So I finally went to Lowe's and bought myself a power Dremel. After a couple of years with the old and limited bone saw and countless hours waiting for the old battery powered Wal-Mart special Dremel to cut butter, I broke and bought a Dremel 300 plug-in.
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The amount of power put out from this tool is outstanding! Much better than the battery powered version and the best part id that the 300 gives you the option of how much power you want to use, between 1 and 10.
The amount of power put out from this tool is outstanding! Much better than the battery powered version and the best part id that the 300 gives you the option of how much power you want to use, between 1 and 10.
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Your 2-4 speeds will do fine for your average plastic with any tool (even the buffer), while 5-7 are better for really tough plastics (think Balrog Wings) and anything more will easily cut through pewter models like butter.
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When you first use the Dremel, you may want to use a practice model or a sprue so you can tell where the line is between cutting plastic and melting it (messy). Anyway, here is a quick example of my first use of the Dremel 300.
First, I took a peice of rather thick plastic (I couldn't find my plastic card) and I drew a quick little Nurgle fly doodle with a marker. Next, I fixed the smallest engraver tip to the end of the dremel.
I then used the Dremel to carefully cut the design out of the plastic (speed 3). I occasionally wiggled my wrist to make the symbol look a little worse for weather (it is Nurgle after all).
With the symbol cut out, I quickly trimmed around the edges with my hobby knife, then took the engraver tool out again and (with a very light touch this time, speed 2) traced the inner lines of the symbol, along with all the little cracks and divits I wanted to see on it.
Now you are going to have a lot of plastic frayed up where you cut the inner lines, so this is where I adjusted and took out one of the brush buffers and with a low speed (3). I just lightly traced the lines with the brush and all the eccess plastic just flew away.
I then used the Dremel to carefully cut the design out of the plastic (speed 3). I occasionally wiggled my wrist to make the symbol look a little worse for weather (it is Nurgle after all).
With the symbol cut out, I quickly trimmed around the edges with my hobby knife, then took the engraver tool out again and (with a very light touch this time, speed 2) traced the inner lines of the symbol, along with all the little cracks and divits I wanted to see on it.
Now you are going to have a lot of plastic frayed up where you cut the inner lines, so this is where I adjusted and took out one of the brush buffers and with a low speed (3). I just lightly traced the lines with the brush and all the eccess plastic just flew away.
The whole process took me just shy of four minutes and it was my first time using the powerful, plug-in Dremel, so while I think the end product could have (MUCH) been better, I also think that was really on me and my novice technique and the fact that my doodle lacked the shape I really wanted. (I primed the peice white and washed it black to show all the detail I managed to work in in so little time, my idea behind this article was to show how much could be done quickly).
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Finally, just for you IRS guys out there, I am writing this review on my own and happily paid just under $70 for the Dremel 300 and all the attachments it included (pictured above). Feel free to comment!