Dremel 4000 Review, Get Your Rotary Tool RPM’s On

Ah, sweet Dremel. You’ve been a part of my life for years. Other than my daughter, you are the only thing that regularly whines that I still love. That’s why it pains me to let you go old Dremel. You see. . . . there’s just no easy way to put this. . . . I’ve found someone better. The new Dremel 4000. Don’t feel betrayed that I put you on Craiglist to find you a new home after I ran off with the 4000. I did that out of love. Besides, the engineer you now live with seemed really cool, and he said he was going to make you the rotary tool center-piece of a home-made cnc machine. Sounds like Dremel heaven to me. Ok, enough with the love story, here’s my Dremel 4000 review for the new rotary tool Dremel shipped off to us recently:

As you may have guessed from the previous paragraph, I owned an earlier rotary tool model for many years. I regularly used it for all sorts of tasks. Two of my more favorite rotary tool functions are as a mini grinder and cut-off wheel. For some reason, there’s just always an edge of metal somewhere in my life that’s not where it’s supposed to be. Dremel rotary tools let you finesse that metal (or other pesky material) so that it functions in harmony, as the universe originally intended. Or, you can also carve pumpkins with it.

The 4000 definitely packs a little more punch than the older model I was used to. I’m not sure what kind of amperage my old model had (1 amp?), but the 4000 has 1.6 amps. Sounds tiny when you compare it to a Sawzall, but 1.6 amps is a lot of juice when it’s focused on a tiny whirring bit turning up to 35,000 rpm’s. Plenty of power to do whatever you like to do with Dremel tools. Happily, the Dremel 4000 uses all your old dremel bits too, as well as a few newer more advanced accessories.

When using the Dremel 4000, two things really jumped out at me:

1. Overall Ergonomics: The 4000 gets a new design, and it’s just more curvaceous and feels better in my hands (sorry old tool)!
2. Consistent Power: One gripe I had with my older model is that on more heavy-duty tasks, the accessory would sometimes bog down in the material and more or less stop rotating. Maybe I was too heavy-handed, but it was still annoying. The new 4000 stays up to speed far better than my old model. Maybe it’s just the additional power, or maybe it’s Dremel’s newfangled “Electronic Feedback for Consistent Speed Under Load.” Either way, it works! Naturally, you shouldn’t really apply much pressure when you’re using rotary tools, let the bit do the work whenever possible.

All in all, it’s fitting that the only thing that could make me leave my old rotary tool, is a new Dremel rotary tool. Old Dremel, if you’re reading this, I’ll always love you.

You can pick up the Dremel 4000 2/30 kit for a very reasonable $87 at ToolBarn. Other kits with more attachments and accessories are also available for a touch more.