Friday, 20 August 2010
Attachments - rotary tool accessories, tools
This attachment came with my 400 XPR. My first impression, when I saw it and put it on the XPR, was that this thing is going to be a pain to control.
But one incident completely changed my mind.
I have a house that was built in the 50's and the doors and the door knobs are all from the time that the house was built.
A few of the inside door knobs quit working properly so I went and got some new knobs.
The standard door knobs now have different depths and diameters than the originals on my doors.
I had my choice; buy all new doors and knobs or break out this Dremel MultiSaw attachment and go crazy.
Man does this thing work great!!!
It got around in those doors like a hot knife through melted butter.
It uses blades for most standard jigsaws, so I had other blades around.
This thing saved me the cost of buying all new doors for my house. I recut three dorr knob holes and the latch holes in a matter of 20 minutes and installed the new knobs in 10 more.
If you don't have this for your XPR, get it!! Dremel MS400 MultiSaw Attachment
Nothing in the Amazon listing warned me of this.
The box and front of the owner manual say "For use with Dremel 400 Series XPR."
Page 5 of the manual says "For use with Dremel 400 Series XPR Rotary tool only."
(Subsequent models 4000 and 8200 are also compatible.)
Reviewer "Osama I. J. Deir" says it works with his Dremel 395 series tool, and I was able to attach and run it with mine. But 2 gray plastic tabs at the saw's connection point prevent it from seating well.
Ironically, you could use your Dremel to grind off the tabs and get a better connection to your non-XPR Dremel tool.
But I am returning my MultiSaw because Dremel is telling me in multiple ways that it's not a good idea. Maybe it's overload issue...who knows?
Nice that Amazon returns are super easy.
I was very disappointed in this tool. I bought it to cut out a 12" x 6" panel in 1/4" thick fiberglass with 1/16" aluminum on one surface. Since it used standard jig saw blades, I figured it would be up to the task.
The primary reason I used this item rather than a jig saw is that I had a restricted area where the jig saw would not fit.
It made it about half way through the job when it quit working. When I disassembled it, I found it had nylon (or perhaps simply plastic) gears, which were rounded smooth. The manual does caution against running the tool too fast, and I did heed that, but its supposed to be able to cut through 1 1/2" material, so I figured it should have worked for my application. But at any rate, for almost $30, it should have metal gears.
Unless you are cutting thin or soft material, get something heftier, like a pneumatic saw.
This Dremel attachment makes an easy job out of those hard to reach places where a regular jig saw could not go. It being able to take most blades is a very big help.
Keep on with the great attachments!
I bought this from a local Lowe's when I bought my XPR400 Dremel tool. I was building a guitar amp cabinet actually and just wanted something to make a few straight cuts in some smaller sections of plywood. This seemed adequate based off it's list of features and claimed abilities. I didn't expect it to do as well as a powered jigsaw for example but figured that it would do well enough for my limited needs. I also needed to make 4 rounded corner cuts and since it claimed to be able to do this that convinced me to try it.
The piece assembled easily and with no fuss. It started up and functions like it should mechanically. The problem is that it just lacks the needed amount of power to perform to the standard it claims. I turned it up to it's maximum and it wouldn't even get a quarter of an inch into the plywood before the dremel would start to overheat and slow down. I let it do this twice, the second time it slowed down almost to a stop and the whole unit felt VERY hot to the touch. I decided not to risk it after that as I didn't want to damage the dremel. I was very careful to not cover up the air vents on either piece. I held it with both hands as directed and the wood was very securely clamped down. I also proceeded slowly and tried to let the tool do the work, it would never grab and cut on it's own though. Plywood is not a hard wood and should not be difficult to cut with a jigsaw attachment.
I ended up just going back to Lowe's and buying a powered jigsaw. It cut the plywood like butter, was able to do the rounded corners like I needed and was not that much more expensive than this unit in the store.
The dremel tool works great for it's intended uses, I even used the dremel to smooth out the rounded corners I cut with the jigsaw. This attachment however is very lacking. It may perform well with very thin sheets of wood or metal or perhaps with something like particle board or drywall. I decided to keep it despite the lack of performance because I do have to cut drywall occasionally and so this may come in handy. I will try it out next time to see if it has any uses at all.
I decided to give it two stars because the tool may work well for lighter duty uses that I haven't tried it with yet, but it's definitely not able to do what the packaging information claims. Unless you need something for small projects with light materials save your money and just buy a powered jigsaw, you probably won't have to pay that much more than you would for this!
I was skeptical whether this would be any good but got it as part of the XPR kit and was pleasantly surprised that it actually works quite well. No, it is not a replacement for a full size jigsaw or reciprocating saw if you are doing large amounts of work, but it is quite handy for small jobs or small spaces.
I bought a second flex shaft so that I could attach the multisaw to the end of the shaft and fit it in even smaller spaces, I used gorilla tape to attach them since the shaft end is not threaded. It works great and makes the saw much easier to handle.
I also use the saw as a makeshift detail sander, I got a long carbide jigsaw blade for cutting glass (less flexible than standard blade) and dulled the blade teeth using the dremel with a diamond burr. Then I just wrap the blade with sandpaper and clamp it using small binder clips (or carpet tape if the spot is really tight). This has saved me from spending a fortune on the EZ lock finishing abrasive wheels which work well but wear out very quickly. I was on the verge of spending $400 on a Fein multimaster and while looking at its profile sanding attachment I got the idea to try this. Works better than any detail sander I have seen other than the multimaster which is amazing but way overpriced. I use the 3M sandblaster sandpaper which is backed with a rubber web, its expensive but lasts forever and the rubber backing keeps it from sliding off. - Attachments - Rotary Tool Accessories - Tools - Dremel Xpr'
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