Rotary tools are hardware tools that provide a fast rotation of a given bit or head using an electric motor. The bit or head of rotary tools can be replaced depending on the function needed. Rotary tools are very good tools that have limitless uses. That is why a rotary tool is very useful in any laboratory or shop. You can grind, sand, clean, polish, engrave, cut, and do wood work and metal work. You can even use it as a toothbrush or an electric fan if you’re up to it.
Why are rotary tools very important? They give you a good flexibility in the work place. If you are a person who like to do-it-yourself, or if you have a shop or a garage that you want to give a good functionality of tools, you would want to have a good rotary tool.
There are a variety of rotary tools available in the market. The specific rotary tools that will give you an advantage on cost, flexibility and control will be the hand held rotary tools.
What for and when do you use rotary tools?
Ø When you don’t want to buy expensive drill set stations or fixtures
o Simple rotary tools can do the work of drills. You just have to pop in a good drill bit and you are ready.
o Depending on the size of your rotary tool and the amount of work required for the drilling, simple or hand held rotary tools give you the advantage as it is more handy and easier to handle for out of position drilling jobs.
Ø Sanding surfaces
o Sanding surfaces need tremendous work to do manually. Depending on the coverage of sanding, you can use rotary tools to do the sanding for you.
o Rotary tools come with a variety of sanding bits and heads to choose from. So the sanding job’s requirement can be dealt with
o Usually big assemblies that require a good handle from the tools. Rotary tools, especially hand held rotary tools give you the edge by giving you good control. Big assemblies cannot be put on fixtures so using a hand held rotary tool is very helpful
Ø Engraving names or figures
o Usually, builds and assemblies require labeling as a signature for identity on the batch of the builds, signature of the builder or just a simple numbering job. Handheld rotary tools can do this task by installing good bits to do the engraving.
o Engraving with a hand held tool is very easy as hand held tools are light. You can use them to engrave on metal, wood or plastic materials with ease.
Ø Polishing
o Rotary tools provide you a good deal of polishing work as. It provides good speed and depending on the head installed with provides a good polish that is very hard to attain manually.
Ø Cutting
o Cutting is made possible for rotary tools, again by just replacing the head/bit. Just by replacing the head or the bit with a circular sharp edged bit, it will do the trick.
The Idea is, you’re creativity is the limit for your usage of the hand held rotary tool. But before you do that, you should be able to find the right handheld tool for you.
What are the requirements for a good handheld tool?
Ø Good Torque!
o If you have a good torque then you’ll have the capability to tackle a well round of materials. Even get on with the stainless steel cutting tasks.
o A good torque however is not enough to tackle heavy jobs on hard materials as you still need good bits that are right for the job.
Ø Good top speed capability, preferably variable
o Speed of course plays a factor. Speed here will amount to more work done. Speed here is referred to rotational speed. The more rotations you have, the more work you do. A good handheld rotary tool should be able to do more work for you.
o A variable speed also allows you to mellow down on delicate tasks.
Ø Power source
o Power source plays a factor. A corded handheld rotary tool may be harder to use than a DC powered. Depending on the type of work needed to be done, it’s always more comfortable to use a cordless DC powered rotary tool. It allows you to be more flexible and gives you more reach for the jobs.
Ø Light weight
o A heavy rotary tool provides less control. Weight will give a disadvantage. A heavier rotary tool gives less handle and will get you all worked up simply by holding it up for the task.
Ø Costs less
o Handheld rotary tools should not be expensive. Although cost may be a limiting factor for performance, it should always be good to get the most from every penny you spend.
Ø Should have a good set of bits
o The rotary tools are useless without the bits. The bits give you the most flexibility. You should be able to find good bit sets that go along with the rotary tool purchase.
o It should also be easy to replace bits on the Rotary tool. Having a hard time on replacing bits will reduce work rate and will make you crazy hot headed. A simple click, remove, replace and tighten procedure should be followed. ( Not a hold, grasp, hold firmly, use a vise grip, wrench the lock, put in place, align the bit, slowly tighten, hold firmly and secure procedure.)
What is the best handheld rotary tool?
Ø For me, DREMEL has the best sets of handheld rotary tools in the market today. You have to check them out for yourselves though.
o I currently use a DREMEL 300-N/10 Handheld rotary tool. It gives me the capability to do all sorts of tasks mentioned above. This specific tool has a variable speed, good top speed and torque, light weight. They also give a good choice of bit sets along with it. It’s pretty nice so check it out.
o DREMEL also gives a range of rotary tools to choose from, so cost should not be an issue. You’ll probably have to get a hold of a better range of bit sets though.
