Has anybody used Dreml grinders or other similar tools to work on resin? If so, what was your experience? I'm thinking they could be a godsend.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages ... n+Cordless

I couldn't live without one especially with clear resin. Makes a mess though.

yeah dremel to cut any flashing fo sure and 100s of other uses, resin dust is super annoying

A must have tool period, customizer or not.

I bought one many years ago when I was building RC airplanes. I have found it useful for customs and even just odd jobs around the home. It's worth it's weight in gold! A flex shaft attachment makes it even better.

I totally see the appeal and utility, but honestly, mine scares me too much and I stick to hand files and jeweler's saws. I don't want to say I enjoy sanding and filing for hours on end, but there's certain serenity to it.

Is there an actual difference between dremels and dremel like bits for for regular drills? Minus ease of use because of the size and weight difference?

I know a dremel would make life easier but I just can't bring myself to drop the money on one.

You can control the speed much more on an actual Dremel... so speeds much slower than a normal drill would do you. It's also a much smaller and more comfortable tool.

Yeah but when it's something stupid like a pour spout, it's just so much easier to get a pile of raw casting and chop them all at the same time...then there is definitely more hand sanding fun to be had. And clear resin is one tough mother.

I think even at it's slowest speed a dremel is faster than a normal drill...maybe? It is way easier to control too. Harbour frieght has a cheapo rotary tool that might clean up a dozen castings or so
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94076

Cliff is probably right on the speed... The Dremel being much faster than a drill makes much more sense. I am an idiot.

Dremels rock! Just make sure you wear a mask. You don't want to breath in that resin dust.

And goggles. That resin can fly off fast and sharp

+10000000000000 Safety first!

On a non dremel related note, I once had an x-acto blade break and fly up and hit my square in the eye ball and of course I was not wearing goggles. Luckily it hit my eye with the flat side (I could see a little red triangle on my eye in the mirror) so there was not serious injuries. Pretty scary tho...lesson learned, be careful.

My Dremel goes pretty slow. About the speed of my drill. I have an off-brand though. A multispeed should go slow but as long as you're careful a faster speed should be fine.

Glad you weren't injured Cliff. I actually did get a piece of metal in my eye once in a non-Dremel related incident. I could see the piece sticking out of my eyeball with a little rust ring around. It was gross. Yesterday I got a spark in my eye despite my glasses and a full-face shield. Only I could burn my eyeball with full safety gear on.

Good times!

I burned out an expensive dremel grinding lucite ice cubes for drink shots once. Switched to a low cost sears model with a speed control; has lasted a lot longer. Next time I'd like a foredom rotary tool like dentists and woodworkers use....very modular, very tough. Probably great for wooden teeth too, now that I think about it.

Edit:

The foredom and others like them will accept different collets, so none of your dremel tools will be outmoded, you can also buy cheaper bit sets and the like on places like *b*y. You can also get a variety of motors, speed controls, and armature/flex shaft setups, many available used online to control your costs.

Then you get a blue smock, set it up on the balcony or deck and scare hell out of the neighbor kids by making that genuine dental drill noise and asking them how much candy they eat.

Very good times.

Has anybody here used a spray booth, or something similar, to control the resin dust that's generated when using a dremel?
We have an enclosed porch, and I was thinking of setting up a table with some sort of vacuum/fan set-up to suck/blow the dust away from me, and possibly outside.

Resin dust is generally heaver/more massive than paint spray dust, but I think you'd control the bulk of the finest dust using the same setup as a spray booth. By chance, what are you sanding/dremeling? A lot of dust can also be controlled by keeping your sandpaper wet, and for minor tasks resin dust also isn't *that* exciting. I don't want people to be unsafe, but I think they tend to get a little over-excited about two seconds of sanding a seam off a resin kit.

I was doing some cutting and a medium amount of grinding to rough out a part. Will be doing more grinding/sanding to bring it to shape before making a mold of the part. Definitely more than 2 seconds of sanding.
Also, I'll want to keep my porch mostly dust-free as it's a nice place for sitting and having breakfast. And I may put my foosball table out there. So I want to be tidy, but thought I could also make a nice little work bench area...maybe replace a small glass pane with a piece of board to mount an exhaust hose through.

couldn't live without a dremel. purchased a drillpress as well and that's also very handy.

get's messy, messy. I use a fan to blow the resin dust out of my face. goggles and mask as well.

I'd go as far as to say don't drill inside the house. Last year I managed to give myself I nasty asthmatic cough that lasted for months drilling resin. The dust gets so fine that a lot stays in the air even after you've finished, so your're going to be breathing it in even after the jobs finished.

It might sound crazy, but that's why I only hand-drill resin with a pin-vise. My resin debris comes out in big squiggly lengths, with no dust. Much easier to clean up as well.

+1, Dremels have 101 uses... Must have tool even for everyday crap non toy related.

That is a good idea. That dust is awful.
I would think a wet/dry vac mount right next to where you're drilling would catch most of it.
Or the hose mounted under a table with a coarse screen over it.

This was the other idea I was thinking of if a spray booth wouldn't be strong enough to pull the dust.
I think that's probably what I'll do - get a cheap wood desk and cut a hole in it, then mount a shop-vac hose on the bottom side of the hole. And then just get a fan to blow from behind me.