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Me again and I need more help...

I am about to buy a dremel... question - at what speed do you drill out your barrels for SM? I used a friends rotary tool but it drills so fast that i melted about 2 bolters before figuring out that i should click on and then off and drill while the drill is slowing down.

of course its not ideal and i imagine doing that continually will burn out the switch/motor.

i found a dremel online with RS Components (look it up) for about 30 USD and it is variable from 5000 - 35000 rpm - i imagine thats a good speed to drill at - 5000 rpm???

thanks

Use a pin vice.

When drilling holes in plastic/white metal, the high speed of a Dremel (or other minidrill) can cause damage by melting the material due to  friction.

When I'm drilling bolters etc, I always use a pin vice as it is more controllable.

ah im looking at one online - how exactly does that work???

you vice grip the bolter and feed the bit through the central thingy? or grip the bit and "hand-drill" the bolter?

Posted By ironKing on 09/06/2006 5:03 AM
ah im looking at one online - how exactly does that work???

you vice grip the bolter and feed the bit through the central thingy? or grip the bit and "hand-drill" the bolter?

The former.

Follow this link - http://www.jediwars.com/openwiki/owbase/ow.asp?Miniatures%2FConversions%2FHowToUsePinVice
It's a lot easier than setting up a minidrill. I have two minidrills and find that I use my pin vice (US - vise) far more often.
I tend to use my minidrills for cutting,grinding and polishing.
One tip-If you buy a pin vice like this one, http://www.hobbytool.com/ProductImages/rotarytool/407new.jpg, you'll find another double ended collet in the "handle" end, giving you four different collet sizes.
When I bougth my first pin vice many years ago, I had it 6 months before a friend showed me this little hiding place! We all learn!!!

A pin vise is a hand held, hand powered drill, basicly a cylindrical "vise" (usually via a collet mechanism) that holds a "pin", with the "pin" being whatever sized mini drill bit you fit to it. There are roughly three basic types:

a) Single colleted pin vise with swivel head, which allows you to rest the swivel part in your palm so you can apply more presure. Just be careful and don't appy too much or you will snap the drill bit.


Two varieties of swivel head pin vises

b) My favorite is the Ball end pin vise, which is pretty much the same as a swivel head, except the head is the size of a golf ball and rests much, much more comfortably in your hand, allowing even better precision. Here's a couple varieties of this type:


c) The single and double colleted variety, which has either a single collet at one end or collets at both ends of the handle, but otherwise lacking a swivel head. I use an old lid from a Zap-a-Gap super glue bottle to allow me to "palm" the vise as if it did have a swivel head.

Single collet (with a storage space in the handle for extra bits)

Double Collet

In all cases, I find Safety Glasses are required lest you wind up with a piece of model, metal shavings, or (worse) drill bit in the eye. Not a pleasant experience and something that can potentially cause loss of sight. Happy modeling!

wow - nyarlathotep667 OT Wasteoid [DCM] - dude thats the most detailed post I have ever, ever read... thank you - although how you would wind up with a drill bit in the eye is beyond me.... unless one had some kind of fit i have a little "clamp/vice - magniyfing glass" thingy which i use to hold the items i am drilling.

I will definately look into the pin-vice thing... cheers to all of you great dakkites for the help.

Posted By ironKing on 09/06/2006 11:50 PM
although how you would wind up with a drill bit in the eye is beyond me....

The drill bits, particularly the smaller ones, can snap off and go flying, possibly into one's eyes. Always, always, always wear safety glasses when using tools, all it takes is one accident to cause something to snap, break and otherwise fly off into one (or both) of eyes. While rare, it does happen and it's better to be safe than sorry (and blind).

ahahahhahaahaha - i am the WINNER - i got a pin-vice, 6 bits, 6pc tool set for carving/GSing and some cool looking wire to use on conversions all for less than 10 GBP or 15 USD what ever it works out to... hahahahahha

wont forget my goggles!!!!

I have been using a dremmel for about 3 years on oth white metak and plastic. I use the saw and the drill. I have yet to melt a single part of a model. Yes sometimes WM things get hot but I never melted a single thing. I would never go back to a hand drill, it just saves so much time. I pinned 10 GK and 5 GK terms in about 1/2 hour.

I bought a dremel variable speed a couple years ago. I believe it goes from 5k rpm to 15k rpm. I find even the 5k speed too fast for drilling plastic, it ends up just melting the plastic instead of drilling it. for metal it is perfectly effective.

I often use my cordless power drill for this sort of thing.  The chuck can accept all but the tiniest bits and the variable speed control allows me to go from hand powered slow to super fast.

