Post #119665 by Aaron's Akua on Thu, Oct 14, 2004 10:06 PM

Hi Finkdaddy,

I'm sure Benzart will give you some excellent advice on this, but I'm just curious - you mentioned a heavy duty grinder, but also 1/8" bits. What make/model is it? Not Dremel? I'm now to the point where the dremel only seems useful for small detail work - not the majority of wood removal. I'm using a die grinder with 1/4" bits for that - or will be on the next tiki. Just finishing up the current one.

Anyway, my experience is that anything other than the tungsten carbide bits will be a disappointment. The other bits I've used dulled up pretty quick. By comparison, the Tungsen bit has showed no signs of dulling so far. My Dremel goes up to 32,000 RPm, and I've been running it about 2/3 speed or greater. So, if you pick up a dremel 1/8" tungsten carbide bit and run is at 20,000 rpm, I think it will be okay.

The tungsten carbide bit I've been using is the Dremel No. 9901. I think it will work well for you.

Kono posted this on my string, and it may be a good bit for you, though I haven't tried it myself.

On 2004-09-12 18:02, Kono wrote:
I tried using diamond bits to drill through glass and I ate through several bits in just a few minutes. Of course, they were "flea market" dremel bits so I'm sure they were of inferior quality. Anyway...this is the best dremel bit I've ever used. You could burrow to the center of the Earth with this sucker. You said you used a carbide bit but not sure if it's the same one. It's a little more expensive (like $12-$15) but you can usually find it at your local Home Depot. They make other shapes of the structured tooth tungsten carbide cutters but I had to order them online.

Anyway, this should be some good advice for you. I know how tough it is to make the right decisions on tools when your figuring how to spend your tiki tools $'s. I've bought enough cheap, worthless, or just wrong tools to know!

Good luck...and show us what you're working on.

Ben?...Any wisdom to add for Finkdaddy?