Pin Vise bit recomendations

With regard to the chuck size and it's ability to hold the smaller bits, I purchased a pin vise from a local RXR hobby shop made by "Mascot"... roughly around $10. It's not very high-end, but it works well for me. At first I thought I screwed up and purchased the wrong size for what I needed (I was drilling portholes in a ship's hull, 1/350 scale).

What I found was that if you unscrewed the collar on the chuck, the "jaws" would slip out which revealed an even smaller set of "jaws" machined into the other side, making this thing reversible. But... I found that when you got down to the really small sized bits (0.3mm for example) there was some slippage. I needed to crank down pretty hard on the collar to get the bit to stay put.

I needed to lubricate the threads on the collar to get that extra "oomph" (technical term) needed to bite into the bit. I used a block of paraffin, drug the threads over the paraffin like a cheese grater filling the threads with wax, and screwed the collar back down. Worked like a charm.

The drill bits from "Hawk" mentioned in an earlier post can also be purchased in a 0.3mm to 1mm set (16 bits in all) and then another set ranging from 1.05mm to 2mm (another 16 bits). Each packet was something like $5 or $6 and were purchased from my local Hobby Town USA.

They are supposedly High Speed Steel, but I won't be testing them out on anything other that my pin vise. With anything down in the lower range, I chuck the bit close to the tip. If I can't, then I go super slow... by hand. No power tools. As to sizing, I truly don't know how these metric measurements correspond with the labeling of a #60 or #80 bit. That 's something where I need to dig deeper.

As to another source for really small bits, if anyone has access to used dental drill bits... those work great too. Those things get tossed out all day long. But be careful. All you need to do is drop it and it shatters. That might be going above and beyond the call of modeling... making friends with dentists. But if there was, say, a cute dental hygienist.......

Matt

I hate it when the tip of a drill bit wobbles like a "top" and nothing you can do will make it entirely go away. I put these aside and use them for drilling pilot holes.

I didn't realise those little drills could bend. Good tip, good to know. Thanks, Don.

I spent my early working years as a machinist, thought I knew all there was to know about drill bits. Never to late to learn!

For anyone new to pin vises with the smallest chucks, I have a little trick re Don's point about easy to chuck off center. I tighten the chuck very slowly, gently pushing the bit in and out in a piston motion. If the drill bit is chucked off center, the bit will tend to grab and stick rather than slide smoothly. Back off, do again til it's right. With a bit of practice, one can simply 'feel' when the bit is centered properly in the chuck. That said, wearing an Optivisor doesn't hurt, either. :)

Oh, another thing that is similar to an off-center chuck is a bent drill bit.  Those small drills bend very easily, and most are ductile enough that they can be bent to a visible angle without breaking.  When they are bent, they act just like they are in an off-center chuck (or that you chucked off center). In that condition they do break even easier than normal.

Note that it is not uncommon to put a drill in a chuck off-center and then tighten it. The smaller the drill the easier it is to chuck it off-center.  Getting the smallest drills chucked properly can be a challenge.

If you are in a hurry Harbor Freight sells a pack of small drill bits that will fit in a pin vise.

They also sell a pin vise.

Don, with your level of experience, if you say an off center chuck matters with a pin vise, I'm sold. Just that simple.

I didn't know MM sold miniature bits in 5 packs. I think your inventory control procedure is a great idea.

I think it does matter.  With a good quality pin vise I have used the smallest drills. You do have to go slow and be extra careful, and they still sometimes break.  I think it is Micro Mark that sells the small drills in a five pack of each size.  So I have noticed which drills I use a lot and bought the five packs of those sizes.  I like the set MM sells that has the plastic case with the clear cover, that allows you to select and easily remove one drill at a time.  I then replace any of the most-used sizes when I break one, from the five-pack supply.

Yes, that, and the build quality of the chuck. My one pin vise (mfg unknown) that goes small enough for a #80 bit has a poorly made chuck. The 90 degree chuck cross-cuts are off center, which is a recipe for a broken bit. In practicality, though, as the pin vise is hand held anyway, I wonder sometimes if it really matters. Probably not.

