Dremel not

[88V8]

Dremel 8100 cordless.
Perhaps 30 mins running time over many months.
Today, cutting a copper pipe, hot smell, and now the speed control is kaput. Flat out or nothing,

I see that one supplier is out of stock of the offending part, which costs £28.

If I google Dremel fault, or the like, I find plenty of hits.

Is there a clone which will take the accessories, and reliably do the job ?

V8

[Mike4]

Wrong tool for the right job or what??!!!!

Use a tube cutter. Seriously.

[servodude]

I have a shi**y Black and Decker that takes Dremel bits (used it to sharpen my hand axe yesterday)
- so I think most clones will take the same things
- and get a pipe cutter

-sd

[bungeejumper]

Two year warranty, but presumably yours is older than that? I see that this model has been around for seven years.

FWIW, my fifteen quid Xenta/Powerline corded drill (corded, currently £16, https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1941922811) seems to have the same chuck and does all the neat, fiddly, artistic things that looked jolly useful at the time. . Although, apart from scoring some bathroom tiles and some fine polishing, it hasn't actually had a lot of use, it's still good to know it's there in case I ever take up building model ships from matchsticks, or engraving pewter plates with pictures of Princess Diana.

Deffo a pipe cutter job for the copper. The little circular ones are particularly handy.

BJ

[jfgw]

A pipe slice gets into most places but you need one for each size,
https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger ... tter/36198 . I have used a Fein Multimaster in tight spots but, even with the finest blade, there is some deburring to do. I used this when fixing a leak from underneath (there was already a hole in the ceiling) that someone-else (a plumber) reckoned would require a bit of disruption and floorboard removal in the bathroom above.

If there is room to use it, a normal, adjustable pipe cutter with a good wheel is best. If you start with a light adjustment and increase gradually, you should get a clean cut with very little burr.


Julian F. G. W.

[88V8]

A pipe slice gets into most places but you need one for each size,
https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger ... tter/36198 .

Yes, thankyou, those circular cutter are handy, but this pipe is in a corner. And immediately below where I needed to make the cut, there is a Nibco tee going through one wall and below that another tee going through the other wall - wood panelled - so the pipe is pretty immovable and there isn't space for the pipe cutter.
If I had a flexible saw that might have done it but I don't.

The Dremel howling at 33,000 rpm finished the job this morning using one of those discs that clicks onto the arbor https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dremel-EZ-Sp ... Sw9otfMeeL

I was capping the pipe, that previously went to a butler's sink. Those were the days. Butlers.
Anyway, the only cap I had was Nibco and I'm always nervous using that vertically, especially at mains pressure but needs must as it's a ten mile round trip to the nearest merchant.

Then I rescued my asbestos cloth that I haven't needed for the last eight years and have been using to [temporarily hah!] block a mouse hole in the bedroom, only to find that the little bleeders have removed much of it presumably to insulate their nests. Fortunately there was sufficient remaining that I didn't set light to the wood.
Humph

And the water didn't escape. Well remember the day when I re-used an old Yorkshire fitting on a mains pipe crossing the dining room ceiling and it blew off when I turned the water back on. Forty-odd years ago but I remember it well, as does OH who was standing underneath to check for drips.

V8

[bungeejumper]

Well remember the day when I re-used an old Yorkshire fitting on a mains pipe crossing the dining room ceiling and it blew off when I turned the water back on. Forty-odd years ago but I remember it well, as does OH who was standing underneath to check for drips.

You re-used a Yorkshire?

Still, at least yours had the good grace to fail immediately. One of our flat tenants had a father who claimed to be a plumber, but who clearly thought the rules didn't apply to him. He put a Yorkshire T connector onto a pipe for a washing machine, and all three ends of the connector leaked. Slowly, insidiously, mercilessly.... It cost us a big repair to a downstairs ceiling, which unfortunately belonged to somebody else.

