HELP - questions regarding micro drill bits/drill press

[Gregory]

13 hours ago, allanyed said:

.....there was no electricity when those gorgeous models of the 17th and 18th centuries were built so we know it can be done without the power.  

I bet they would have used them if they had had them...   Times change..

 

No need now  to grow your own hemp and cast your own metal because that was the only way 300 years ago.😁

Edited April 11, 2023 by Gregory

[Roger Pellett]

The benefit of using any type of power tool to turn any wire sized (<1/16in) bitt is, maybe, time.  Thicknesses of material are usually quite thin and an Archimedes Drill works quite well.  For fractional sized drills larger than 1/16 in. a full sized drill press is useful and often necessary.  I see no reason to own a micro or “hobby sized” drill press for either scratch or kit building.

 

Roger

[Dr PR]

For me the main benefit of a drill press or milling machine is that the bit is held securely on the vertical axis (axis of rotation). If you are drilling by hand into wood that has growth layers (grain), when the bit encounters the interface between soft and hard layers the bit will tend to cut more into the softer layer. This causes it to wander, and there is virtually nothing you can do to stop it. But in a drill press or milling machine the  it will be held in alignment in the vertical axis so it cuts into the harder wood - if the machine has very little runout (wobble).

 

As mentioned above, with very small drill bits you must chuck the bit with the minimum necessary length protruding out of the chuck so the bit doesn't flex.

 

The second benefit of a milling machine (or a drill press with an X-Y table) is that you can drill a series of holes in a straight line. The X-Y table allows you to move the piece by an exact increment in a straight line, allowing you to create a neat precisely spaced series of holes. Again, if you are trying to do this by hand and the wood has grain the bit will wander and the result looks like it was made by a drunken sailor.

 

Another benefit is that holes that are drilled with a drill press or milling machine will be vertical/perpendicular to the surface. When using a pin vise or hand held drill you really can't expect to get perfectly perpendicular holes.

 

And you can always use an angled support (or tilting vise) to hold the piece at a desired angle to get repeatable holes at the same angle to the surface.

[Roger Pellett]

If I need precision when drilling and if as often is the case, I don’t feel like setting up the milling column and sensitive drilling attachment on my Sherline Lathe, it is a simple matter to chuck a pin vise fitted with the correct wire sized drill in my FULL SIZED drill press.  This 50+ year old belt driven drill press is by far the most commonly used power tool in my shop.  Although speeds can be changed via stepped pulleys I have not bothered to change drilling speeds for as long as I can remember.

 

If I were shopping for a new drill press, which I don’t intend to do, it would be another FULL SIZED tool with at least 3/8 in chuck capacity, not a “hobby sized” tool.

 

Roger

 

 

[Toolmaker]

2 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

If I were shopping for a new drill press, which I don’t intend to do, it would be another FULL SIZED tool with at least 3/8 in chuck capacity, not a “hobby sized” tool.

I think you are maybe missing at least one set of circumstances when “hobby sized” machines are the correct choice. I spent my working life using full size machines but as a retired hobby machinist my decision was to buy miniature machines. My Byrnes saw and sander are miniatures and I have recently purchased a sherline mill. I don’t have large workshop facilities and have commandeered the spare bedroom so I don’t think getting a full size set of machines up the stairs would wash with my better half nor would any sort of machine lubricating regime. Lack of floor space also meant bench top machines.

 

The sherline is a good piece of kit and I can drill 0.5mm/0.020” without issue using the standard feed. Today I was taking 4mm/0.160” deep cuts in boxwood and holding better than 0.0015” tolerance. So yes to it being small but it certainly behaves like a full size machine. There are limitations, but there always is. You might say that as I’m working in 1/64 or 1/48 then my machines could be the same scale 😂

 

 

 

So for me it’s the usual advice; get the biggest and best that is practical and within budget.

 

Thank you

Paul

 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Toolmaker

[mtaylor]

Like many others, no drill press here as I use my mill when need some precision or multiple holes drills in a part.  Saves floor space and a pocket full of cash.

[HardeeHarHar]

On 2/21/2023 at 1:54 PM, VTHokiEE said:

What bits are you using now? I've had a lot of great success with HSS micro bits from McMaster-Carr: https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/129/2750/30585A94. I had tried some carbide cheap end mill/PCB bits and they were nothing but frustration in a handheld pin-vice. I switched to Uncoated High-Speed Steel Drill Bit, 76 Gauge Size for drilling out the treenail holes on my cross section and never broke a bit (even though I bought 5 just in case). 

 

Currently my big issue is that I don't really drill straight holes by hand, but that's not the bit's fault :-).

Dood, those drill bits are the bomb so far.  Thanks a bizzillion, I have drilled a lot of holes, and not one has broken (yet).