Posted By ironKing on 09/07/2006 5:06 AM
ahahahhahaahaha - i am the WINNER - i got a pin-vice, 6 bits, 6pc tool set for carving/GSing and some cool looking wire to use on conversions all for less than 10 GBP or 15 USD what ever it works out to... hahahahahha

wont forget my goggles!!!!

Where?

Ebay?

Please, share... I would love to get a deal like that... I already have the pin vice... bit I could use the extra bits, and the sculpting tools are WAY needed over here!

 

FHOH --

... Do you use your dremel to drill gun barrels? To me, that seems crazy. I have a dremel with 3 speeds... 10,000 rpm, 5000 rpm and off (LOL). If I tried to do barrels with even the slowest setting, they'd be crooked and ugle (though I've only melted plastics ONE with a dremel, and that was because Iw as using it too long at one period of time.

 

 

Eric

I got a cheapo JobMate brand rotary tool from Canadian Tire - it goes from 1K rpm to 5K rpm. It's also got a flexible extension, so you can hang the motor part from a stand and just hold the light end of the extension like a pen.

I'll never go back to a pin vice. This thing is just so much easier and faster. I've never melted plastic when it's set on 2K-3K, and 5K is plenty fast enough to drill metal. 5K and a cutting wheel will also cut through 0.1" steel rod pretty fast.

I broke a lot of bits though, until I picked up some High-Speed-Steel bits and some lubricant at a jewelry supply store. The lubricant is really necessary, I just dip the tip of the bit before I drill each hole.

Posted By MagickalMemories on 09/10/2006 1:00 AM

Where?

Ebay?

Please, share... I would love to get a deal like that... I already have the pin vice... bit I could use the extra bits, and the sculpting tools are WAY needed over here!

 FHOH --

... Do you use your dremel to drill gun barrels? To me, that seems crazy. I have a dremel with 3 speeds... 10,000 rpm, 5000 rpm and off (LOL). If I tried to do barrels with even the slowest setting, they'd be crooked and ugle (though I've only melted plastics ONE with a dremel, and that was because Iw as using it too long at one period of time.

 Eric

um no until last week i was just using a drill bit - holding it in my hand and drilling... but that 1000-5000 rpm thingy sounds cool - i also been looking at tooling a new head for a cordless screwdriver - they go really slow - so basically a head/chuck that can take the tiny bits.

as to where - i have a friend who is a jeweller so he gave me an awesome deal when he was ordering some supplies. (im in south africa) if you want I can ask him about getting another set of 6pc drill bits - i dont know how good they are yet cause i haven't even taken them out of the box, and the carving tools (they're wax carving - but PERFECT for GS... i will take a photo of everything i got - yeh i can ask then we can make a deal - like i need lots of bits, so we just ship the stuff to each other????? if you're interested send me a private message.

- STRANGELOOPER - that "cheapo" rotary tool - how much did you pay for it??

For slower speed drilling you can get a miniature chuck from MicroMark that you can put into a cordless screwdriver. The cordless screwwdriver turns much slower and is easier to control. You can also use Beeswax or soap as a lubricant for the bit. Just drill into the wax or soap to apply.

If you are going to go the dremel route, get the flex wand attachment. Much more precise control, you'll thank me later.

I do not use mine for plastics, drilling barrels or anything that needs to be close to perfect. But for drilling holes for pinning or removing flash/mould lines (with appropriate attachement of course), there is nothing better or quicker.

thanks everybody, yeh i think i may go the cordlessscrewdriver route

with a mini-chuck...

Big O - what do you use for the barrels? just hand???

Yep, good old pin vice.  Cant be beat for precision drilling.

I would also recommend you buy extra bits.  They break/dull quickly and you can find great buys on Ebay.  I got 10 bit packs of 1mm, 1.5mmm, 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm and 4mm for less than $15 for all 6 packs.

The Jobmate rotary tool (with extension) was CAN$25 on sale a couple of months ago, down from CAN$60 apparently.

Anything named 'dremel' doubles the price Admittedly, I haven't had the Jobmate for very long, so we'll see if it burns out after a year. Still, $25 beats $120 for an equivalent Dremel brand; it could last 1/5 as long and still be a steal..

BTW I have drilled out Bolter and Bolt Pistol barrels with the Jobmate on slow (1K). Only futzed two out of 10, and that's probably because I didn't clear off the plastic from the previous one and/or didn't bother to start the hole in the center with a sculpting tool. I did drill 1mm into my fingertip though (oops) so be careful how you hold the little buggers.