Miniature Drill Bit Chuck for Dremel Tool?

[turangi]

Does anyone know of a source for a quality chuck for size 60-80 drill bits? I bought a 4 jaw model a few years ago but the bits wobble like a Hula dancer. Ant help would be greatly appreciated!

[Cornhusker1956]

May want to try www.CMLsupply.com.  I have a micro drill bit set from them and it worked really well with a Drexel tool in their drill press.

 

David

[Bob Cleek]

It may just be me, but I long ago gave up trying to use 60-80 size bits in any motorized hand-held drill motor, either a Dremel type or a Foredom handpiece. The slightest wobble of the hand usually results in a broken bit. I carefully use a pin vise for drilling by hand with such small bits. For motorized drilling, a good, rigid drill press with no run out is needed. 

[vaddoc]

Proxon claim that their rotary tools have no run out, that their collets are very high quality and their chuck has minimal run out. Apparently can grab drills from 0.3 mm.

I plan to buy it in the next financial month.

Edited February 5, 2021 by vaddoc

[tkay11]

28 minutes ago, vaddoc said:

Proxon claim that their rotary tools have no run out, that their collets are very high quality and their chuck has minimal run out. Apparently can grab drills from 0.3 mm

I'd be a bit careful with that claim. I bought the chuck and found it very difficult indeed to put a 0.3mm drill bit in it and keep it dead straight. The best I could manage was 0.4 on my copy. I did buy a miniature jewellers' pin vice that I could insert in a collet in the Proxxon drill, and that proved much better.

 

Better still are the very cheap Chinese Tungsten Steel Carbide drill bits which I buy in units of 10 for each size from 0.3 to 0.5 on eBay. Their shank fits Dremels and Proxxons just fine with the collets. They do vary slightly from one batch to another by about 0.01 mm, but I'm quite happy with that.

 

Although these tend to snap when using a cheap drill stand which has some play or is not perfectly vertical (hence my buying in units of 10), I find them to do the job perfectly in the Proxxon mill or my modified Proxxon drill stand. They won't be up to the job when using a hand drill, though, so if that's your intended use you'll have to stick to HSS.

 

Tony

[Bob Cleek]

45 minutes ago, vaddoc said:

Proxon claim that their rotary tools have no run out, that their collets are very high quality and their chuck has minimal run out. Apparently can grab drills from 0.3 mm.

I plan to buy it in the next financial month.

Assuming that is true, how much run out is there when you're holding it in your hand while it's running?   

[vaddoc]

Yes, all the above are very true!

The reason I am getting the proxon is that my dremel died just because the spindle lock pin wore out and it costs a third of the whole tool-it is also out of stock... The second reason is that I will need to drill a lot of 0.5 and 0.6 mm holes (a few thousands) and the dremel collets does not hold such thin drills well. The third is that I already have the power sourse so the proxon tool is less than £30.

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Years ago, I used my Dad's obsolete belt-driven (motorized with a foot controller) dental drill to make holes for putting toothpicks in model ship planking to resemble the ends of treenails.  My brother has that now, so I found a cool alternative sold at Harbor Freight (a national chain?), made by 'Chicago Tool'  (Taiwanese, no doubt) that has a motor that hangs from a hook put into any vertical surface - and there is a flexible shaft going from the motor to a metal cylinder (an oversized pencil holder) with a chuck in the end.  There is a sensitive foot control and anything a Dremel will accept it will accept.  The Dremel was always too fast and touchy to control.  I really like the new tool and have used it for a number of projects - there is no noticeable run-out.

[turangi]

Thanks all for the replies! I will do some research based upon them. 

[Bob Cleek]

2 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

Years ago, I used my Dad's obsolete belt-driven (motorized with a foot controller) dental drill to make holes for putting toothpicks in model ship planking to resemble the ends of treenails.  My brother has that now, so I found a cool alternative sold at Harbor Freight (a national chain?), made by 'Chicago Tool'  (Taiwanese, no doubt) that has a motor that hangs from a hook put into any vertical surface - and there is a flexible shaft going from the motor to a metal cylinder (an oversized pencil holder) with a chuck in the end.  There is a sensitive foot control and anything a Dremel will accept it will accept.  The Dremel was always too fast and touchy to control.  I really like the new tool and have used it for a number of projects - there is no noticeable run-out.

