Thread: Instead of a dremel

Today at harbor freight I picked up a 3in Grinder/Polisher with a flex shaft.
Heres the description

Small enough to pack along to the job site. Perfect for deburring, grinding and polishing small parts. Use the 31'' flex shaft for precision work and hard-to-reach surfaces. Includes flex shaft and wrenches, 3'' grinder stone, 3'' fiber wheel and 1/8'' mounted stone bit. Variable speed control, ball bearing construction.

• Motor: 110V, 60 Hz
• No load speed: 0-10,000 RPM
• Wheel size: 3-3/4''
• Arbor: 10mm
• Flex shaft collet: 1/8''

A couple of issues I've noticed
1. It does NOT go from 0-10k RPM. When you start I would say the initial speed is about 3-4k rpm. That is just a guess by the difference in sound between initial turn on and full speed.
2. The buffing wheel is some type of hard fiber wheel. It will get sparks off a razor especially if used towards the edges. I will look for a 3 in cloth wheel when I can.
3. Flex shaft has a plastic collet to attach it to the housing. If careful it should last awhile. (I hope). The chuck uses a wrench and not a chuck key

My Observations
1. It runs pretty quiet, I can hear it in the next room but it doesn't scream at you
2.When using the fiber wheel if you let your hand rest on the housing it does get hot!
3. If careful and using a quenching bowl you shouldn't overheat a razor
4. The wide polishing wheel will leave marks if you don't keep it moving
5. The flex shaft uses a 1/8 chuck. It will take dremel attachments.

Overall its a small decent little tool. It wont last forever but for razors it should be a big help

I use one and worn one out. The replacement warranty for $10.00 pays for itself if you use these a lot.

Have you found any type of sanding disks for these?
I'm thinking of using two polishing wheels If nothing else. I'm not sure how much use I will get out of a grinding wheel.

Bob

I don't use sanding disks but very rarely. I use the flex for flap wheels and of late I'm using 3M Scotch Bright wheels. I also use the flex when I want to use a hard buffing wheel. I use the grinding wheel now and then. I do use the fiber wheel a lot.

On my first motor the variable control quit. So I got a router control from Harbor Freight. When the Harbor had a sale on the motors again, I picked up my next one with warranty. I cut the shields off the old one and put on 4" buffing wheels. I finally burned out the motor and sucked it up and bought a buffing lathe.

I've just about worn out my fiber wheel and I've searched the net for hours trying to find where I can buy a replacement. Has anybody had any success with this problem?

I wanted to get one of those, but needed an arbor adapter for medium-sized rbd's so I gave up on the idea.

I, too, am a great fan of acronyms - rbd's: round ball 'dapters, razor blade deals, real buffing dynamos, rubber bobbing duckies... I know I'll get there given enough time.

RBD's = Radial Bristle Discs.. A must if you wanna give your blades a mirror finish on a large scale.. Otherwise, Jason's sanding drum design rocks and is a lot cheaper.

Harbor freight sells the replacements
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Right now I need to find a replacement flexshaft, I torqued mine a little hard and broke it.

Bob

If you find a Buff manufacturer, they can make buffs and scothbrite fibre wheels down to 2"

Good luck with the shaft. Can't help with that.