So I have a Dremel and was thinking of using it to cut out some rust spots in the floor of my F-250. It seems to cut quite slow. I guess I could go purchase a grinder, or is the Dremel an okay tool for the job?

-psyverson
New Orleans, LA

 

I bought a $25 cheapo TSC special Clarke brand 4.5inch angle grinder with variable speed control and just use cutting wheels and it will cut through anything at 6,000rpm!!!

 

You will spend more money on dremel cutting discs than it would cost to go to harbor freight and buy this: Heavy Duty 4-1/2" Angle Grinder
And if thats not cheap enough, there are 20% coupons just about everywhere. So youre looking at like $16 out the door. Add in some 4 1/2" cutting discs for another $3 or 4 for a 5 pack. Youre looking at $20 total for a tool that is gonna save you HOURS, save your expensive dremel motor from burning out, and save you from buying 37 of those expensive little dremel cut off wheels.

Just make sure you pull carpet/sound deadening back. It will throw hot sparks that could ignore. Make sure you don't cut into anything below the cab (it will cut deeper than the dremel). And wear eye/hearing protection and a set of leahter gloves. Conveniently all that safety gear is available for an additional $10 or $12 from harbor freight.

AND you can now buy those extended warranties. on a $20 grinder it would probably be like 3 or 4 bucks, take it back and swap it, no questions, for 2 years, I think it is.
God I love that place.


And sure, you could spend $120 on a dewalt and maybe pass it on to your kids some day. But $30 would get the job done today, tomorrow, and probably for another few months.

I compromised and spent some cash on a hitachi from lowes about 2.5 years ago. Its built like a brick **** house and its survived many days of near continuous use as I've worked on cars, trucks, built a trailer, welded things, and basically abuse it.

It was around $60 or $75 and its lasted at least twice as long as the $30 generic special I had before it.

 

Yeah I figured I'd use a grinder, its just that an old roommate moved out and left his toolkit, and in it was a Dremel, so I really got that for free. But I'll go get myself a grinder. Thanks.

-psyverson
NEw Orleans, LA