 

Yes, "Horror Fright" and others sell an Asian-made knockoff of the original Foredom flex-shaft rotary power tool, which has been around forever. The "Foredom tool" is the "gold standard" for flex-shaft tools used by dental labs, carvers, and jewelers. The Foredom tool comes with a variety of stands and handpieces, just like dental drills. There are also many aftermarket attachments, such as the Vanda-Lay Industries drill press and mill, which are powered by either a Dremel motor or the Foredom handpiece. StewMac recently came out with a plunge router accessory as well! The Foredom's big advantages, aside from the quality of the construction and the breadth of handpieces and bits and burrs, is its superior power and the lightness and flexibility of the flexible drive shaft and handpieces which make them very easy to control, much like a pencil. They are quiet, too.

 

See: https://www.foredom.net/product-category/flex-shaft-tools/

 

 

 

 

 

[Dziadeczek]

There is also the Pfingst rotary tool...

Edited February 6, 2021 by Dziadeczek

[Bob Cleek]

5 hours ago, Dziadeczek said:

There is also the Pfingst rotary tool...

Yes, and I'm not familiar with them, but I'm not so sure about a Chinese outfit on AliExpress that sells "Foredom" handpieces for twenty bucks!

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32755399438.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000013.7.30471325557rM5&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.169870.0&scm_id=1007.13339.169870.0&scm-url=1007.13339.169870.0&pvid=c5f94c99-482c-4a0b-8734-a74beed2373a&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller,scm-url:1007.13339.169870.0,pvid:c5f94c99-482c-4a0b-8734-a74beed2373a,tpp_buckets:668%230%23131923%2323_668%23888%233325%2316_668%232846%238111%231996_668%232717%237560%23224_668%231000022185%231000066059%230_668%233468%2315616%23781

[Don Case]

Does each size drill bit have an optimum speed? Is faster better than slower or? Opinions?

[Blackreed]

The smaller drill bits are so small that hand drilling is what works best for me. And even then I’ve broken so many, it’s also become a hobby of mine. Mostly by dropping the drill, or wand.

The speed is best set by the material you are drilling.

Drill bits get hot, this is a nightmare for plastic, causing the dremel to be practically worthless.

The idea of the bit is to self clear the waste, on these tiny bits they can’t, causing them to actually change size very quickly, due to using waste as a sanding/polishing agent.

These tools are all great but are not designed for such small bits.

If you have a physical condition, I’m sorry. And if you use an electric drill please buy the bits in bulk, it will save you time in the long run.

 

[tlevine]

If I am drilling holes smaller than #75, I want that hole to be the correct diameter and with a crisp outline.  Most of the smaller drill bits placed in a Dremel with a micro chuck or Proxxon have some "shimmy", resulting in oversized holes.  For this reason, I almost exclusively use resharpened carbide drill bits for the smaller sizes.  I have been using Drill Bit City https://drillcity.stores.yahoo.net/ for years.  They are located in the Chicago area.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Dremel and Proxxon make 3 jaws drill chuck. Dremel started to sell it about 20 years ago.

I use both with success.

I must be very careful to insert a #80 drill bit, it is very easy easy to insert it out of center.

The best way I found to insert it is to close the jaws as much as possible before inserting the drill bit.

I always test run the drill bit before drilling and if the drill bit has a run out, I recenter it and it always fix the problem.

[vaddoc]

2 hours ago, Gaetan Bordeleau said:

I use both with success.

 

  Gaetan which do you like more, the proxon or the dremel?

[RichardG]

How does anyone manage without 3 hands? I always have problems. With my Dremel I have 1 hand on the bit, 1 hand on the chuck, and my 3rd hand pressing the button to stop the drill rotation.

 

What am I missing?

Edited February 6, 2021 by RichardG

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

1 hour ago, vaddoc said:

which do you like more, the proxon or the dremel?

 

both works well, the main difference dremel is probably with american thread and proxxon with metric thread. They are made differently at the bottom.

For the Dremel at right of the photo, I use mainly this one because I had the die to do the threading to do an adaptor to use with an electric pen that we can see on the first photo.

[Chazz]

Richard,

 

I always had the same problem until I got a foot-pedal switch.  Even when not essential to the task, it adds a  lot of convenience, even safety.  There are many different kinds, some with speed controls, some constant on, some on only while held down.  Think about them, especially with bigger power tools.

 

CW