Drilling small holes..

PhilP

PhilP

G Scale, 7/8th's, Electronics
TRADER
Country flag
Straw-poll time..
Plus looking for recommendations..

How do you drill small holes? - Yes, I know we all use drill-bits!

I bought a Rolson PCB spiral push drill, and it is pretty carp!
I was expecting a small-scale version of a 'Yankee' screwdriver, but other than the collets (which a re pretty good) this is sloppy and wobbles all over the place! - It is better than a battery drill though, and I can get in tighter spaces.

I suppose a pin-vice will suffice for sub-2mm but much above this requires more turning force.. Still require to get into tight spaces, but need gearing or power possibly.

TIA
PhilP.
 
Hi Phil
I use my dremel 8200 along with a flexible shaft with variable collet. that allows the accessing of awkward areas and allows me to handle it like a pen.
 
Pin vice for really small stuff (1mm or less). Larger than that I use a chuck in an electric screwdriver for slow careful work, or just go straight to dremel or electric drill. The latter could be tricky in tight spaces no doubt!

Sometimes I just use the hex chuck alone like a pin vice to give me something to grip and turn manually for smallish bits. I have a couple of chucks, often I load both with two sizes of drill (pre-drill and final size) for quick change in the screwdriver.

hex chucks.jpg
 
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Pin Vice with some excellent titanium-coated drill bits from Rolson (normally seen as a "cheapy" tool maker but these have been superb!) - got a set that go from 1mm to 10mm in 0.5mm increments, normally use the 1mm or 1.5mm in the pin vice. The titanium bits have stayed razor-sharp over several year now, even though I've used them a lot for drilling into white metal castings.
Usually resort to the Dremel for anything much bigger.

Jon.
 
PhilP said:
Straw-poll time..
Plus looking for recommendations..

How do you drill small holes? - Yes, I know we all use drill-bits!

I bought a Rolson PCB spiral push drill, and it is pretty carp!
I was expecting a small-scale version of a 'Yankee' screwdriver, but other than the collets (which a re pretty good) this is sloppy and wobbles all over the place! - It is better than a battery drill though, and I can get in tighter spaces.

I suppose a pin-vice will suffice for sub-2mm but much above this requires more turning force.. Still require to get into tight spaces, but need gearing or power possibly.

TIA
PhilP.
Click to expand...

I use pin vices up to 2mm bits, also got the little archimedes type. I use an automatic centre punch to get the exact start - although it depends what material you are drilling or, indeed, what size hole you require..

The trouble with small bits (I buy them in 10s) is that they are not always ground correctly! It is not easy to correct this.

I do use a right-angle drive but you still need a 5" space to do that - although I think smaller ones are availble.

There are flexi-drives available also.

Another way (more expense) is you can buy hex shank drill bits and use a small ratchet.

A pilot hole might help if wanting diameters above 2mm.
 
I agree with all the above! In tight spots a pin-vice is favourite.
 
Get a really really small man, or woman, don't want to be like our sexist president. Give them an equally small drill......................... . . . . . . . .:rofl:
 
I use a variety of pin vices and Archimedes type drills. There are better ones than the Rolson. I bought mine from Eileen's Emporium and Proops Tools.
 
:wait::wait: Proops??? Now there's a name to conjure with. I'm still using some stuff I bought from them at the London Model Engineering Exhibition . . . . . . when it was at Wembley!!!

One big bunch of silver steel rods. (slightly odd dias)
Sponge sanding pads.
Dentist drills and burrs.
Dentist mirror,
Small medical forceps (Useful for holding the last bit of Silver solder)

The whole lot (and more) stuffed into a bag, £10 the lot! :D:D:D
 
'Essential tremor' means that I take my wife out for drinks and dinner to get nice holes drilled.
 
Hutch said:
'Essential tremor' means that I take my wife out for drinks and dinner to get nice holes drilled.
Click to expand...
Ooo er I think I'll leave that one alone, I'll get into trouble........
 
It probably depends what is 'tremoring', and whether the alcohol dampens, or enhances, the tremor!
:eek::tmi::tmi::giggle:
 
I not too long ago needed lots of small holes for some 00 Gauge Cassettes that I was building. Hand held held electric mini drill drill caused so many breakages that started using my Vertical Drill. Magic no more breakages as both the work and drilll are held firm. Not always possible to do this I must admit so in extreme circumstances I use a small drill in a Pic Chuck with that mounted in a smallish (what I call my Ladies drill) DIY Driver, manipulated with care it is possible to get away with few breakages. I just could not manage Modelling tasks without my 4 pin chucks.

Though whether my bones will stay in one piece after the Lady comment is open to conjecture!
JonD
 
G-force1 said:
:wait::wait: Proops??? Now there's a name to conjure with. I'm still using some stuff I bought from them at the London Model Engineering Exhibition . . . . . . when it was at Wembley!!!

One big bunch of silver steel rods. (slightly odd dias)
Sponge sanding pads.
Dentist drills and burrs.
Dentist mirror,
Small medical forceps (Useful for holding the last bit of Silver solder)

The whole lot (and more) stuffed into a bag, £10 the lot! :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Errmmm I still have stuff I bought from their shop on Tottenham Court Road ?:(

Small holes = high speed but as Jon says not freehand.
 
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