looking for rotary or oscillating tool advice.

[Andy Maldoror]

i'm restoring a vintage aluminum trailer and need to get into a very confined space in the wall to grind out lots of screw heads that are corroded. a multimaster would be perfect, but i can't really justify the expense for this project.
i've been looking at the dremel 4000 rotary tool. i'm also setting up a lutherie so finding something i can use later for detail woodworking would be a major plus. i was just thinking that maybe some of the woodcarver tools might be a good investment IF they have attachments and power enough to grind steel screw heads off and other small metal cutting jobs.
any advice?

thanks a lot,
andy

[Cary Falk]

I think the Dremel is a wise choice. I know the Dremel gets a bad rep sometimes but I use mine for a lot of things. It is one of those tools that only it can do the job sometimes. I made a base for mine to do inlay work on the guitar I built. With the circle cutter attachment it works great to cut out the sound hole and the space for the rosette.

[Jerome Stanek]

look at the Dremal multi tool or the Craftsman cordless multi tool.

[Rich Engelhardt]

need to get into a very confined space in the wall to grind out lots of screw heads that are corroded
I have 3 Dremels, the Dremel Multimaster and the Harbor Freight Mulitfunction tool.
I have metal blades and diamond blades for all of them.

For lots of corroded screw heads, I'd grab the air chisel instead of any of them.
HF has one on sale for about 5 bucks.

My 5 dollar HF air hammer lasted me three days of extreme hard use - taking Z-brick off a kitchen wall.
My HD Husky air hammer lasted all of one pull of the trigger.
My $25 Kobalt finished the nasty Z-brick job and is still going strong.

Sometimes brute force works better/faster than finesse.

[Jay Jeffery]

Take a careful look at your consumables, as that may be where the big money question is.

For cutting off screw heads with a Dremel the best option are the fiber-reinforced cut off wheels. Odds are they will run you about a buck a piece and you will probably cut 2-5 screws with one disc. The standard or "heavy duty" wheels shatter easily and are a lot of trouble to use. Safety glasses are an ABSOLUTE must as they break often. You will probably average about 1 disc per screw head.

A cut-off tool of some kind with a 3" wheel will be much more economical. Those cost about $1 a piece, but you will get through a dozen or more screw heads. A pneumatic die grinder is the cheapest way to go if you have an air compressor that puts out the cfm's. Electric die grinders are pretty expensive. A Rotozip or similar spiral saw could also work.

I have no experience with the oscillating tools,so can't offer much help there. Just price the consumables.

An air hammer sounds like a very good idea. Can you get int here with a long chisel and a hammer?

[Jim Rimmer]

The HF multi-tool might be the way to go for now and look for your permanent tool at a more leisurely pace.

[Lex Boegen]

I have a couple of Dremels and a four-inch angle grinder. The Dremel is great for fitting into tight spots, but if you have lots of screws to grind, I'd use an angle grinder. It will do the job an order of magnitude faster and easier. I have used the Dremel with a cut-off wheel (about the size of a US Quarter), and the wheels are pretty fragile and grind down quickly. When I bought my house, it had terrazzo floors that had "tackless" carpet strips nailed to the floor around the edges of the room. The nails holding them down are hardened steel (they have to be to be driven into concrete). I used the Dremel to cut off the nails flush with the floor. They then blend in perfectly with the terrazzo. It was slow going because if the wheel didn't break (which it frequently did), it would rapidly decrease in diameter as it ground away the steel. I needed to put on a new wheel every couple of nails. After I got the angle grinder with a four-inch grinding wheel, it went through those nails like a hot knife through butter. It's noisy, but fast. It does throw out a shower of sparks, so be aware of where they'll go when you're grinding so that you don't start any fires.

[Andy Maldoror]

thanks for the advice...
i've got a metabo grinder...but this job needed something much smaller.
i picked up the dremel 4000 this afternoon as well as the smallest HF die grinder for 15. the dremel does the job...broke a few discs but it got in there and under the screws and i got the extension thing with it which really helps in the tight spots. the screws are down in between some aluminum in a 1 1/2 inch space so those dremel discs fit in perfectly. the dremel will come in really handy restoring old machines and handtools and polishing the tiny parts. i'm now thinking back at all the hours i've lost hand polishing knobs.