Advice wanted on Buying a Dremel

[Cruiser1]

I was doing some work on my boat today and had intended using a 240V jigsaw to cut some fibreglass - fitting some gussets with inspection ports in the top sides of my lazarette bulkhead in order to seal it off. As I progressed I realised there was not going to be enough room to manouvre the jigsaw on the engine bay side and decided it was time to look at buying a Dremel.

The choice seems to involve trade offs between power and manouverability, as well as price.

The machine that is the most manouverable appears to be the "Dremel Stylus" at $100. It is rechargeable on the 240V base, does 7,000 - 25,000 RPM, is 7.2V and comes with about 25 accessories. I am not too sure if those accessories would give me enough range for the type of jobs on the boat. It is not possible to use larger attachements on this model, such as small circular saws.

The other re-chargeable model available is the Dremel L-ion 10.8V model at $170. It is possible to buy an additional flexible drive shaft for this model but that adds another $100 or so. This machine does not look as manourveable as the Dremel Stylus.

The other option is the 240V Dremel 400 Series at about $170 including the flexible drive.

I would be very appreciative on any comments anyone has on their prefered machine and attachments. Would the flexible drive be able to get into as tight a situation as the Dremel Stylus?

By the way these are Australian prices I am quoting - I suspect they are much cheaper in the US.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

FWIW, I've been eyeing the rotozip. (I've burned up some cheaper (~50dollar) dremels.

I've also used air cutoff tools (diegrinder)

the jigsaw teeth seems to spliter the fiberglass (also tape before you cut)

YMMV

 

[caguy]

Try looking at the dremmel Multi-max tool. I use it for nearly everything. It excellent for cutting fiberglass. No splintering and no airborn dust. It has sanding attachments as well as cutting blades. I just picked up a wood rasp attachment for it from Harbor Freight. It would probably even make a good dildo though I have tried that yet.

 

[Justin_NSA]

"It would probably even make a good dildo though I have tried that yet. " Waaay too much information

I have used my Rotozip tool a few times to cut speaker holes etc. i don't you can go wrong with Dremel or Rotozip. I'd stay away from cheap knock-off though.

 

[Cruiser1]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

One of my main sticking points is trying to understand if the tool on the end of the flexible shaft will be as manouverable, in tight spaces, as the Dremel Stylus. The problem is that it will be highly unlikely that anyone will have both a Stylus and a Flexible Shaft in order to compare same . Any feedback on this would still be very, very welcome.

Which ever way I go it seems to me that there is a bit No. 9931 that would probably do a good job on fibreglass - just not too sure how long in would last and at $20-30 apiece it would start to get expensive ripping through too many of them.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

I have also used a 7 1/4 circular saw with a metal wheel, for longer straight cuts. a smaller cordless with a wheel would work too.

What are you looking to cut out? portholes?

whatever you do, wear a good respirator!

 

[Cruiser1]

My current job, that has prompted the Dremel thinking is
Quote:
"fitting some gussets with inspection ports in the top sides of my lazarette bulkhead in order to seal it off. As I progressed I realised there was not going to be enough room to manouvre the jigsaw on the engine bay side and decided it was time to look at buying a Dremel"

The 12mm ply gussets I have made include inspection portholes and hence I have 6 bolts and nuts around the circumference of the inspection portholes. I need to cut a half circle of fibreglass away that is covering the lower section of the porthole and also cut 3 smaller 15mm semicircles around each of the 3 nuts - so the gussets will sit flat and so I can get access to them later if need be.

However, I really apreciate the other comments re circular saws and discs as I soon need to cut out the top of the galley next to the sink so I can flush mount an Origo stove. I can see me getting a much straighter line with a circular saw or cut-off disc but I think I will connect a vaccum line to whatever cutting device I use and put some damp cloth around to avoid too much fibreglass dust - plus of course some masking tape on the cutting line

 

[MrBill_FLL]

sounds like either brand with the hand wand is what you need.

-let me know when you're done so I can Borrow it!


what are you doing again? sealing off the lazarette and adding an inspection port (from cabin into laz?)

On my boat I put some thickened epoxy fillets on the bulkhead, but I didn't glass off the rest of the bulkhead to the top, (but now wish I had). I used some 'great stuff' expanding foam insulation.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/ftldiver/mac/6de06ea4.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/ftldiver/mac/501fdb94.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/ftldiver/mac/1d280f61.jpg

 

[Cruiser1]

This is the final Dremel type tool I settled on. The tool itself is an Ozitio 170W with flexible cable attachment. In addition I purchased a set of CarbaTec carbide rotary burrs (with 1/8" spindles to fit the Ozito) and these have been ideal for cutting out the sections in my lazarette bulkhead to enable the insertion of gussets to block off the opening up near the coaming. The Ozito and burr set was half the price of going with a Dremel and one Dremel burr + the Dremel was only 140W.

The cutting of the fiibreglass only took a couple of minutes - the big job was cleaning up the fibreglass dust afterwards. In the attached photo you can see the end of the suction hose I had attached to the vaccum cleaner - it was a hose I have for the dust extractor on my RUPES rotary vibrating sander.