in place you can actually melt white metal too!

Originally posted by Alchemist
Anyway, what attachments do you use?

A number of prior threads on this. Here are a couple:
Dremel question
Mould lines

Personally although I\'m a huge fan of motor tools and think every serious miniaturist should have one, I recommend doing as much work as possible using hand tools. I think it\'s best to reserve the motor tool for the jobs where it\'s either indispensable (it can do things that are impossible \'by hand\') or vastly more efficient.

Originally posted by Alchemist
Is there an accessory that I haven\'t mentioned that I should know about?

There is a type of rubber polishing tip that doesn\'t seem to be widely available that I use for smoothing and some kinds of removal. It\'s basically the same as the Dremel thing in principle, just a lot finer. The only maker I\'m aware of is Minicraft.

Originally posted by Alchemist
...am a bit leery of drilling miniatures with the Dremel--it seems like it would be very easy to make a terrible mistake, whether into metal or flesh.

Wise to be wary about this as things can go bad, and quickly! Drilling white metal it\'s a good idea to lubricate the bit (white spirit works okay, strange as it sounds) and to work slowly and carefully.

I\'ll sometimes just start a hole using power and then enlarge it by hand, working up in bit sizes to the final diameter.

Originally posted by No Such Agency
And I find \"high speed cutter\" bits useful, they\'re not the same as the diamond bits. With care, I\'ve actually used this bit type to grind the sleeve off a mini\'s arm! But yeah, you could take the arm off in a flash if you\'re not careful.

Ditto. I resisted trying them for ages, once I did though they became pretty much my fav bit for removing material, especially white metal. No comparison compared to grinding stuff off!

Einion

 

[Logan]

Originally posted by Jericho
I\'ve said it before: Dremel Stylus ftw

Cordless pistol grip > flex shaft. And the Stylus is barely more expensive than a flex shaft attachment... let alone the entire rig

I love this little thing. It\'s never bitten me either. The old one (with only 2 speed settings, compared the Stylus which has an analog dial) came close a few times, I grazed my knuckles with a grinding/cutting bit once or twice but never drawn any blood.

Well thanks a lot Jericho and you Freak.
Thanks to your Jedi mind powers I\'ve just gone and bought one of these... :flame:lol

 

[freakinacage]

you won\'t regret it!

 

[Dragonsreach]

For those on a limited budget in the UK Look Here

Don\'t know if it fits but I recomended Tim (freakinacage) to get a Universal adapter for his dremel stylus. I use one on my Older model and my cheap Clone. Much easier than swapping collets. This