# Should I Buy A Dremel Or Dremel "Type" Tool Set?



## Anonymous (Mar 3, 2012)

Hello all,

I'm looking to buy a tool to do what a Dremel can do (default work), and I see them on eBay, plus I see some "non" Dremel tools with the same or similar rpm's compared to a Dremel, but at a lessor price.

My question is: Should I buy the Dremel brand or the other types I see?

I'm also concerned about the Dremel accessories that can be bought, but would they attach/fit the other brands... like the Dremel Tile Cutter or any other attachment that you can use with the Dremel.

Either way it goes, I now see the need to have a tool that can do intricate things dealing with the workings of the hard drives, cpu's, memory sticks, etc.

I just purchased a cordless 55 piece drill set and it arrived yesterday. I will be using it to crack open the over 260 hard drives I purchased this week, plus for other needed things to be done around the house and wherever.

I also notice that I can buy brand new 250+ accessories for the Dremel all in one package/case. I wonder if they would fit my cordless drill?

Any input appreciated.

testerman


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## Geo (Mar 3, 2012)

i have a Ryobi rotory tool. all the attatchments fit the collet on a dremmel.


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## Smack (Mar 3, 2012)

I don't understand what you need a dremel for in tearing this stuff apart. I have a dremel but in all the years I've been tearing things apart I found no use for it. I use 3 dewalt cordless drills with all the bits I could ever need and they do 90% of the work as far as tools go. The rest would be a hammer, flat screwdriver for prying, 1/4" sockets, punch set, side cutters and pliers. I also have a pneumatic die grinder I would pick over the dremel any day. Home Depot has a small jeweler type set of self contained drivers with very small torx bits that you need to take apart some hard drives. I could put some pic's up if you want.


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## Anonymous (Mar 3, 2012)

Geo said:


> i have a Ryobi rotory tool. all the attatchments fit the collet on a dremmel.


I'll look into that. I already have a Ryobi weed eater that has 6 different tools I can attach to it and make it a different tool. Ryobi is a good brand too.



Smack said:


> I don't understand what you need a dremel for in tearing this stuff apart. I have a dremel but in all the years I've been tearing things apart I found no use for it. I use 3 dewalt cordless drills with all the bits I could ever need and they do 90% of the work as far as tools go. The rest would be a hammer, flat screwdriver for prying, 1/4" sockets, punch set, side cutters and pliers. I also have a pneumatic die grinder I would pick over the dremel any day. Home Depot has a small jeweler type set of self contained drivers with very small torx bits that you need to take apart some hard drives. I could put some pic's up if you want.


I don't need it to take apart the hard drives, I have 2 different sets of computer bits/sets that will handle any screw I already tried from the 100 hard drives I took apart so far.

I am wanting to start dealing with the ic chips on all those memory sticks I have. If I'm going to be hunting for gold in them, then I want to be able to cut away as much of those pins as possible because I've read it hear that they will make up the bulk of the base metal when you go to start processing them. I'd rather cut them off as much as possible so I don't have to dig through the mix and try to separate them.

Plus I have more gold and silver stuff that I want to cut open and I also have the hard drive cases, which I'm wanting to melt down, but I may need to cut them at least in halves or quarters first. I'm still deciding on that one though. I also have close to 100 lbs of hard drive spindles and I'd like to see what they look like inside and if they're not much of a pain to do, I'll keep the aluminum parts and steel parts separated..... I might even use or sell the ball bearing in them... who knows. 

I might just buy the accessories for a Dremel/rotory tool and see if they'll work with my drill set. The only thing is the drill is big whereas the Dremel/rotory tool is small enough to put in the palm of your hand and grip it firmly while working with the other hand.

I'll keep weighing out my options.

Thanks for the input from the both of you.

testerman


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## NoIdea (Mar 3, 2012)

To dremel or not to dremel, whow heavey choice. :mrgreen: 

I use a dremel, use it to grind off the PM layers from large pyrolyzed voltage regulators, works quick efficiant and loads of noise and gets the job done.

cheers

Deano


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## Smack (Mar 3, 2012)

]
I am wanting to start dealing with the ic chips on all those memory sticks I have. If I'm going to be hunting for gold in them said:


> What memory sticks are you getting that have pins on them? Whatever your doing to take stuff off of circuit boards always try to do so without creating dust from grinding. If I want to de-solder I use a good heat gun to strip a board.


