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Hello there!
I just figured I'd share this with you because many people seem to be having trouble drilling out barrels on their miniatures guns.



Drilling out barrels on miniature guns is something that can add the final touch to a model, to make it stand out or look more realistic. However, doing so is not always easy. Often, the drill bit can slip off or wander from the center, leaving you with a crooked barrel. Sometimes, this may look so bad that it deters people from drilling their barrels at all. Also, hand drills are not as readily available as x-acto knifes and also not that cheap, depending on where you buy. If you want some special sized drill bits as well, that just adds more to the price. Of course, this makes people reluctant to try.

I didn't have a hand drill for the best part of my hobbying lifetime, and I never thought to get one until recently. I did, however, start relatively early on to drill out my Bolter barrels. How did I do it?
When I saw how cool drilled out barrels looked on some photographs, I wanted to do it on my miniatures as well. However, I did not have any shop nearby where I could buy hand drills, nor did I have access to online sellers like I do now. So eventually, I picked up my x-acto-blade and just started messing around, hoping for a half decent result. I poked the point of the blade into the barrel, and started spinning it around just like a drill. And much to my amazement, it actually worked. The blade could be used just like a drill, but actually even had some advantages over it!

Needless to say. from that point on, I kept doing this for all my Bolter barrels. Soon enough, when I tried out other armies, I tried this technique on them as well. It even worked on tiny barrels of tau pulse rifles or Cadian Lasguns. Because it worked so well, I never thought to actually get a hand drill until recently, when I needed it for some pinning holes. The x-acto-drilling technique has a load of advantages over regular drills:

Advantages:
- Does not require any special equipment like a hand drill or different drill bits - all can be done with just one xacto blade
- Cheaper option than hand drill
- Does not require any more skill than using a hand drill
- Lets you pinpoint the exact location of the center of the hole
- Does not require drilling a pilot hole
- Hole position can be adjusted on the spot by simply tilting the blade in the respective direction, if the hole becomes slightly off center during drilling
- The size of the hole can be adjusted precisely by the depth you drill to
- Even very small or very large holes can be drilled accurately
- Blade won't move offcenter once you've started drilling, unlike a drill

Disadvantages:
- Does not work on metal miniatures
- Hand drills are the only option for pinning model parts

I created this video, showing you the technique:



Thanks for checking this out! If you like this technique, share it around! Let's get those barrels drilled!

How many times have you stuck or cut your finger with this method?

I don't think its the cost of a pin vice/hand drill that stops people but rather that its fiddle. Getting the hole dead centre can be a pain in the arse and if you get it off by even a little it can end up looking really bad. Plus you can ruin the barrel completely if you make a mistake and it'll take a bit of work to fix since to match the rest of your army you'll have to fix either with a styrene tube or fill and re-bore.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And on that note I wonder if its easier to centre the bit when using a pin vice by using a bit of off-cut styrene tubing lined up with the barrel?

This also ruins x-acto blades. The bladed tip/edge is extremely thin and the pressure put on it by spinning the blade will make it chip.

I've done this myself and I don't recommend it. However, using an x-acto to set the initial drilling location can be useful. You can make a very small hole, set the drill bit into it (if your drill bit comes to a slight point at the end), and it shouldn't go off-center when drilling.

Tamwulf Not once, thanks for asking I don't use a lot of pressure on the blade at all, but I know where you're coming from! Seems like I push it in very hard, even though it's actually pretty effortless! Also, the way I hold my hand when doing that makes it very unlikely I manage to even reach my finger with the blade (I keep some distance with the fingers of my other hand).

Sasquatch True, there's certainly different reasons not to try, unfortunately. :/ Concerning the risk of messing up a miniature: This technique is whats is supposed to prevent just that from happening. The pointy blade makes it easier to center the hole, and even if you do move off center, you can still adjust the location by simply tilting the blade. I understand your skepticism, but so far this technique has worked wonders for me and I can only recommend. it. If you happen to disagree, that's fine

SirWeeble You are right, sometimes the blade can chip if you are not careful. However, I don't necessarily recommend using a brand new one. You may reuse an older one for this task. I even had one blade break at the very tip, but then filed it back to make it pointy again. This blade has worked fine for years and still does! I can post a picture of the older one so you can see what I mean. However, it also does work with new blades like this one.

Thanks for all the feedback you guys! I understand your concerns, this technique is not for everybody. Still, I think if you are careful (which you always should be btw, even with a drill), you can achieve some great loking results. The great advantage is that you can basically never "miss" the center of the barrel, because simply angling the blade to one side changes the postion of the hole and thus lets you correct mistakes on the fly!

Thanks for checking this out!

