Models 275, 285, 395, and 398; 100, 200, 300, and 400 Series; 3000, 4000, 4200, 8200, and 8220 are all good for this.
An easy-to-use plunge lock-in handle and two depth stops make it easy to quickly change the depth of a drill.
Construction made of plastic and metal
The plunge router attachment comes with an edge guide, a circle cutting guide, a mounting wrench, and a manual.
1 year warranty: 6 by 5-1/2 inches; 1 year
An overview of what this item is about
Turn your corded Dremel rotary tool into a small plunge router. You can cut decorative edges, straight slots, or rout freehand with this tool.
Plunge lets you start cutting in the middle of your work piece.
A good choice for woodworking, making furniture inlays, making wood crafts, and making furniture inlays.
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Anyone who has used a router knows how good it feels to cut a clean rabbet or mortise.
Unless you’re making small projects like jewelry boxes or models, a three-horsepower fixed-base router with a 1/2-inch bit is just too much.
There comes the Dremel 335.
This adapter is for the Dremel rotary tools (models 400, 398, 395, 300, 285, and 275) that can use 1/8-inch-diameter bits. It can be used with this tool.
This is a great option if you already have one of these tools. You don’t have to pay extra for a single-purpose machine that may not be big enough for what you’re doing anyway.
Putting it together is easy: Take off the cap on your Dremel, put the nut back together, and put the tool in the router attachment.
A mounting nut and a wrench are used to keep the tool in place in the attachment, so it doesn’t fall out (both included).
The attachment has two plunge depths that can be locked in with a rotary hand grip. They can be set at different heights.
If you’re not sure how to set routing depth, it’s a good idea to practice on scrap until you get the hang of it.
Make sure you have good balance and can see what you’re doing by using a clear base. The Dremel tool itself has a small profile that helps you see what you’re doing.
The attachment also comes with a very good adjustable edge guide that works very well, too.
In case you’re working on small projects and are willing to play around with the router’s settings, this one is the right one for you.
In this case, it was Josh Dettweiler who said that.
What’s inside the box?
Plunge-router attachment, edge guide, circle cutting guide, mounting wrench, instructions, and more are all in this set.
So, what is a “plunge router,” then?
Router: It has a spring-loaded base that lets you start the motor, move the router to where you want it, then press down and plunge the bit into the wood.
One makes the cut they need and then relaxes the pressure on the router. The springs then lift the bit out of the work piece.
You don’t have to tilt your router into the wood to make so-called “blind cuts,” which are cuts that don’t start or finish at the workpiece’s ends anymore.
So, this is the thing.
I have an old Dremel 395, which is the ancestor of the 4000. It has all the chewy goodness of a full-sized plunge router attachment in a small accessory.
You’ll need everything else except for bits and the Dremel itself. It comes with everything you need.
Dremel attachment: Years ago, I bought a non-plunge router attachment for the Dremel. It came with a straight bit as I remember. This one doesn’t have a straight bit.
I’ve used that old router attachment to make hinge rebates in doors, for example, and it has worked very well for that job.
They seem to be easy to follow.
If you buy this tool, you get a few extra things like guide bushings for template routing and a removable edge guide.
If I had to choose, I’d rather use a fence than an edge guide, but sometimes the job needs them.
The edge guide has a fitting that, with a nail, turns the whole thing into a circle-cutting tool.
I used one of these to make a ceiling rose out of some scrap wood once.
Cool idea for the router.
In the past, I’ve used a full-sized plunge router and cut circles with another tool. I can say that practice is important for plunge routing with confidence and that working in small amounts of cut is important with a circle cutter.
When I use full-sized plunge routers, I often find that the springs are too hard to compress while they’re in use. This is a big deal for me.
As long as the springs aren’t too strong, I’ll be wasting my energy fighting the tool instead of controlling the plunge itself.
It was only after I looked at a few “better” brands that I bought my Sears router. The plunge attachment has springs that are strong enough to lift the router but not so strong that the router will fly off the workpiece when I release the locking knob.
The plunge base has a twist-to-lock knob on one side so that when you start cutting, you don’t have to worry about pushing down. It also has a two-setting depth gauge so you can set up pre-set plunge depths.
As I will explain later, I’m not sure how useful this is.
Full-sized routers have many of the same features as small routers, but they have motors with a lot of torque that can handle a lot of stress.
There are some preachy parts here.
At low speeds, the Dremel tool doesn’t have a lot of torque, which means that it’s very easy to overheat and burn out the motor.
Speed is what makes the Dremel powerful.
When you turn the speed control all the way up on a 395 family Dremel (called the 4000 series now), it will be spinning at 35,000 rpm, which is about 583 revolutions per second.
The router bits I have say “max speed 30,000 rpm,” which means that running a Dremel-based router at less than full speed.
With a small amount of heat, it is very easy to cook it.
High speed steel, which is usually used for cheap router bits, will lose its temper and cutting edge very quickly at the kinds of heat a Dremel can reach.
The first time I got a Dremel kit 30 years ago, I tried to drill into a piece of wood and broke it. I learned this the hard way.
As a bonus, the winged pilot bits that are used to make fancy edging may chip and throw off debris if they are used too hard.
Wood also burns.
To keep the Demel from stalling, you’ll need to run it at less than its full speed. If you want to keep the motor from being damaged, you’ll need to use a light touch on the workpiece.
So, only small amounts of material should be removed in the first few passes. Then, the depth of cut should be increased and the number of passes made.
The best way to use a Dremel is to pay attention to what the tool is doing and let the tool work at its own pace.
If the motor is having a hard time, the tool is being used.
Making a Dremel go through a piece of material will end in tears.
When someone tried to cut Maple with a Dremel router bit, the bit got very hot and the tool had to be forced through the cut.
It’s possible to get good results with very soft woods like pine or boxwood and very soft woods, but not burning the workpiece will be hard.
