I am wanting to find a good mini pin chuck that accepts drill bits as small as a #80 and adapts to a drill or my Dremel. I used to have one made by a company named Alco Products that was very handy. Unfortunately the fingers inside were very fragile and broke easily. I had to tighten it with a plier to keep the bit tight while drilling through a metal body(I won’t be using one for metal again). It broke when I bore down with those pliers. I did some searching on the web and came up with some good looking chucks made by a company called ABM. Has anyone used these products? One looks to have a hex shaft and the other has a 3/32 collet. I’m thinking that it would be neat to find one with the same sized collet that my Dremel takes, and use it on the slowest speed. Any thoughts or suggestion would be appreciated! Heath
Check with Micro Mark, they have one or more. I bought one several years ago.
http://www.micromark.com/
Bob Boudreau
Dremel also makes a mini chuck. I’m not too sure how small it goes, I have used it for a number 60 bit.
I have the chuck from Dremel. It won’t accept any bit smaller than 60, however I would not try to use a dremel for those 60-80 bits, you will break them in a second besides not having any control. Use a pin vise for those critical holes.
Bob K.
I have a chuck for my dremel that wiil tighten on a #80 bit, but at its slowest my dremel is still to fast for such a small bit. I just chuck my pin vise in my 3/8" varable speed drill . I have also used the pin vise chucked in my drill press if I’m out in my shop. You have to be very careful. Sometimes you may have to turn your pin vise in the chuck a little to get ii better aligned. If its something really critical I drill the hole with pin vise in the drill press, then chuck the tap in the drill press and turn the tap by hand to tap the hole. Using the press helps me get the tap started squarely in the hole.
I agree, speed on those really tiny bits can be a problem. If you need power, it should be slow. Some companies sell tiny bits that are actually shanked 1/8 inch or 3/32 inch so no adapter chuck is needed, I recall thay are often made from high grade matereials.
Jennifer
A friend of mine solved the speed problem by using a power screwdriver with a Micro-Mark miniature chuck. It is geared for the slower speeds required to avoid stripping screw heads. (Unfortunately I can’t remember what brand the electric screwdriver was though…)
Dremel sells a set of 5 different size collets. Sells for around $7. I also found a whole dremel accessories kit (that included the collets) at my local wholesale club for around $30.
I broke my pin vise the same way (with the pliers) while trying to use my tap. I now put the tap in my variable speed cordless drill. Drives the tap in and backs it out. You
control the speed.
Ken:
Those electric screwdrivers are made by virtually all of the major manufacturers; Craftsman, Black & Decker, Rioby, Skill, etc. My recommendation is to get a major brand with minimum of 18 volts. They can be controlled to a very low torque and speed while having the guts to saw a lock hole (2-1/4" diameter) through a 1" thick solid pine door on one charge without burning up the drill motor or battery.
Thanks for all the input!!! I really appreciate it. After the 3rd time through my new Micro-Mark catalog, I found just what I was looking for( I don’t know how I missed it). Here it is in case anyone else needs one: #82541. This one has the hex stub shaft. That Alco Prod. chuck that I mentioned had the hex shaft, and I used it with one of those cordless screwdrivers that is mentioned above. It was about the perfect combination in my opinion. I could drill all my #76 holes in a HO scale locomotive shell with precision. Well it looks like I’m back in business. I would have to agree with the line of thinking that the Dremel would be too fast. I hadn’t really thought about it, but it still runs about 5000 RPM’s at it’s slowest.
Thanks again guys and gals!!! If I wasn’t so blind, all this discussion could have been avoided. Hopefully someone alse can glean something from it and it won’t be all in vain!
Heath
The hex shanked pin vise will work in a hand drill but as others have pointed out it will be very easy to break the small drills. The collet set that Dremel provides (or at least used to) will accept drills from 1/8" to zero. The Dremel drill press accessory will allow fine control of your work and minimise the risk of drill breakage.
Pete
These are used in industry for drilling holes in circuit boards. They are solid carbide, and will drill through anything. Use a coolant (water is fine) and HIGH speed. Harbor Freight and others often have surplus ones.
MSC has these and a whole lot of other useful tools:
http://www.mscindustrial.com