Your end result looks great which speaks a lot for this technique. My own method is combination of drilling and using knife. I use knife to make a guide hole for the drill and then knife again to adjust the hole if needed. For solid barrels such as Ork shootas I also partially fill the hole with plastic glue because I don't want the hole to look deep. I know that it doesn't look realistic, but it looks good.

As long as you are doing plastic models your method will work. Nice video you have posted to demonstrate. If using metal, then a pin vice is still the best method.

My two cents,

i do this too but i have cut myself more than 5 times. just saying. it works but be careful. and old blades increase the chance it slips. i absolutely would recommend brand new blades so you can press the point in to get it to stick.

i use this method, but using surgical scalpels. luckily i get them by the boxload from work, so dont have to worry about them wearing out.

I use this to start the tip, basically create a divot for the hand drill to sit, be centered and not slip. It doesn't require you to press really hard, less accidental cutting of the hands as well and safer in my opinion. Just use the tip to press and create your start point. Then use the hand drill to easily drill out the piece, it doesn't take much and the drill requires less pressure than when using an exact-blade in that manner. You can also use an automatic center punch to start your drill/guide hole as well.

I use a sewing needle in a pin vice to get it moving, and then an electric drill at very low rpms so I can guide the bit with my fingers.

jullevi Thanks! A combination of the two techniques is sure to be effective as well! The holes made by x-acto drilling are cone-shaped and not too deep either. But since I paint the insides of the gun barrels black, they seem very deep. Quite an effective illusion.

Captain Brown Absolutely! Like I said in the first post, the technique is not suitable for metal models. These will make the blade chip/break almost 100%. I'd definitely recommend using a pin vice for this, too!

bebopdrums2424 I think you are using waaaay too much pressure. First of all, you need a very fine point on the blade and the edge should not be dull. Then, you just poke the tip into the plastic veeeeery gently. Really, don't use any force at all. If the point is fine enough, it will be stuck deep enough to keep steady. Next, start spinning the blade (slowly if you are worried about your fingers) WITHOUT using any pressure towards the gun bit. Just rotate the knife frequently. The plastic is so soft that, even without exerting any pressure, the blade will bite into it. If you want the hole to become deeper, you DON'T, under any circumstance, apply more pressure. Instead, you keep spinning the blade for a longer time, slowly taking off very fine flakes and going deeper bit by bit. I assure you, it does not take any strength at all. And if you don't apply pressure, there's much less danger of injuring yourself.

queen_annes_revenge haha cool, I also have access to surgical scalpels from work now! They're super sharp

Dark Severance I wouldn't say a pin vice requires less pressure. With mine, I have to press a lot harder to drill, whereas with the knife, I basically just lightly hold it in place, spinning it. Like I said, no pressure on it at all. I'd wager it depends on the sharpness of the blade versus the pointiness of the drill bit though…

Nurglitch Wow! That seems cool but also a little dangerous! How do you manage not to damage the gun or your fingers?

The needle in the pin vise gets the hole centered, and running the drill slowly means the drill doesn't hurt your fingers or act uncontrollably.

Another update, just to clarify something about the x-acto blades I am using for this technique. In the image below, you see the two different blades I use regularly to build and convert models.



The bottom blade is one I stole... ahem... I mean I borrowed from work. It is a surgical scalpel (Swann Morton) and it is very sharp and pointy when new. It is still very sharp today, although I have used it for months already. That's because it is very good steel that retains its sharpness very well. This blade is perfect for cutting plastic. I can even cut large bits with much less effort than the other blade. However, it is not good for drilling, as it tends to fray/rip the plastic when used for this technique. Instead, I use the top blade for this task.
The top blade is just a regular craft knife blade that I bought in a set with the knife itself at a stationary shop. This blade used to have a sharper, longer point, but it broke off sometime during use. Instead of throwing the blade away, I decided to fix it by filing it back to a point (indicated by the red line in the image). Since then, the blade has become very sturdy and did not break again. The tip also has the perfect shape for drilling now. If the blade gets dull, I use a sharpener. For the knife tip, I file along the red line, towards the tip, to get it real pointy again. This should be done before attempting to drill, as it will help the blade not to slide off and poke you in the finger

As others have mentioned, this is a handy technique for getting your guide hole. For actually doing the barrels with just the knife - yes, it works, but it can take a bit of practice to get them all consistent this way.

And if your blade is getting blunt, it can 'drag' on the plastic instead of scraping cleanly, which can give you a rough finish.

I've used this same technique on metal models when I didn't have a drill to hand, but it does take some patience to avoid breaking the blade.

Never had much trouble using the pin vice method. Always start by marking the middle with my knife and slowly work up in bit sizes.... smallest I start with is .5 mm then work up from there.
Even then sometimes it’s not perfect which can be annoying, nothing worth worrying About though.

xKillGorex Sure, it’s no big deal. I like the technique because it’s very consistent.