Best small drill bits?

[wellsprop]

Hi all, 

 

I regularly drill holes 0.6 - 1.2 mm in diameter.

 

I currently use PCB drills (bought off Ebay cheap) however, I find them incredibly brittle and the thread is very, very aggressive, which often means the drill bits bite and snap (especially in resin). 

 

Can anyone recommend some good drill bits in particular, or are only HSS bits suitable?

 

Cheers

Ben

 

Edit: no idea how I put the in the decals section.... 

[dnl42]

Sadly, those PCB drills are not at all suitable to hand drill as they're far too brittle. I had a set and they snapped with the least bending. I stick with regular HSS sets.

[TheKinksFan]

I have used two sets from Trumpeter Master Tools for several years, #09954 and #09955. I have managed to break only the 0.3mm, wasn't careful enough. I don't drill resin, just polystyrene which is softer, so I don't how long lasting they would be if used to drill resin parts. 

[davecov]

I got fed up breaking the cheapo drill bits but now I use Proxxon drill bits such as these Proxxon 28255 Diamond Twist Drill Bits 0.8 and 1.2 mm. Not cheap but worth it in the long run .

 

Dave

[dogsbody]

I've got these. So far, I've only broke one small one, but luckily, I had a spare.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[rayprit]

I have been modelling for years and constantly have to keep buying new drills......only break .5 and below - all the time(at least 30 years plus).  I have tried all makes of drills, diamond, etc, you mention it, I have used/tried it......anything below .5 is going to eventually break, if it doesnt, it either goes blunt or bent........impossible to see the tips to resharpen, even purchased jewelry drills.....tried everything.  You just have to accept, those small drills have a limited shelf life........I just write off to various Jewelry  shops and buy bulk drills.....10 x .5   - 10 x .4 -   10 x .3................have many duplicates now of the sizes that do not break......being so fine, they are a welcome prize for the carpet monster......I have a special mains miniature vacu-cleaner, just to hoover the carpet about once per month.

Theres no way around this problem, accept you will loose fine drills and buy in a bulk supply

[Dave Swindell]

11 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Hi all, 

 

I regularly drill holes 0.6 - 1.2 mm in diameter.

 

I currently use PCB drills (bought off Ebay cheap) however, I find them incredibly brittle and the thread is very, very aggressive, which often means the drill bits bite and snap (especially in resin). 

 

Can anyone recommend some good drill bits in particular, or are only HSS bits suitable?

 

Cheers

Ben

 

Edit: no idea how I put the in the decals section.... 

Shesto do a good range of general purpose drills suitable for plastic in sets or packs of replacements -

https://www.shesto.co.uk/craft-tools/hand-drills/drill-bits#1

The sets are available in Hobbycraft and other model shops in the UK

[jenko]

Seconded ^^^^^^^^

 

Dick

 

Also Lidl do small drill sets every so often. Worth looking at the site once a week.

 

Aldi also do useful modelling stuff at times.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2024 by jenko
Said Aldi not Lidl

[ckw]

I've given up on buying drill sets, as like others I keep breaking the finer bits - or the carpet monster eats them. Instead I buy packets of 10 HSS bits off Amazon.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

5 minutes ago, ckw said:

I've given up on buying drill sets, as like others I keep breaking the finer bits - or the carpet monster eats them. Instead I buy packets of 10 HSS bits off Amazon.

Cheers

Colin

I think I've only ever broken the two smaller sizes in my set, and like you I've bought packets of 10 so as to have spares in stock. Shesto do the sets and packs of 10 individual sizes, so you have a choice of what suits you best. Personally, I like the set in the handy storage box, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a general purpose set of small drills, however I've only ever bought two sets, one for the home workshop and another for a travelling toolbox.

[Mark Harmsworth]

I also use the ones shown by @Dave Swindell and have only broken one of the smaller ones in over ten years of use.

Mark

[wellsprop]

@Dave Swindell many thanks for the recommendation! I'd seen those at my local (Jadlam), will pick up a set next time I'm there

[Jamiec360]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Tamiya bits? For small sizes I find them great as they have really accurate but short threads and sturdy shank. The cutting portion is only 4 or 5mm long so difficult to break and while I’ve gone through boxes of pcb bits (and still find them good for bits about 1mm and up ) I now have the full set of Tamiya bits from 0.2mm to 1mm. Not cheap but never had to replace any so actually good value. Also don’t have to try and dig broken pcb bits out of my models

[Tarby]

Someone on the RPF forum puts the insulation from electrical wire around the shank of their micro drill bits. The effect is some slight give in the shank where it's held in the chuck/collet and where it tends to snap, and not one has broken since he started doing it.

