# Holding small drill bits on the cheap



## AlanHaisley (Mar 6, 2012)

???
I recently bought a set of #61-#80 bits. Now I realize that I don't have a decent way to hold them either in my floor drill press or in my Sherline lathe or mill. It seems to me that perhaps adapting Dremel collets - building some kind of holder for use in the mill and lathe - might be my only choice. Obviously I could spend several hundred dollars for a precision chuck. Just as obviously given my lack of funds that isn't going to happen.
I am willing to trade ingenuity and time for money on this and would like some ideas about how others have approached this problem.
(I realize that even with a precision chuck, the looseness and run-out in my drill press means it can't be used anyway.)

Alan


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## mklotz (Mar 6, 2012)

With drills that tiny "cheap" is definitely contra-indicated. If all you want to do is hold the drill then this $7 item will work...

http://www.micromark.com/micro-drill-chuck-61-80-1and8-inch-shank,8089.html

However, if you want to hold the drill AND actually drill holes with it, you'll need something far more precise (and correspondingly expensive), such as ...

http://tinyurl.com/76f6ngp

Even with the above, a tight, accurate spindle is essential - either to spin the work or the drill.


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## tel (Mar 6, 2012)

In the past I have got by with drills that were under the capacity of the chuck to hold by close binding the shanks with fine fuse or copper wire. In one instance a 1/64" drill so treated was used, successfully, in a piston drill. Mind you, in those days I was considerably younger, and didn't know it couldn't be done.


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## lensman57 (Mar 6, 2012)

Alan Haisley  said:
			
		

> ???
> I recently bought a set of #61-#80 bits. Now I realize that I don't have a decent way to hold them either in my floor drill press or in my Sherline lathe or mill. It seems to me that perhaps adapting Dremel collets - building some kind of holder for use in the mill and lathe - might be my only choice. Obviously I could spend several hundred dollars for a precision chuck. Just as obviously given my lack of funds that isn't going to happen.
> I am willing to trade ingenuity and time for money on this and would like some ideas about how others have approached this problem.
> (I realize that even with a precision chuck, the looseness and run-out in my drill press means it can't be used anyway.)
> ...



Hi Alan,

Just to hold them you'd need a pin-vise, to hold them accurately you need collets, Sherline does have the special collet system for clock making, I think that they are called WW collets but the system is very expensive.

Perhaps you could try a well made Pin-Vise from people like Starret or Eclipse and hold them in the normal collet and holder and see how you go.

Regards,

A.G


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## 90LX_Notch (Mar 6, 2012)

Alan-

I made an adapter to mount a Dremel drill chuck. This is the link-

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=4957.msg50415#msg50415

It works well. Some times it takes a couple tries of installing and unistalling the drill to get it to run concentric.

-Bob


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## Mosey (Mar 6, 2012)

I decided that it wasn't worth it to have tiny broken drills in my engine parts.

My solution was to buy a Micromark variable-speed drill press, with DRO depth indicator and a nice tee-slotted table. I replaced the chuck with an Albrecht 1/8".
It does a very nice job holding and drilling down to #80. It took months to find a used chuck on Ebay with the J1 arbor size, and it wasn't cheap. In the end, I have my sensitive drill for not too much $ that does what I need.


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## MachineTom (Mar 6, 2012)

Carefull when using those little drills, often they are not made of material that can handle the RPM of the small drill motors like a dremel. What happens is that you turn on the tool, it immeadiatly bends the bit 90°, the question is can you turn it off before the bit breaks off. Ask me How I know.

I have a vary speed drill with a max of 12K rather than the 25K of a Dremel, those little bits work fine a 6K.
Look at a 1/8-1/4 key chuck not alot of money, buy of make a shnk and drill away.

Albrecht makes finger feed 1/8" drill chuck about 1 1/2" travel, has a 1/2 shank fits a mill/DP, although the runout of a old used drill chuck could make it useless. Generally I use it with a collet in the mill. it take those little drill fine, not cheap used.


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## 90LX_Notch (Mar 6, 2012)

Let me clarify in case people didn't follow the link.

 I did not mount a Dremel. I made a shank with .277-40 thread that a Dremel drill chuck can attach to. It is also bored and chamfered so that it can take the Dremel collets. I made another one that is JT33 to .277-40 to fit the spindle of my drill presses or mount to an MT1-JT33 shank and use it in the tailstock of the lathe.

-Bob


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## mzetati (Mar 7, 2012)

I've made an arbor threaded (8mm x 0.75) to fit a small Proxxon chuck: never got around making a Proxxon collet holder.

