

Well, it can essentially do all the same tasks as a router, but it’s major downfall is that it simply can’t do them on a large enough scale to be relevant when it comes to general woodworking.ĭremels are great for intricate, technical work like freehand engraving, deburring, and making low profiles on edges, but they’re really not practical if you’re wanting to take off more than about an ⅛” of material at a time. So how can the dremel tool be used as a router, then? Router: How can you use your Dremel tool as a router? Full-size routers are a much more practical, efficient, and effective tool for general woodworking. You could potentially cut grooves, rebates, inlays, and profile edges with a dremel, but the work would be super slow and tedious, and you just can’t take off enough material at a time to make working with one practical on a large - or even normal - size piece of wood.Īlso, another super key thing to consider is that whenever a dremel tool is put under a high enough load (like it would be if you tried to use one on a piece of ½” hardwood), it has potential for the bit to slip out of the chuck, which can really flub up an otherwise nice piece of work in a hurry. (Check out this video for a great visualization of what a router can do that a dremel can’t). Things like planing/milling rough lumber stock down flat, cutting joints, grooves and rebates, rounding/profiling edges, carving recesses, and shaping large pieces of material, just to name a few. Simply put, a full-size router can do tons of things that a small dremel tool cannot - just based off of size and power alone. Look at it this way: the standard Dremel 4000 puts out something like 1.5 amps, while a mid-range router (like the DeWalt DWP611) puts out about 7 amps, and a full-size router (like the 618) will do up to 12 amps. Naturally, this has got a lot of people thinking, “well hell, can’t I just save myself a bunch of money and use my Dremel tool for everything that a router could do?”

(Check out this cool video to see one set in a plunge router attachment). Kind of like how ‘skil saw’ is used to describe circular saws in general, regardless of whether or not they’re Skil brand).Īnyway, with these slick little dremel router attachments, you really can turn your small rotary tool into a perfectly functioning - albeit pint-sized - router. (A quick note, be mindful not to confuse the loosely-used term ‘dremel’, which describes any kind of handheld high RPM rotary tool, with the actual brand name ‘Dremel’. While they don’t often get the recognition or common usage as, say, the circular saw, there really is no limit to what one could do with a router - they’re regarded in many circles as literally the most versatile tool in the world.īut what’s gotten a lot of people mixed up recently is Dremel’s introduction of their router attachment pieces, which essentially turns the tiny little handheld tools into, well, miniature routers. Depending on the bit that’s attached to them, they can be used for literally just about everything: cutting, sanding, etching, inlaying, camfering/rounding edges, engraving, and on and on and on. Router - What do they do?Īt their core, bother dremel tools and full-size routers are high speed, high RPM rotary (spinning) tools.
Dremel plunge router update#
Last update on / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API First Things First: Dremel vs. TOP RATED Dremel 4000-4/34 High Performance Rotary Tool Kit with Variable Speed Rotary Tool, 4 Attachments and 34 Accessoriesĭremel 710-08 All-Purpose Rotary Accessory Kit, 160-Piece router discussion, and try and clear up some potential misconceptions you might have about either of these two super useful tools. While these are perfectly good questions, the answers aren’t necessarily as straightforward as ‘yes’ or ‘no’, so we figured we’d take the time to go into a bit more depth regarding the whole dremel vs. One question that we seem to get a lot of is: “can a dremel be used as a router?” Or, “can I use my dremel tool in place of a router?”
