# Dremel toolpost grinder



## ericc (Dec 18, 2019)

Hi. I made a holder that fits in my tool holder for a Dremel. I saw a lot of negative comments about this idea because it is flimsy. I built mine to be pretty solid, and it does just fine. Both front and rear brackets are lathe bored. The top strap in the rear is hammer forged without final machining. It just serves to push the back of the Dremel into it. The grinding was rough, but it finished a custom shank drill. I think that it's successful.  Picture attached. Hmmm. I'm having some problems. I'll try again later.


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## 4ssss (Dec 18, 2019)

The reason everyone said it's flimsy is because the Dremel is a toy. If you want to do any decent grinding you need something with a spindle. I'm sure you did a good job on your holder, but your rough finish says it all. By the way, if all you were doing was cutting a shank down on a drill, you probably could have just cut it in a lathe, most shanks are fairly soft.


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## ericc (Dec 18, 2019)

The shank is soft, but it is 1/8", also for the Dremel.  The drill is an extra long bit that snapped off when I made a mistake.  I am trying to repurpose it into a smaller diameter bit for predrilling a gear blank, so the diameter should be about 0.07" - 0.08".  I was afraid that I would get a lot of chatter and refusal to cut, but it was actually pretty easy going.  There was just that problem with the rings, partially due to hand feeding inconsistencies.  The setup is remarkably rigid.  Like others, I tried the front bracket and found it lacking.  Adding a tight fitting rear support really helped.

Got some pictures, now.


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## Tozguy (Dec 18, 2019)

I have used a Dremel successfully for grinding on a lathe. From the pictures it seems like you are using a cut off disc which might explain the rough finish. Better results might be had by using a mounted stone.


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## ericc (Dec 18, 2019)

Hi Tozguy.  Thanks.  I'll give it a try.  The reason I used a cutting disk was that I read on the Internet that they are the only thing that worked.  I wanted to change the diameter of the drill, and am not skillful enough to do it freehand.  This worked really great.  I'll look into the surface finish issue later.


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## machPete99 (Dec 18, 2019)

I am wondering if doing something similar but using a 1/4" die grinder such as the Makita GD0601 might work oout better, for small scale grinding activities?


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## ericc (Dec 19, 2019)

Yes, a die grinder is a higher quality tool and should do a better job. This may be good enough for one. The next step is to freehand grind a spade point and edge clearance for indexed drilling. I realize that I could have just bought a carbide drill on eBay, but I needed a toolpost drill anyway to do the drilling, and now I have one.


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## JohnG (Dec 19, 2019)

I've found this little pneumatic die grinder very handy on a tool post.  Here it's sharpening a hollow chisel by internal grinding.





I've also mounted it vertically.  I'm sharpening a razor wheel with it.





I cut a bullnose profile on this leather faced honing wheel using a router cutter.  





This grinder had a nice thread on the front end, so it was easy to mount securely to a steel bar that fits into the tool post like any of my other lathe tools.


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