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J. Clarke J. Clarke is offline
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Default Ten buck Harbor Freight "pencil grinder" vs Dremel, no competition

Father Haskell wrote:
On Mar 2, 8:58 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Lost the keys to the garage in the snow last night, there have been
some thefts in the area so didn't want to leave it unlocked
overnight,
figured getting a locksmith to come out at 8 PM on a Saturday night
was going to cost more than it was worth, thus is was down to Home
Despot for a new lock. The old one was some brand I'd never heard
of,
got a new Schlage.

Lock went in fine, but the opening in the old strike plate was too
narrow for the Schlage deadbolt, so went to put the Schlage strike
plate in. Needed to open up the mortise a little and deepen it.
Was
going to go down to the basement and get the chisels, then I
noticed
the ten buck Harbor Freight "pencil
grinder"http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47869
sitting on the shelf by the door. Already had a 1/8" carbide
cutter
in it that I had been using in the Dremel just before I got the HF
(put the cutter in just to make sure it actually fit and that the
thing actually spun up without throwing it across the room--it is,
after all, Harbor Freight). Hadn't had a chance to really play
with
the thing yet so decided to try opening up the mortise with it and
see
how bad it was.

Well, I'm a believer. Compared to that little ten buck air
grinder,
Dremels are crap. It never bogged down once, got cooler instead of
warmer, never gave any sign of strain, cut through the jummywood of
the door frame with just the right amount of resistance to give me
real control, it's light and really well balanced compared to the
Dremel--it handles like a pencil, not like a power tool. In short
it
works the way I _expected_ a Dremel was going to work before I used
one, but the Dremel never really worked that way. And to top it
off,
once the strike plate was in I had to adjust it a little as well,
and
the air grinder with the carbide cutter sliced through that with no
more fuss than with the wood.

Been toying with the idea of a flex shaft but see no need for one
of
those either--with the air grinder I'm not tied to a few feet of
shaft--I can use it anywhere I can run an air hose--and it turns
over
50,000 RPM.

Designed so that the air exhausts out the back with a long sleeve
so
that it exhausts far from the work piece so no problem with oil
contamination either.

They've got a 1/4 inch die grinder for ten bucks as well--next time
I'm over there I think I'm going to get one of those.

Downside is that it needs a compressor of course.


Ask your dentist what he uses, a max 25,000 RPM Dremel,
or a 100,000 RPM air turbine drill.

That said, how does the bearing play compare?


I have no idea. Using it hand-held there's no noticeable play. If I
was using on a toolpost then I'd worry about it. I understand that
one can get a set of precision bearings for it from any bearing
supplier for under 20 bucks.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)