[TheKinksFan]

On 24/02/2024 at 01:32, Jamiec360 said:

Surprised no one has mentioned the Tamiya bits? For small sizes I find them great as they have really accurate but short threads and sturdy shank. The cutting portion is only 4 or 5mm long so difficult to break and while I’ve gone through boxes of pcb bits (and still find them good for bits about 1mm and up ) I now have the full set of Tamiya bits from 0.2mm to 1mm. Not cheap but never had to replace any so actually good value. Also don’t have to try and dig broken pcb bits out of my models

You're right, they are good, and also easy to change, as the base is thicker. I did something stupid and broke the 0.2mm, but 0.3mm is still going strong. 

[Bozothenutter]

stop buying model brand drills, they're just rebrands.

 

this is my goto manufacturer (it helps having a local dealer who is very patient)

 

https://www.phantom.eu/en-us/products/drilling/drills/hss-e-pm-micro-drill

[Dave Swindell]

9 minutes ago, Bozothenutter said:

stop buying model brand drills, they're just rebrands.

 

this is my goto manufacturer (it helps having a local dealer who is very patient)

 

https://www.phantom.eu/en-us/products/drilling/drills/hss-e-pm-micro-drill

Not at those prices I won't. 10 Euro's for one drill? I can get the microbox set I linked above for that, or a pack of 10 replacement bits.

[Bozothenutter]

52 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Not at those prices I won't. 10 Euro's for one drill? I can get the microbox set I linked above for that, or a pack of 10 replacement bits.

that's just OEM pricing, and me linking to a random 0.3mm drill

UK seller here:

https://www.performacut.co.uk/hss-drill-bits/hss-jobber-drill-bits/phantom-psd-hss-jobber-drill-118-0-2mm-to-20mm-11450?returnurl=%2fsearch%3fq%3d0.3mm

 

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, Bozothenutter said:

that's just OEM pricing, and me linking to a random 0.3mm drill

UK seller here:

https://www.performacut.co.uk/hss-drill-bits/hss-jobber-drill-bits/phantom-psd-hss-jobber-drill-118-0-2mm-to-20mm-11450?returnurl=%2fsearch%3fq%3d0.3mm

That's still only 2 drills for the price of a full set or a pack of 10 replacements....

[Bozothenutter]

40 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

That's still only 2 drills for the price of a full set or a pack of 10 replacements....

If price is your only guide....🤷🏾‍♂️

[Dave Swindell]

[Dave Swindell]

2 hours ago, Bozothenutter said:

If price is your only guide....🤷🏾‍♂️

It's not my only guide, but value for money wise most modellers don't need expensive high precision drills to drill holes in plastic models. The microbox drills and other like them are perfectly adequate for the job.

[Mr T]

I remember talking to my dad about small drill bits. He worked in light engineering all his life and must have drilled millions of holes. Small drill bits in metal didn't last long for all sorts of reason, but largely because they were so small and relatively fragile despite whatever they were made out off. He reckoned that the really small bits in plastic suffered because plastics are relatively good insulators of heat, and so the area around the bit heats up. In some cases the plastic will soften and foul the bit, thus making it more likely to break. Also plastics may not be a consistent density. A

lot of industrial cutting and drilling uses/used cutting oils or other lubricants to ease the process, and also cool the work piece I have long since accepted that small 0.3mm/80 drill bits will not survive long. 

He also hated milling and cutting aluminium for reasons I am not sure of. 

[jenko]

Going on from above. A good lubricant for cutting plastic is water believe it or not. However the sort of drilling we do in plastic is more of a case that the drill bit is rotated by hand rather by machine. so heat should be minimal.

 

Dick

[flyboy2610]

3 hours ago, Mr T said:

He also hated milling and cutting aluminium for reasons I am not sure of. 

Aluminum makes lots of little flakes and shavings when it's milled. I used to work at a machine shop. I hated that stuff, too! It gets everywhere!