Micro drill bits?

Do we have any, and what does our selection look like? I’ve never really had need to look until now, and just wanted to know if I should pick something up on the way or if we’d have micro drill bits around. In particular I’m looking for a #65, 0.035"/0.89mm.

Will also tag @Team_3D_Fab, just in case, as I hear these are typically used to ream out clogged extruders.

JSM, maybe, too?
Sorry I can’t answer, but I thought they might need to drill tiny things…

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Good call! Don’t know why I didn’t think about them. Will tag @Team_Jewelry as well.

Machine shop made a decision to not stock tiny bits. They break too easily and would likely be single-use items.

Elliotts is a good place to buy them.

We do, however, have a very nice Cameron drill press that will accept drill bits down to at least #80.

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Check with Tanner Electronics across the street from DMS. They have some micro drill bits in the glass display case as you enter the store. Don’t know what sizes they have. Suggest you check them out.

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You can get them at real hardware stores, my local one sells tip cleaning drill bits made by Forney. I use those to pin my sons glasses when he breaks them.

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Stands to reason. My next question if I got a “yes, here they are” was going to be, “anyone want to be a spotter for me while I use said tiny drill bits since I’m concerned I’ll breathe on them funny and they’ll break?”

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I use lots of tiny drill bits so I have some advice.

  1. Use a drill press. Drill bits are a lot less likely to break using a drill press.
  2. Definitely start each hole with a center drill. You need a #00, which has a 0.025" tip. We have a couple small center drills in the Sherline tool chest. There might possibly be a #0, but I doubt it … Smallest one is likely a #1.
  3. If you’re drilling wood or soft plastic, you can probably skip the center drill as long as you use a scribe or similarly pointy object to “start” the hole.

BTW, #65 isn’t really all that small. It’s more robust than you think.

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I believe the smallest we have on hand is approx .50mm

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I also think there’s an extra 0 in the metric figure, or am I doing my math wrong?

(who am I kidding!?! I’m not doing math! There’s charts for that! which I might be misreading)
http://www.csgnetwork.com/drillsizeconvert.html
image

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You’re not misreading – you’re absolutely right. Will correct.

Funny story: when I first read the spec, I thought it was calling for an 0.0035" drill bit… turns out they do exist, in case you’re wondering. (I certainly was!) That would’ve been 0.089mm. I looked at it again today and realized 1) I need to start sleeping at night instead of working and 2) it was 0.035" instead of 0.0035"… but apparently my brain didn’t update the metric side of things!

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See the story above, about my needing to not work late into nights… :slight_smile: You’re right, 0.035" isn’t that bad; I think I just have some leftover terror from what I thought I’d have to be doing…!

Into acrylic, fortunately. Should be fairly easy. (Though I honestly hadn’t considered the option of not using a drill press! I ain’t that ballsy.)

The cheapest thing to do would be to buy this set of drills from harbor freight.

They don’t have a 0.889mm bit but they do have a 0.8mm and a 1mm drill bit. How tight is the spec?

PS, and the reason I brought it up, though I’m sure you’ve now noticed, this puts Joseph’s .5mm right into the ballpark…

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I may swing by and take a look first, then, to see if there’s a 0.89mm available. (Like @jast mentioned, I messed up my conversion the first time around – fortunately I won’t be needing an 0.089mm bit.)

±2%. I could use an 0.9mm bit, but 0.8 and 1mm won’t work, unfortunately.

This is SO true. But I will add one bit - Use a drill press but not a Dremel press.

There is a lot of slop in a Dremel and you’ll see that bit skip around before biting and they will very likely break. Take your Dremel apart and shim between the bearings and the plastic housing and you’ll remove most of that slop and be able to use the tiny bits in their press.

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I have a set of miniature drill bits that go from #61 (0.0390 inches) down to a #80 (0.0135 inches). The last time I looked I had about 5 of each # size. If you still can’t find your drill bit I can bring my set in for you to use. Your main problem will be finding a drill chuck that can down to that size to hold it.

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ok, we should have that size. You will find them in the second drawer of the jewelers bench.

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Cameron will do it.

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