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## NoIdea (Mar 3, 2012)

testerman[/quote]

"...try to do so without creating dust from grinding.[/quote]

Sorry, My Bad, i should have included that i use a small homemade portable dust extractor, gently grinding off the surface directly into the extractor, and i would not use this method on fingers, it was just an example of the uses of a dremel.

Deano


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## Geo (Mar 3, 2012)

electronics are notorious for having heavy metal alloys in the copper legs. grinding shouldnt be your first choice but if its the only choice you have, try to be as safe as you can be and wear safety gear and employ every method you can to remove any dust from your clothing and person. wash before eating or smoking and keep your hands out of your mouth, nose and eyes.


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## Anonymous (Mar 4, 2012)

Thanks for the tips, recommendations and fair warnings you all have provided.

To *Smack*: I do however have a butane hand torch that does heat to approximately 2000F. And I also have another torch that heats to the same temp, yet it has a "jet stream" flame that gets narrow as a pin. I'll try to see which ones work the best, but I know I'll be needing a heat gun and a soldering & desoldering iron too. I'll look for something today.

To *Geo*: Thanks for the warning and advise. LOL... I don't want to be getting sick or killing over from the dust, which I'm aware of but didn't think about it while wanting to get a rotary tool. .. Now that I think about it, a respirator is something I definitely need to get.

On another note: I used my new drill set and I took apart more hard drives in just a fraction of the time it took me by hand manually to do just one. For every 5 hard drives I take aprt now, I'd be still doing my 2nd one, at most. Plus it gave the middle part of my palm a rest. When I first started doing it by hand, pushing down to get the tool to loosen the screws, my palm have been hurting/sore for about 3 days. I still have around 225 more hard drives to crack open. 

Also, I'm going to do a video and take pictures and post a link here for the people new to taking apart hard drives because there's more gold in them than just the logic boards. I have some hard drives that have gold on the bottom of the spindle and some hard drives that have gold on the top AND bottom of the spindle AND gold pins. So far I only have two of them, but I'll show a lineup of the spindles and I'm going to show the fast and easy way to take the gold off the bottom of them easily without breaking the contacts all up.

Last Note: Of all the forums I've been a member of in my life, this is the ONLY forum where I have bookmarked more topics/posts than all of my forum memberships put together. This site is too valuable to not get ahead in the gold/silver/, etc, refining knowledge. 

Thanks again to all of you.

testerman


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## silversaddle1 (Mar 4, 2012)

Why do people insist on making more work for themselves? First off, why do you want to melt down the HD cases? You do understand that once you melt them down into ingots, the scrap yard will pay the lowest grade price they can just because they don't know what your ingot is made of.

May I make a suggestion. If I were you I would call around to all the different scrap yards around you and find one that will buy the cases (or whole HD's) from you as-is. 

We scrap around 200 drives a week around here. We remove the logic board, then crush the HD and throw it in a box. That's it. Our scrap yard pays .55 cents a pound for the whole (crushed) drive, motor and all. Use your time wisely, don't let a nickel stand in the way of a dollar. 

And if you do buy any tool, remember this. You get what you pay for. It's fine to buy the cheap Harbour Freight bits, but always buy the best tools you can afford. A good tool will last way longer than three cheap ones.


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## Anonymous (Mar 4, 2012)

silversaddle1 said:


> Why do people insist on making more work for themselves? First off, why do you want to melt down the HD cases? You do understand that once you melt them down into ingots, the scrap yard will pay the lowest grade price they can just because they don't know what your ingot is made of.
> 
> May I make a suggestion. If I were you I would call around to all the different scrap yards around you and find one that will buy the cases (or whole HD's) from you as-is.
> 
> ...


I won't be making work hard on myself at all. My thoughts and possibilities are just that. I know of places around here that I can contact to find out how much they'll pay for the hard drive cases and all the other scrap aluminum I have. I'm just trying to get feedback and ideas of what would be the best route to go with a rotary tool to use with my hard drives.