Greg

Yes, same here, Don. It is difficult to find one that holds the smallest bits (Since buying sight-unseen online these days). I only have one that will hold smallest bits as well and would like to find another. Do you recall what you bought and/or from where?

TIA

Exactly, this has been my biggest issue as well, trying to find a vice with the ability of actually holding the bits tightly as you get towards the smaller end of size scale.

Cool, thank you, Nathan. In stock at good 'ol Sprue Bros. Been looking for a better quality fine chuck pin vise for a while now, and truly appreciate your tip as I like Tamiya tools and didn't know they made pin vises.

Tamiya makes large and small chuck pin vices and it says the range in mm. .2-1mm is the small range and 1-5 is the large range i think.

Yes, same here, Don. It is difficult to find one that holds the smallest bits (Since buying sight-unseen online these days). I only have one that will hold smallest bits as well and would like to find another. Do you recall what you bought and/or from where?

TIA

Be aware that not all pinvises will grab the very smallest drills.  My normal pinvise for the small bits (I have a set of four with different bore chucks) only grabs about #74 and up.  I did buy a new one that will grab the smallest.  A bit harder to use than the other set, but the only thing I have that grabs the 75 through 80 bits.

For those of you lucky enough to have one nearby at all, I went to Princess Auto and found a selection of 'hobby drills' there for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 dollars, and it's a small drill index, metal box and all.  They range in size from a hair over ten thou to I think a sixteenth of an inch, if I'm not mistaken.  The small metal box means so long as they're put away neatly, you don't break them in storage, just in use.  If you have a Princess Auto nearby, it's well worth looking.

Probably 30+ years ago I got a set of #61-80 bits from a tooling supply house. They are in a Hout case and I believe that is a sign of good bits (Hout doesn't make the bits, just the case). I'm sure they were expensive it the time, as they are now, but I've yet to break one, knock wood.

They look just like this set from MSC....

http://www.mscdirect.com/product/79888368?src=pla&008=-99&007=Search&pcrid=25122935224&006=25122935224&005=53306198704&004=7506854224&002=2167139&mkwid=smEwkst9W|dc&cid=PLA-Google-PLA+-+Test_smEwkst9W_PLA__25122935224_c_S&026=nv&025=c

(sorry, I just can't seem to keep straight how to post a hyperlink here)

Great advice guys, I've had a set that I picked up from a local Hobby Town that comes in a blue case with a sliding clear cover but most of the smaller ones have broken, fairly easily too. Looks like am going to give that set at Widget a shot!!

I bought a set that had 1/8 inch chucking ends.  They were really a two-piece construction with the actual small drill brazed into a hole in a 1/8 inch rod.  The drills were extremely brittle, and also the braze was a weak point. I broke a number of them.  They are okay in a small drill press where there will be no side force put upon them, but they are not very useful for hand work in a pin vise- you just cannot hold them straight enough. I won't buy any more.  I went back to the normal small drills and bought a good set of pin vises.

Subhuman1

I will toss my two cents in here as well, check out www.widgetsupply.com under the hobby tool sections for drill bits. (not to mention a ton of other goodies as well :)  )

Good find! September sale at $3.97 is better than $5.00 and they appear to be the same as those I got from WoodCraft. Direct LINK to the drill bits.

My bad they are under the "Dremel" category  I mentioned above, not hobby tools

I will toss my two cents in here as well, check out www.widgetsupply.com under the hobby tool sections for drill bits. (not to mention a ton of other goodies as well :)  )

I think a set of micro drill bits and a pin vise (you do need something to hold them) is a nice addition to your modeling toolkit.Though often very costly, if you have a WoodCraft store near, you might find a set of #61-#80 for $5.00 -  (if you don't see them, ask - I had to). The ones I found were labeled "Hawk" from China and though I don't know if they're accurate to half a thou they work well in plastic. They seem to be the same that MicroMark sells for 3-4X the price.

Not sure I have a good answer for you Eric, except I know buying an individual mini drill bit set is crazy spendy. I got a 60-80# set from squadron and they are cheap crap and still cost 30 bucks. I do have a Tamiya mini pin-vise which is sweet but comes with no bits.