Dremel & Stew-Mac?

[PumpJockey]

Santa brought me a Dremel 3000. I have seen various Dremel attachments in the Stew-Mac catalog. Any thoughts/hints/tips? I am specifically interested in the binding router bit and the jig they sell.

Thanks and have a great holiday.

[SacDAve]

I got a Dremel 4000 for christmas. The first thing i'll buy is the Dremel router attachment I do a lot of inlay work not just on guitars. But for binding on a guitar I've used a dremel before with a special bit. IMO spending your money on the stew Mac binding bit and guide bearings is a much better option.http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Sp..._Bearings.html

[bullfrogblues]

Years ago I bought a router type attachment for my Dremel from Stew-mac, with the bit. It worked as advertized, only problem is the bit dulled quickly, and most of the binding route was burned. It was extremely difficult to make the binding/glue stick to it without cleaning it burned wood.
I would opt for a trim router and a good carbide-tipped bit instead.

[Jack Wells]

For routing a binding channel, I think your best bet is StewMac's carbide binding bit and a router table.

[kwerk]

For binding I just use a regular flush trim bit with an aftermarket bearing in my 1/4" router, in the router table. I've been mostly using a 1/2 cutter with a 3/8 bearing for double thick binding, allowing me either a solid colour or a WBW type setup. Stewmac's version of this setup has a very comprehensive bearing set for very precise control over channel width.

The attachment I'd jump for straight away would be the router base. The Dremel branded router bases are embarrassingly bad (at least my one is).

[javabirds]

Just did this and have two impressions:
The jig needs to be tightened with pliers -not just hand tight. The whole thing jiggled itself loose and I had tear-out.

The binding bearing and bit that go with this jig are probably perfect for acoustic binding but it does not go deep enough to to les-Paul style binding.

In short, it is really made for inlay work and possibly shallow binding on acoustics - after you tighten everything down with pliers!

[PumpJockey]

After a couple of days I think I agree. The Dremel is great, but I'm using it for close-in work and clean up.

We got new kitchen countertops recently and I took a section of the old formica top and made a router table out of it. Big, flat and slippery, it has made me much more likely to use a table for routing.