Judging by the amount of dead solder splattered all over the surrounding pipework, I can only imagine that Father had tried to end-solder the Yorkshire joint while the connection was still full of water. Either that, or he'd messed it up the first time, seen it leaking, and decided that it only needed a bit of extra solder, but no need to drain the pipe, cos it was "nearly right", wasn't it?

Then Father tried to bill us for the repair. Including VAT, which he wasn't registered for. We parted company soon after that.

BJ

[88V8]

You re-used a Yorkshire?

Well my mother was Yorkshire, my father Lancashire. We can be a bit tight

My inner Scrooge just bought that Xenta you flagged previously. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I remembered that I bought the Dremel from Axminster, and I actually found the bill. There's a lot to be said for paper receipts.
So I emailed to ask for a return.
Sometimes it's worth paying a bit more to buy from a quality retailer. Good luck with sending stuff back to sellers on eBay or Amazon.

V8

[jackdaww]

i bought a very cheap pipe cutter - amazon or ebay .

used it dozens of times - easy .

[DrFfybes]

i bought a very cheap pipe cutter - amazon or ebay .

used it dozens of times - easy .

I have a not very cheap Rothenberger all metal pipe cutter for 15mm pipes - it is fantastic. Very solid and winds on to the pipe and you must turn it in the correct direction.
I also have a 22mm in red and yellow plastic that has a hinged piece to insert the pipe. This is also pretty good but somehow seems to need a bit of works to get it on straight - not as easy to use.

The new place has 8mm copper / 10mm plastic pipes buried in the plaster - I paid someone to plumb in the new rads last week [1].

Paul

[1] A man's got to know his limitations.

[88V8]

The new place has 8mm copper / 10mm plastic pipes buried in the plaster

Gosh, microbore.
That was all the rage 50 years ago. Can't get much hot water through an 8mm pipe.

V8

[jackdaww]

The new place has 8mm copper / 10mm plastic pipes buried in the plaster

Gosh, microbore.
That was all the rage 50 years ago. Can't get much hot water through an 8mm pipe.

V8

=================================

i find 10mm copper is fine .

certainly not buried in plaster - do they still do that ?

all wiring/plumbing i do is in wooden boxed channels , brought down from ceiling level .

accessible , safe and simple.

[servodude]

The new place has 8mm copper / 10mm plastic pipes buried in the plaster

Gosh, microbore.
That was all the rage 50 years ago. Can't get much hot water through an 8mm pipe.

V8

=================================

i find 10mm copper is fine .

certainly not buried in plaster - do they still do that ?

all wiring/plumbing i do is in wooden boxed channels , brought down from ceiling level .

accessible , safe and simple.

Worked on a telemetry project for a pressurized sewer system; 50mm directionally drilled flexible-rigid pipe replacing the septic tanks for 1200 homes. Lovely progressive cavity pumps pushing "content" at 30m head.
With enough force you can push anything through just about anywhere - but in a retro fitted system with solid waste that will rise 30m from a 2" pipe you need good telemetry and early warning.

-sd

[bungeejumper]

Gosh, microbore.
That was all the rage 50 years ago. Can't get much hot water through an 8mm pipe.

My wife's old house had microbore, which IIRC had two pumps in line, rather than one. Serviceable, but the higher pressure may well have explained why the heat exchanger in her eight year old boiler gave out catastrophically one day and flooded the house.

BJ

[88V8]

And the pressure needed to shove the water around a microbore system tends to make it noisy, a lot of bloops and swooshes. The system I installed in our previous house, in 1982, had about 5ft of microbore, which I hid behind a skirting in the bedroom.

So, all's well that ends well with the Dremel. I bought it from Axminster, they referred me to Bosch who handle guarantee claims. Bosch sent a courier to pick it up, and after a couple of weeks told me they would not be repairing it, but would send me a replacement.
Said replacement was a newer model with more bells and whistles, plus a small kit of accessories.
Well pleased.

Although would have been better pleased had I not realised today that the surplus charger I threw away was the one for the new Dremel, and the charger for the old one does not fit the new battery. Doh.

V9