Carving Metal With Dremel
A handheld rotary tool made by Dremel is essentially a small electric motor with a device for attaching different tools. These tool bits, such as drills, cutting wheels and polishing attachments, give Dremel handheld rotary tools the ability to perform different tasks. Dremel tools can be used to cut and shape wood, plastic, clay and even metal.
Things You'll Need
- Dremel handheld rotary tool
- Safety goggles
- Vise
- Cutting wheel attachment
- Engraving cutter attachment
- Drill bit
- Polishing attachment
Instructions
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Put on your safety goggles. Carving metal with a Dremel rotary tool can send small, sharp bits of metal flying. Put the metal piece you intend to work on in the vise.
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Attach a cutting wheel to your Dremel rotary tool. Use the cutting wheel to cut off large pieces of metal to get your workpiece into its rough size and shape. Use a carbide or fiberglass wheel if you're cutting a hard metal. Abrasive emery disks can cut soft metals. Use a wide carbide wheel if you need to remove a a lot of material from between two pieces.
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Attach an engraving cutter to your Dremel rotary tool. Use it to cut lines, trenches and grooves into your metal workpiece. Different cutter shapes produce different groove shapes. Use diamond or carbide engraving tips when working on the hardest metals. Use these attachments for fine detail work.
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Attach a drill bit to your Dremel rotary tool if you need holes drilled. If you need to bolt two pieces of metal together, drill a hole in each using the same size drill bit. Line up the holes and put a bolt through them, securing it in place with a nut. You can also use drill bits to create depressions in metal or holes that don’t go all the way through.
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Attach a polishing attachment to your Dremel rotary tool. Polish your work with it. Polishing attachments are made out of rubber and come in many shapes. When turned at high speeds by the rotary tools, they add a shine on your metalwork projects. Each different head shape polishes a different surface.
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Tips & Warnings
You may need to adjust the way your workpiece is held by the vise repeatedly over the course of your project. Never try to just hold it in your hand while using the Dremel rotary tool with the other hand, always keep it clamped firmly in place with the vise.
