This Is What A Dremel Is Used For – A versatile everyday tool

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Dremel has developed many different high-speed rotary tools, each designed for different uses and applications. Dremel’s have a wide range of uses and it seems like they come in handy with any kind of DIY work, woodworking, or working with metals. So let’s have look and see what the Dremel can do.

A Dremel can be used for Sanding, Wood Carving, Grinding, Engraving, Polishing, Grooming Pet Toenails, Cutting Metal, Cutting Wood, Cutting Plastic, Cleaning, Routing, Jewelry Making, and Drilling.

Dremel’s can be confusing when getting to know them. They have so many uses and it can be hard to know which Dremel does what and what bit you should use for the different jobs. By the end of this article, you will know exactly which Dremel you need for your job and what bit/ attachment to use for it.

Sanding

The Dremel does a great job of sanding small surfaces, cracks, and corners. A Dremel is a relatively small tool, so it is not good for sanding large surfaces like a table. But it will be more useful for sanding those hard to get to spots and cleaning up rough wooden edges.

I find it really useful to do some light sanding with my Dremel now and then and this is what I mainly use it for.

When sanding with a Dremel we use sanding drums, you can choose if you want to do rough or light sanding depending on the grit. The grit on these sanding drums ranges from #40 to #600, just buy a cheap sanding drum kit from amazon and you will be stocked for a long time. You can also use sanding discs for sanding, but I rarely find them useful.

Wood Carving/Power Carving

Dremel is the main tool of many woodcarvers. It is a good way of effectively removing big chunks of wood fairly quickly and shaping the wood into any form you like. But Dremel is a relatively small tool so it is best for doing small pieces and detail work when wood carving with it. When wood carving with a Dremel you need to use the bits that are good at removing wood quickly. I have 2 favorite bits for wood carving. That is the sanding drums and the Kutzall Extreme Burrs.

If you want to learn more about Dremel Bits, Check out this guide that I made. It explains most of the Dremel bits and what they are used for.

Engraving

Engraving is a great way to apply your unique personal touch to everyday objects, you can make gifts for your family or just use them as decorations around the house.

A Dremel is a great way to get started with engraving. A Dremel can engrave metals, glass, stone, wood, and more. The Dremel is actually used for engraving in many professions, for example in jewelry making.

When engraving with a Dremel it is most common to use diamond bits. And contrary to the name, diamond bits are actually fairly cheap. You will get a set with 50 diamond bits for under 20$ of Amazon

Polishing

You can use a Dremel to make almost anything shiny. Fasten your Dremel in a table vise and now you have your own small polishing machine. A Dremel can be used for polishing metals, fiberglass, and much more. We use felt pads with polishing compound and buffing wheels for polishing. To get a perfectly shiny result when polishing with a Dremel start with the rougher polishing compounds and work your way through the finer ones.

Trimming Animals Toenails

Yep. You read me right. The Dremel can be used on living animals. The most common animal to use a Dremel to trim toenails on are dogs. Dogs’ toenails need to be trimmed regularly and the Dremel is a great way to get this done without actually having to use pliers. Dogs can sometimes be scared of the Dremel. Probably because of the noise that it makes and the sensation when trimming the nails. So dogs have to be trained to get accustomed to using the Dremel.

The bit we use for trimming is mainly the sanding Drum.

Cutting Metal, Wood, and Plastic

You can cut metal, wood, and plastic with a Dremel. And again, since the Dremel is relatively small, it is best for doing small and shortcuts. For example cutting of a small end piece of wood or a nail that is stuck in the wall. But a Dremel is great for doing detailed and small cuts and can act like a mini angle grinder and mini saw. We use different bits for different materials. For metal, we have Cutting Wheels, for wood we use the EZ lock cutting wheel, and for plastic, we use EZ lock plastic cut off wheel

If you are going to do a lot of sawing with a Dremel I would recommend getting the Dremel Ultra-Saw which is designed for sawing and will be better for sawing than the “normal” Dremel 4000

Cleaning

A Dremel can be a great cleaning tool for those hard-to-reach places. A great example can be tile grout which builds up between the tiles in the bathroom. Or maybe you have some stuck and burnt food in your baking oven that to stubborn to be removed by hand. You can even clean and remove rust with the more heavy-duty Dremel brushes.

When cleaning with a Dremel I recommend using nylon bristle brushes for fragile spots. For example, when removing tile grout, we do not want to break up the water seal between the tiles. For removing rust you can use a steel bristle brush. And remember that the Dremel is an electrical tool. So don’t get it in direct contact with water.

Routing

Routing with a Dremel works pretty well. And compared to other routers, the Dremel is a very cheap way to get started with routing. The Dremel makes it easy to route slots, grooves, and sand in different shapes. You can get the cheap Dremel 335 Plunge Router on Amazon and get a cheap routing bit set and you are ready to start routing.

You can even get a routing table for the Dremel on Amazon, this is also a great addition for that makes it easier to do routing with a Dremel.

The cheapest way to get started with routing is just using the Dremel Multi-Purpose Cutting Kit. But this is just more of a cutting guide, than an actual router. But it can be used with routing bits and can be used to route edges to a fair accuracy. But the quality of the cut will not be as good as the ones mentioned above.

Drilling

The Dremel is pretty good when it comes to dilling small wholes. Because of the limitation of the collet which can only take shank sizes of up to 1/8-in ( 3.2 mm ), you can only use drills with a shank size of 1/8-in ( 3.2mm ) or less. But I find the Dremel really useful for doing small high accurate drill wholes.

With the Dremel Workstation, your Dremel can be become a mini drill press, and can basically do anything a normal drill press can do. Just at a smaller scale. It is also a good idea to get the official Dremel drill set, and you are all set up for doing some drilling with high accuracy. Freehanding the drilling with the flex shaft also

Jewelry Making

Because the Dremel is good at detailed work, cleaning, sanding, polishing, and more it is a given that it is also a great tool for Jewelry Making. Jewelry makers usually use a Foredom Pendant Motor but the Dremel with a flex shaft is a great cheaper alternative to the Foredom.

Conclusion

This list is probably just a fraction of what the Dremel can be used for. The Dremel is a tool of many trades but a master of none. It is a great tool to have available and I think everyone should have one in their tool kit. Hopefully, you have learned something you did not know about the Dremel in this article, and I hope I cleared up some confusion about the many uses of a Dremel. As always, have a nice day