Dremel (rotary tool) for righthanders?

replying to John Doe, earth3rd wrote: I have noticed it myself. I'm a retired tool and die maker and all my hand grinders (air) spun the other way. I was just looking for a reverse button on mine. I guess we are screwed.

You can open up the Dremel and swap the two brush wires to get it to rotate CCW -- but this may increase the chances of the collet unscrewing.

Good Luck, DoN.

All air driven die grinders turn CW from the users perspective. All die grinder burrs are intended for CW rotation. Why would a Dremel turn the other way? There's something fishy here....

All the ones I've seen do (that's how you want 'em for a right hand twist drill). But, it means a lot of accurate grinder-cutoff operations fling sparks onto my best full-face-shield.

You want the cutter to push the work into a fixed item (a fence); you can't see through the fence, so holding a Dremel in your right hand, and with the work on a table with nothing blocking your view, there's NO fence there. If the wheel spun CCW instead of CW, you could view the cut and the wheel would push the work back against a fence without blocking the view.

And the full-face-mask would accumulate fewer flyspecks.

I did this to a clone and it sortof worked. The collet did not unscrew, but the motor was not quiet and may not have been as powerful. I think it may have been either or both of the

a) brushes having developed a profile matched to the armature that got messed up when they were reversed;

b) the motor may be timed to favour one direction.

And prone to overheating.

and burn little holes in my shirt, not to mention the smell of singed chest hair; maybe not so much with dremel, but getting there.