Marcello


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## AlanHaisley (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks all for the thoughts.

It looks like my best first try is to make a 3/8" D rod with one end turned down to .277 or so and single point threaded 40 TPI. I should be able to use that in a standard Sherline 3/8" end-mill holder and screw a Dremel chuck on it.

Second thing I'll try is to do the same except add the bore and taper that Dremel uses for their collets. I put this second since the Dremel spindles seem really thin walled to me and so will be harder to make.

Alan


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## lensman57 (Mar 7, 2012)

Alan Haisley  said:
			
		

> Thanks all for the thoughts.
> 
> It looks like my best first try is to make a 3/8" D rod with one end turned down to .277 or so and single point threaded 40 TPI. I should be able to use that in a standard Sherline 3/8" end-mill holder and screw a Dremel chuck on it.
> 
> ...


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## rake60 (Mar 7, 2012)

The smallest drill bit I own is a #60 (.040").

I use a cheap _*0-1/4" 1JT Drill Chuck*_ from Shars Tool to hold it.

I got lucky on an eBay search and found an R8 to 1JT arbor for 
$5 to make it easy to mount in in the X2 mini mill.

Rick


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## AlanHaisley (Mar 22, 2012)

Well...I have made an adapter for a Dremel chuck which appears to close down to 0. The adapter is 3/8" on one end so I can use a Sherline endmill holder and it APPEARS to run the chuck quite true (whatever that might mean.)

The problem now is if I put one of these tiny drill bits in it, how can I measure the runout? I certainly cant use any kind of indicator since the spring loading of the indicators is so powerful as to bend the little drills into L shapes if I try. There must be some way this is done.

Even if I had a high precision drill chuck costing hundreds, it seems to me that verification of its accuracy would require some way to measure movement in what amounts to a piece of very thin wire.

 ??? ??? ???


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## Blogwitch (Mar 22, 2012)

It just so happens, yesterday, one of my first steps back into my shop was to make a precision holder for small drills for a good friend on this site.

Like Rick, a keyed chuck, but a little more expensive, a brand new genuine Jacobs 0 to 5/32" (4mm), kindly donated by another good member from this site.






I just knocked up an 8mm mandrel with a 1JT taper on the end of it (turned from a 10mm rod at one holding, just to make sure it was spot on concentric) and it can either fit into a collet or another drill chuck to hold any of those tiny drills.

It took no more than 30 minutes to knock up on the lathe.


John


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## rhitee93 (Mar 23, 2012)

I like to use one of these with a #0 chuck on the end:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=INLMKD&PMPXNO=949032&PMAKA=292-7003

You push down on the ring to advance the drill, so you get a lot of feel.


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## narrowgauger (Mar 23, 2012)

Gentlemen,

for once I disagree with the comments made in response to chucking small diamter drills.

The fundamental problem is that irrespective of the chuck used the run-out with straight drills is such that gross inaccuracy will exist. Furthermore the length of the drill is likely to provide no stability at all allowing the drill to skate when entering the centre point.

for that reason drills under 1.4mm should always be the standard jewellers step shaft type, e.g. with the standard 2.32mm chucking shaft & a step-down to the drilling dimension. These drills will run absolutely true (depending off course on chuck / spindle quality)

as a professional model builder we use nothing else and do not have any problems holding these in any of our machines (drill press, milling machines or lathes) and enable us to go down routinely to under 0.4mm diameter.

these drills are widely available from a wide range of suppliers worldwide and may be found on Ebay by calling up "jewellers drills". Available in packs of 6 in sizes from 0.25mm upwards. Average price $US 8.50 for a pack of 6.

Once you have used these you will never want to go back to straight shaft drills under 1.4mm

have fun
Bernard


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 24, 2012)

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3790&category=
an option from LMS
Tin


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## Admiral_dk (Mar 24, 2012)

There's also Micro Carbide drill bits for PCB drilling with 1/8" shank. You can get them in just about all sizes from .3mm to 3.1mm - .012" to .125".
I haven't tried them with metals, but they are lightyears better than HHS drillbits when drilling PCB's - only problem, the small sizes needs to run about 25,000 RPM or more.


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## rhitee93 (Mar 26, 2012)

The carbide 1/8" shank drills are a good suggestion. I have used those PCB drills here at work to drill a series of 0.020" holes along a piece of 304SS hypodermic tubing. (Full hard)

I put the 1/8" shank in an appropriate collet in the mill and drilled away.


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