villaveloframes
Tool of the week: dremel
Ah, the trusty old dremel. Well, it is more accurate to call it a die grinder or rotary tool, as Dremel is the brand name of the ubiquitous workshop tool - kinda like how we all call what is identified as an ice box "Esky".
Yes, things were done by hand in the old days with the files and sandpapers and whatnot, but the introduction of the dremel has made things so much faster.
It can use a number of attachments for the speedy removal of material:
Works as a mini sander, angle grinder, rotary cutter, buffing wheel, etc.
Its most useful function for us so far is reshaping lug shorelines and getting a bit of extra wiggle room in lug ports for a good fitup of tubing.
For example, while tubing diameters are a set size and lugs are generally made to these dimensions, the manufacturing process often will have small variances in the inner diameter of the lug ports.
It would take an incredibly long time to sand or file away the inner diameter by hand and remove any meaningful amount of material. With a dremel and sanding drum, the job is done in a number of minutes.
Recent applications for this included Quang cleaning out the bottom bracket chain stay ports of old filler material to properly fit up the replacement chain stays for the Kenevans' repair, and Minh removing excess filler from a scalloped seat stay cap with a cone-shaped grinding stone.
Of course, for applications like these, the margin for error is quite large unless the user is heavy handed and takes off too much material in one go.
But for more intricate uses such as reshaping lug shapes and shorelines, more care is required as material is removed incredibly quickly.
Tool of the week: dremel
Ah, the trusty old dremel. Well, it is more accurate to call it a die grinder or rotary tool, as Dremel is the brand name of the ubiquitous workshop tool - kinda like how we all call what is identified as an ice box "Esky".
Yes, things were done by hand in the old days with the files and sandpapers and whatnot, but the introduction of the dremel has made things so much faster.
It can use a number of attachments for the speedy removal of material:
Works as a mini sander, angle grinder, rotary cutter, buffing wheel, etc.
Its most useful function for us so far is reshaping lug shorelines and getting a bit of extra wiggle room in lug ports for a good fitup of tubing.
For example, while tubing diameters are a set size and lugs are generally made to these dimensions, the manufacturing process often will have small variances in the inner diameter of the lug ports.
It would take an incredibly long time to sand or file away the inner diameter by hand and remove any meaningful amount of material. With a dremel and sanding drum, the job is done in a number of minutes.
Recent applications for this included Quang cleaning out the bottom bracket chain stay ports of old filler material to properly fit up the replacement chain stays for the Kenevans' repair, and Minh removing excess filler from a scalloped seat stay cap with a cone-shaped grinding stone.
Of course, for applications like these, the margin for error is quite large unless the user is heavy handed and takes off too much material in one go.
But for more intricate uses such as reshaping lug shapes and shorelines, more care is required as material is removed incredibly quickly.