I wouldn't dare sell hard drives for $0.55 per pound after taking out just the logic board. You're throwing away money from the magnets AND you're throwing away money from the gold that is on many of the motors... on the bottom of them. I have plenty I can show you. So, if you're keeping the logic boards, you may want to take the extra time to remove at least the gold contacts on the bottom of the spindles/motors. As a matter of fact, some of those motors have gold on the top and bottom of them, along with gold pins on the top.

I'd be willing to pay you $0.75 per lb of hard drives as long as they were full. You may not think so, but you're throwing money away by doing what you say you're doing (throwing the motors in with the scrap).... yet, you're compensating and making more from the aluminum from the motors because they aren't full aluminum. They have steel and copper and probably other metals in them too, which add to the weight. 

I have over 200 lbs of magnets from hard drives and they sell like hot cakes alone. You could sell the platters alone and get a nice chunk of money... just don't say platinum is in them that's worth recovering. The copper alone, from all the weight of all the hard drives would surely bring you more money than just scrapping those hard drives the way to say you do it. I wish I was near you, I'd be your best customer to sell your hard drives to.

Right now for me it's not about the money. It's about compiling enough material and there will be a need for it... in due time. The magnets from those hard drives will probably be worth more than you think in a few years due to word about the rarity of the type of magnets they are. I believe China holds the pot in their hands and they're not letting it loose.

From the many hard drives I took apart so far, I have a few pounds of copper alone, which is far more worth than the 10's of lbs pile of aluminum, a few times over. 

When I make time, I'll post some picture of what I've recovered from the hard drives, and a picture especially showing how much gold from the contacts I am getting from the motors.

Before I knew about what the motors were actually made of, I bought 50 lbs of motors for a very cheap price... thinking platinum/silver may be on them, and since I've been dealing with the hard drives so much, I found a quick and easy way to get all of that gold off the motors they left on those spindles/motors. 

But I just wanted to know if a Dremel or off brand was worth getting working with hard drives and other components. I guess I'll just get one just to have it and use it as I see fit for the need to use it.

Thanks for the info.... and let me know if you're willing to sell full hard drives for $0.75 per lb.

testerman


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## silversaddle1 (Mar 4, 2012)

Sure, I'll sell them to you. But remember, they have been crushed. And that might not be all bad for you since the motors and platters usually just fall right out of the case. We too used to strip them down as you do now. But when you are bringing is 1000's of pounds of computers on a weekly basis, you can't afford to strip them that far anymore.


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## DONNZ (Mar 4, 2012)

Another tool to consider. $20.00 at Harbor Freight. It's a nibbler not a saw. Metal cutting blades available. 
If you don't have a coupon they have them in the store.
I haven't run out of things to cut.


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## Anonymous (Mar 4, 2012)

DONNZ said:


> Another tool to consider. $20.00 at Harbor Freight. It's a nibbler not a saw. Metal cutting blades available.
> If you don't have a coupon they have them in the store.
> I haven't run out of things to cut.


LOL... you're something else.... I was thinking about one of them, plus I believe I posted a link on eBay trying to illustrate the rotary tool I thought a poster was talking about.

I have more than computer parts to use with the tool, and I'm sure many of you can think of more things I could use it with too. They're fairly inexpensive on eBay and probably other places too online.

Do you use it on computer/electronic parts?.... and if so, what do you use it on and how efficient/fast/safe is it?

To *silversaddle1*: Can you show me a picture of one of the hard drives "crushed"? I don't want to have to fight my drill just to drill the screws out. By the way... I have some pictures I took a few minutes ago and I'll upload them to show everyone ( especially newbies to refining/collecting gold like myself) how much gold is in the motors.... this came from just 52 hard drives so far out of a 50 lb box of motors and approximately 79 full hard drives so far..... not counting the 225+ I have to go. 

But show me what a crushed hard drive or a pile of them look like and I'll let you know if I would be buying them from you or not. 


Much love, again to all of you. You're teaching me as I go along, and I need it too.

testerman


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## DONNZ (Mar 5, 2012)

testerman:

I get back to you on the cutting metal thing, blade is MIA. It's around here somewhere. 
As far as safe I can put my finger against the blade, finger still attached.


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## etack (Mar 7, 2012)

this is a pic of what they look like after silversaddle1 is done with them.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLESiPjy3Mg


I sell mine (-the board) at the scraper as old sheet.


Eric


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## ericrm (Mar 7, 2012)

testerman
i would love to see those picture


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