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Tool for cutting

1880 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Lutron
Had wanted to know what all you can cut with the Rotozip spiral cutter besides wood drywall and ceramic ? Will it work on vinyl ,plastic,cinderblock
or aluminum?
Also are there specific cutting attachments for different materials that it uses ?
Any info is appreciated
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Tried going on the Rotozip web site?
Not the best choice of tool for cutting plastic or aluminum, it spins to fast and will tend to just melt it and clog up the burr.
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Can depend in thickness with some im sure..which bit or attatchement for concrete or cinderblock?..ssme one as cutting tile?
I've tried every bit made for a Roto-Zip----

That said, it is not good for cutting much more than drywall.

The high speed burns up every bit in seconds---so cutting tile--you will be lucky to cut 2 inches with soft bisque backed tile---less if any with porcelain tile.

Wood cutting? A few inches and it becomes a smoke cloud----

Great tool for drywall--I have several, but if you need to cut other materials---there are better tools available.
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Best thing is to get the correct tool for the job. You CAN use a recip saw to cut drywall, hack through studs and nails, cut out patterns in plastic or plywood or two bye twelves.....but you shouldn't. Rotozip killewr for drywall, not so much for anything else. Ron
An oscillating tool is much better for almost all those materials.
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The high speed burns up every bit in seconds
Mike, I'm currently having a problem with cutting out thinset that oozed up in the grout joints while setting mosaic tile, and it hardened (long story, don't ask). My usual means of cutting it out won't work because it's a little hex mosaic, similar to
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Merola-T...Mosaic-Tile-8-54-sq-ft-case-FDXMHMW/202647811

The best thing I've found of the things I've tried is this bit on a Dremel.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=7144

This works better than this
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=9910

The problem is I'm going through too many of these. Burned up 5 so far and I'm about halfway through the bathroom floor (maybe 20% of the tile has to have the thinset cut out.) So my question to you is, what should the Dremel speed setting be? I have it set on high right now, I just assumed that would be best.
You'll need to find the best setting for what your doing, the higher the speed the more heat it will generate and burn up your bit, slow it down and it may take a little longer, but your bit should last longer also.
Oh,boy.

Welcome to the world of 'learning from your mistakes'

I use a multi tool to remove the extra thinset if I let it go to long to simply knife it out.

The tile you have sound like the blades might be to long----could you trim down an old blade with a pair of tin snips?
If this was in response to me....

I use a multi tool to remove the extra thinset if I let it go to long to simply knife it out.
As you can see, this won't work in the case of the mini hex mosaics.

The tile you have sound like the blades might be to long----could you trim down an old blade with a pair of tin snips?
I don't understand this at all :)
Should work on all of those substrates with the correct blade.
Agreed, as the proper blade will be able to handle the work depending on the power tool that is.

Before Bosch purchased Roto Zip, I purchased what I presume to be a first generation Roto Zip Rebel Spiral Saw and since that time this tool has worked quite well for me.

Definitely wouldn't use this to cut tile, as for that I'd use a oscillating power tool. Primarily what I've used my Rebel Spiral saw for is to cut metal and I've had moderate success with this. By no means is this a proper angle grinder at all, but has worked well for most projects.

Trust me on this, invest in some decent PPE, as in the long run, this is not only cheaper, but could save your life potentially.
What I found was the the 7144 didn't seem to get hot. It was "cool" to the touch during normal use. It must have a thin coating of diamond on it. As soon as the very tip broke or rubbed off, or the diamond coating wore off in a spot, things went downhill very quickly. Then they would heat up, but at those spots it was spinning plain metal. I'm not sure they "burned" up as simply wore off.
What I found was the the 7144 didn't seem to get hot. It was "cool" to the touch during normal use. It must have a thin coating of diamond on it. As soon as the very tip broke or rubbed off, or the diamond coating wore off in a spot, things went downhill very quickly. Then they would heat up, but at those spots it was spinning plain metal. I'm not sure they "burned" up as simply wore off.
On Dremel's main website, model number 7144 is diamond particles.

Now when you are working with diamond coated products, generally speaking this is a good idea to have a small spray bottle filled with water near by and gently mist the diamond product. This will prevent this from over heating, but also act as a lubricant as well.

Especially when working with metal, this is a good idea. Roto Zip does have a line of diamond hole saws if you are trying to cut a hole in tile. Here is a link to that information.
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