What have you done to your car with a Dremel?

[Mordan]

Hello

I'm considering buying a Dremel. Do you have a Dremel and what have you done with it? Has it helped you with DIY jobs on your car? Cheers

[E34-520iSE]

Now that looks like a handy tool! Wish I had one when I cut the tow-cover hole in my M-tec rear bumper.......

Cheers,

Shaun M

[yaofeng]

Do it. It is one of the most convenient gadgets you'll be happy to own.

[repenttokyo]

i use mine to cut things like bolts, it works ok for that. make sure you buy safety glasses to go with it!

i would recommend this tool.

[bubba966]

A good Dremel (like one of the variable speed ones with the flex shaft attachment) comes in handy very frequently.

Mine's been used for all kinds of things.

As far as how I've used it on the car, I used it to cut slots in the anti-tamper bolts on my steering lock to get the bolts out. Used it on the ignition cylinder to modify it for easier removal. Used it to cut the old ignition cylinder out of the steering lock since it didn't want to come out on it's own. Used it to repair my lower portion of my front bumper. Might've used it for something else as well.

And a word of advice. when getting cutoff wheels for it, go for the reinforced fiberglass type, and don't bother with the cheaper ones. I know that the reinforced ones cost a good deal more than the cheaper ones. But the cheaper ones break easily, and wear down very quickly. So there's no savings if the reinforced ones cost 2-3x as much as the cheap ones if you break or wear out 5-10 or more of the cheap ones for every one of the reinforced ones you go through.

[Mordan]

thx for the ideas.

has anyone used the Dremel for polishing metal and rooting out rust?

could it be used to wax or as scratch remover (along with paste) ?

[gpljrrr]

Hello

I'm considering buying a Dremel. Do you have a Dremel and what have you done with it? Has it helped you with DIY jobs on your car? Cheers

i have used one a couple of time to cut the bearing races of a spindle after a bearing failed

[Scott C]

Burned out a cordless dremel cleaning out the rust on the truck lid (boot) edge.

[bubba966]

thx for the ideas.

has anyone used the Dremel for polishing metal and rooting out rust?

could it be used to wax or as scratch remover (along with paste) ?

Yeah, I've used mine for some of that kind of stuff. If you're doing small things or very small areas it works fine. But it takes a while and the sanding drums and polishing bits don't last very long. Makes doing those sorts of tasks tedious and spendy if the area you're trying to polish/de-rust isn't small.

And I've never been impressed with the cordless Dremels. I've got a corded one and used it hard plenty of times over the last decade or so (maybe longer). Still works great. But the cordless ones I've used at other people's houses lack the power of the corded ones. Not to mention I've heard of people burning the cordless models out during heavy use.

So I'm no longer disappointed that I don't have a cordless Dremel as I've found them to be inferior to the corded variety.

[DaveVoorhis]

One of my top ten most useful tools. Perfect for all sorts of light cutting, grinding, drilling, polishing of all sorts, rooting out rust, cleaning, etc.

Wear eye protection and hand protection, though. In my younger and more careless days, I zinged a broken cut-off wheel into a finger on one occasion and nearly got an eyeful of sparks on a few others.

Practice on some scrap before you do anything real so you can get good feel for the tool. Depending on what you're doing, the high RPM and small bits can make it walk, bounce, kick back or chatter all over the work before you know it.