Your thoughts on the Dremel Rotary Tool

Dremels are ok for some operations, but they are just one tool in the vast amount of tools used to work on firearms.
I have seen a ton of guns screwed up cause of that nifty gadget.

Dremels CAN be a useful gunsmith tool, IF properly used and for proper tasks.
Polishing of larger areas is NOT one of them.
While you can polish small parts, larger areas and really bright finishes require larger polishing buffs and motors.

The Dremel has a bad reputation for ruining guns, but that's the fault of the user, not the tool.

The Dremel has a rheostat available to regulate speed.

A better choice, if you can afford it, is a Foredom Flex Shaft.
These are MUCH more powerful, and can be regulated from 0 to extremely high speeds, with a lot of torque., plus they last just about forever.
I got mine in watchmakers school in the late 1960's used it in a long watchmaking and gunsmithing career, and it's still going strong with no maintenance or trouble other than a new shaft sheath.

As stated up above, the problem with the dremel is that it polishes a very small spot. Unless the entire gun was polished to the same degree that little spot would shine like a mini mirror. Other thing to look at is what media are you using for polish. Anything harder than red rouge, used for gold since it will not easily remove surface material, can make a mark at 10,000 rpm. IF you do not watch what you are doing. Polishing can also be done with auto wet/dry papers. 1000 grit to 2000 grit and even 3000. But do not expect fast work to be done with 2000 grit and oil. You can make stainless look like a mirror with it, but it will take a while.

Dremel is NOT a "gun tool" -- Period.

If you want to slow a dremel way down, you can use a lamp dimmer. I don't know if it works with a multi speed tool but I have done this on a single speed one.

+1 to what everyone else said.

A Dremel is indispensable in a gun shop for feed ramp work, etc..

But you simply cannot use it for polishing scratches out of a pistol frame, or any other large or flat area.

The newer Dremel variable speeds use internal electronic speed control circuit boards. They don't take kindly to rheostat induced voltage fluctuations.

It lets the smoke get out of the circuit board!

rcmodel

It lets the smoke get out of the circuit board!

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Piffle. Circuit boards don't hold much smoke. Look at the battery cable on your car...Now that holds a bunch of smoke! I have proved it to myself.

(Now we will have to explain how smoke makes electrical systems work )
Joe

Where can I find the circuit board in my battery cable. Mine proably needs changing.

I enjoy using my Dremel to hog out my rifle stocks before I bed the action with epoxy (or Acra-Glas, as the case might be...).

This job, without a Dremel, would be tedious - to say the least.

Stocks only! I never get one near a gun.

CRITGIT

All too often, this ends up being the equation:

Bubba + Dremel = ruined firearm

It’s a useful tool that has its place but is probably responsible for more “screw ups” than any other tool on the planet. It would be different if they cost $15,000 as people would buy the correct equipment to perform the job they are going to hack at.

Use the Dremel with felt attachments to polish the feed ramp, lightly. To knock down the extreme shine on my SS Champ, I took it apart and pushed the entire flat parts on fine metal sandpaper in one direction to create a nice brushed finish. A Dremel will leave shiny spots.

I screw something up almost every time I get a Dremel out.

"...with felt attachments..." Exactly. The cloth wheels and jeweller's rouge will polish without removing metal. The guys who damage things are using the assorted stones. As in grinding stones.
"...indispensable in a gun shop for feed ramp work..." Those are the jobs that are very easy to screw up with a rotary tool, if you're using a stone. Takes a lot of practice with one to get the touch just right.
'Dremel' is just a brand name for an expensive rotary tool. The attachments cost more with the 'Dremel' name on the package too.

I use the felt tips (of various types) and a variety of super fine polishing pastes to do different types of fine smoothing and polishing of wear points and other "fluff n' buff" operations.

BUT (and this is a HUGE disclaimer)

I also have almost 35 years of practice using rotary tools in fine scale modeling work (wood, metal, and plastic) so by now I've developed a solid feel for what a rotary tool will and won't do as well as a good "touch" for using the tool without error.

If you haven't had a lot of practice with one I can guarantee that you will screw up and screw up BADLY faster than you could ever possibly imagine!

Also, as someone else said a small rotary tool is not good for large area polishing (say an area bigger than a dime). For that get something bigger with a large felt wheel.

I are a mechanic so I is safe. I have tons of metalworking experience with tools that do a lot more damage than a dremel so I enjoy having a dremel around for odd jobs. Not big polishing though. A lot of people I have seen do metal work can't be trusted with a pencil eraser(it's abrasive) let alone a dremel tool, electric screwdriver, impact wrench, or anything else that gives them a slight mechanical edge over the poor hunks of metal they are torturing. Those folks would be best served by throwing their dremel on the train tracks while driving to the gunsmith. Severe cases may want to limit the disassembly of their gun to removing the magazine.

I like the dremel when fitted into a router base as it can be handy when inletting the internals for sidelocks, though I prefer to use hand tools when I am working up to the edges of the plate. As for polishing it has it's place in some limited areas; however, I'm one of the ones that has the opinion that proper metal polishing is largely a task that is best done by hand without power equipment.

About 85% of the guns messed up with a Dremel are the result of using a GRINDING tool rather than a POLISHING tool.

The other 15% come from impatience or inappropriate application, such as trying to Dremel what should be slowly & carefully stoned or filed, or trying to use a Dremel to polish a large surface area.

I hardly ever use a carbide burr or fast cutting tool on anything other than stock inletting; for guns I use the abrasive-impregnated rubber tools for quick polishing, as well as felt tools with something like Simichrome for polishing feed ramps and such.

Haven't messed up anything yet with a Dremel.

Oh . . . and with a Dremel, eye protection (I'm talking goggles, not just eyeglasses) is probably more necessary than with any other single tool I use, as I'm usually peering *closely* at something, and the high speed of the tool can, and does, fling stuff off with some force.

and the high speed of the tool can, and does, fling stuff off with some force.

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Not to mention the occasional bit that just blows apart for whatever reason.

Ok, so a dremel (rotory tool) is out for polishing guns. What do you recommend then for a complete polish job (that a homeowner can afford on a budget) on a 7 1/2 barrel revolver?

Well, there's always the tried and true hand tool methods. Silicon carbide paper (think fine, fine, fine: 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 grits) used cautiously with shopmade sanding blocks and/or using a file as a sanding block. Polishing compounds. And time, time, time. Go slow and careful and remove no more metal than you ABSOLUTELY have to. Do not destroy detail and do not round over corners or alter contours. Take your time. And did I mention go slow?

A well known gunsmith told me that the Dremel tool is a gunsmith's best friend because all the screwups create business.

I gave mine away after I realized that I didn't have enough sense to use it correctly.