A Micro Drill Press

[wce4]

Bluejets, the sewing machines motors I'm talking about are for industrial machines. They replace a clutch/motor unit so they have tons of torque at low speeds, are self contained and with variable speed at 550W | 3/4 HP.



Thanks! That link works fine. Your drill press works great! Definitely a smooth runner with that motor. When you consider that the Cameron drill press that I posted earlier now retails for ~$1200, rolling your own seems like a good idea. No, I didn't pay nearly that much for mine!

If you don't already have some carbide drills you might want to check them out.

View attachment 151583

I usually buy mine straight from China. They are cheap and come in sizes from 0.1-3.0 mm on an 1/8" shank. They are much sharper than HSS drills and love all the speed you can give them.

Love to have one but at $1200 I would need to go back to work. (My wife and doctors would have a fit.)
I like the idea of using carbide drills with a 1/8" shank. (big hands small drills bits not a good match) I need to purchase some 0.2 and 0.3 mm so I am going to give it a try. Thanks krypto

 

[earlwb]

Nice job on the micro drill press. I like it.

I wanted to build a scale 1/8 or 1/4 model drill press and lathe maybe even a milling machine too. But I haven’t gotten around to doing it or attempting to do it,

 

[timo_gross]

Thank you for the information!

I had hoped that you had a wider range of rpm than that.
(drilling holes at 0.020" (0.5 mm) you need some 15k rpm with HSS bits - - - 5k rpm puts a limit at somewhere around 0.050" (1.5 mm) - - - bummer!)

(am looking at some nozzles with an orifice size of 0.004 to 0.006" (0.1 to 0.15 mm))

Oh well - - - looking to replicate something like the Dumore sensitive drill press (their website is refusing connections right about now - - - also a bummer!).
Will have to get my hands on some plans and see what kind of mods might be possible.

Maybe I'm just crazy - - - ok - - - grin I'll admit it - - - but you guys keep stimulating my thinker!!!

I noticed at slower speeds, the drill was cutting better into the mild steel I tried to drill. Oil, small pecks and lot of patience seemed more important than very high rpm. I am curious how a 0.5 mm drill will work with the machine, maybe we get to see it.

 

[timo_gross]

Most domestic sewing machine motors, although series type, do not have the grunt to be useful.
Especially when one needs to have high spindle speeds as they simply bog down under load and one cannot get enough belt tension to avoid slipping.
Last time I looked they were rated around 70w.
There are others which can go higher, eg 180w or even commercial sewing machine units up to 250w but then size takes over.

My micro drill is a mod from Jerry Howell and is made specifically for the lower end drill sizes of around 20 thou.
Uses a slot car motor and is step up gear driven and controlled via pwm speed control.

I built a mini drill press with a 50 W DC motor. It can go up to 2 maybe 2.5 mm. diameter ( with a little optimism)
A reduction or bigger motor? I did not seriously consider this until just now. (probably never happens)

 

[wce4]

Nice job on the micro drill press. I like it.

I wanted to build a scale 1/8 or 1/4 model drill press and lathe maybe even a milling machine too. But I haven’t gotten around to doing it or attempting to do it,

Thank you earlwb. When I attended cabin fever expo about four or five years ago at Lebanon, PA, PM Research had there display of scale machine tools. I stood in front of the display for at least thirty minutes with my mouth drooling. I have posted a link to a video on youtube if you or others would like to see it. Still to this day it amazes me. Good luck with your build and have fun.

 

[jrlandau]

Could you post a link for those Chinese drills? Thanks.

 

[wce4]

Could you post a link for those Chinese drills? Thanks.

Log onto ebay ,Alibaba and or Amazon and under shop by category/search type Carbide Micro Drill Bits. I hope this helps?

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[earlwb]

Thank you earlwb. When I attended cabin fever expo about four or five years ago at Lebanon, PA, PM Research had there display of scale machine tools. I stood in front of the display for at least thirty minutes with my mouth drooling. I have posted a link to a video on youtube if you or others would like to see it. Still to this day it amazes me. Good luck with your build and have fun.

Yeah I had been drooling over those scale model tools for a long time now too. Thanks for posting.

 

[earlwb]

As I understood it; the really small drill bits need some really high rpm’s to avoid breaking them. Those things are really quite fragile and easy to break off just trying to handle them. I had gotten some to use with printed circuit boards to drill through holes etc. and yes those things are amazingly fragile. Plus I had to go slow and easy when drilling the through holes.

 

[Roger Taylor]

Yeah I had been drooling over those scale model tools for a long time now too. Thanks for posting.

The Craftsmanship Museum, Carlsbad, CA has at least two of the miniature machine tools displays. heck out their virtual tour. www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com.

 

[Richard Hed]

As I understood it; the really small drill bits need some really high rpm’s to avoid breaking them. Those things are really quite fragile and easy to break off just trying to handle them. I had gotten some to use with printed circuit boards to drill through holes etc. and yes those things are amazingly fragile. Plus I had to go slow and easy when drilling the through holes.

I have some reamers that are so small that I have to look three times just to see if they have fallen out of the container. I thimpfk they are 1/64th inch. I have no use for them except that when my spray marking blue dried up the cap, I was able to soa,k the cap in some hydrocarbon liquid then work with the tiny, hair like,l almost invisible reamer to clean out the spray hole. It workt. They are very delicate and difficult to manipulate at my age, I've grown so clumsy.