Working w/ either a Dremel or a "real" die grinder (although a Dremel might do just fine for what I have in mind), I'm wondering if there's any type of fixture or vise designed for clamping down the grinder body and allowing the user to set the angle the bit touches the cutting surface w/ respect to the mounting (sliding?) surface of the fixture / vise.

Think of it's usage kind of like the following (abstract as it is): You want to put a 45* bevel on the inside of a large round hole drilled into a flat deck. The tool would allow you to mount the grinder in the fixture, which would remain on the level deck surface, then pivot the grinder down to the desired angle (similar to setting a protractor), thus setting up a straight-sided carbide cutter to cut the inside edge of the cylinder at the specified angle.

You'd have to move the grinder / fixture assembly by hand as you applied the bevel to the inside edge. The part being beveled wouldn't be something compact enough to mount on a lathe and modify w/ a cutting tool, which is why I'm trying to think of what would work, or find out if something like this already exists.

What just came to mind is something like an overgrown version of a micrometer stand...

How about a small router with a roundover bit?

R.

How about a carbide cutter in a router. A router has a pilot that would make an even depth of cut.

Router bits do an excellent job on aluminum. You can cut some very creative edges with them.
Doug

I'll have to look into what a router offers. What I had in mind for "real world" usage is a little more creative than the example I offered, but I didn't have a good way to explain it in simpler terms.

Thanks,
Brad

Router sounds interesting to me. Wouldn't it spin kind of fast for cutting metals? Just curious..... ...

Randy

Are you trying to bevel/champher a cyl bore... tell
us what the bevel is on so we get a better idea..
if you are doing a cyl bore the shops have a BIG sanding
drum made at a 45* angle so it can be used on multiple
size bores

We need more description because to me it certainly sounds like router work. Using a piloted bit will avoid any "by hand" stuff. You set the depth either by spacing up the base or using a plunge router with which you can set the depth of cut.

Look on Youtube for demonstrations of cutting aluminum with a router.

Follow Link for picture of piloted bit.
http://routerbitworld.com/Chamfer-Bits-s/227.htm

R.

dremel sells a drill/press to hold tool not sure if it was dremel or off brand, maybe harbor frt??

Guys, you're just going to have to take my word for it that this isn't a router job.

If I decide to follow through on what this would involve, it'll have to be a very careful by-hand task --> / / /

Nothing else I can add at this point, so I'm finished w/ this thread. Thanks for the ideas, though.

OK Brad, what are you making and putting up for sale? I want one. I was going to make cylinder head bore adapters and radius-ed intake adapters for flowing heads on a flowbench but to much time for to little return. I just made myself a head adapter for a small block Ford and by time I buy a cylinder sleeve and 1/2 lexan I have over 100 dollars in it. Lots of work to lay it out for the head too.

There is a tool like that... It's called a milling machine

We have what you're talking about at work. It's not something you can buy though. It was a custom designed apparatus.