Die Grinder Table

Just curious- why are you shaping the wood with a die grinder instead of a sander and/or router?
 
I am not sure what Ninos reason is for using a die grinder.  I find guys who have been involved with metal like to use it in their wood work. Just think of it as a glorified dremel. I like them because it is a motorized hand carver. With a carbide bit you rarely have to change it unlike sandpaper. The die grinder is calmed down version of a router it will never grab material like a router and it is fairly easy to carve to a line.
I use mine for deadbolt lock strikes ... Instead of using a file which is hard to use in a shallow hole. The die grinder cuts both metal and wood at the same time. So it is easy grind off a 1/16 to make a smooth neat fit for the lock strike. The only thing I find that is dangerous is to put it free hand into a  very narrow hole ... It will dance around like a wild banzshe. Not fun  [crying]
Give it a try it is very usefull tool.. You might like it.
 
LBIsackson said:
I use mine for deadbolt lock strikes ... Instead of using a file which is hard to use in a shallow hole. The die grinder cuts both metal and wood at the same time. So it is easy grind off a 1/16 to make a smooth neat fit for the lock strike. The only thing I find that is dangerous is to put it free hand into a  very narrow hole ... It will dance around like a wild banzshe. Not fun  [crying]
Give it a try it is very usefull tool.. You might like it.

I've got a Dremel that I use for that very purpose- used it just last week on our closet door that suddenly didn't want to engage the latch, and it worked like a charm.  I've just never seen one used in a stationary configuration with a fence, which would lead one to think that it was being used to shape edges- I've always used it for freehand work like you mentioned.
 
it has been my experience that a dremel just sucks...lame bearings no tourque and can not really stand up to real heavy use. you would have to by a real crappy die grinder for it to suck as bad as a dremel.
 
A Dremel wasn't designed to replace big heavy-duty tools.  Often you don't need that -- rather, the Dremel replaces a lot of other tools, but for small-scale activities.  I like to think of it as a tool that fills in a lot of gaps between the capabilities of other tools.

For that it works extremely well.
 
fdengel said:
A Dremel wasn't designed to replace big heavy-duty tools.  Often you don't need that -- rather, the Dremel replaces a lot of other tools, but for small-scale activities.  I like to think of it as a tool that fills in a lot of gaps between the capabilities of other tools.

For that it works extremely well.

Exactly- if I was going to port and polish a set of cylinder heads, or carve a totem pole out of a log, I'd take to it with a die grinder.  When I've got to take a sixteenth off a door strike plate, I'll go with the Dremel. 
 
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