# Drilling small holes with a bridgeport successfully



## cheepo45 (Jan 30, 2011)

Hello everyone,
 One of the best tricks I have learned at my job is a way to drill small holes with a bridgeport mill. It's really easy and requires no special equipment.
1- Make sure you have a chuck or collet that runs as true as possible.
2- Using the depth stop wheel, take small (.002-.003) pecks with the drill- withdrawing the drill after every peck to blow off the chips. You will get into the rythm-turn the depth stop with your left thumb, then quill down, then quill up and blow off the chips. It's a little time consuming, but I rarely break a drill. Pay attention to the sound so you can tell when the drill is getting dull.
I have drilled holes as small as .020 in hardened steel with this technique. It also works great with a carbide end mill for removing broken taps (use an old end mill-it will be destroyed!)
I know that the r.p.m.'s should be a lot higher with these small drills, but this has worked well for me at the maximum r.p.m. that the mill will go. Be sure to use whatever cutting lube you like.
        Happy drilling,
         cheepo45


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