I am parting out a PCB drilling CNC machine. Inside of it, there is a good pile of a few lbs of carbide "PCB Drills". These are tiny drills and perhaps end mills, with what looks like 1/8" shanks.
I wonder if there is any non-PCB use for them. I do realize that these carbide drills can only be used in CNC equipment, and I have a CNC milling machine. Trying to think of any good use cases but can't.
Google "small hole drilling." In many of the links you'll find comments about the applications. There are many, from medical devices to aerospace to process screens and filters.
I've used them, in a non-CNC Cameron Precision micro precision sensitive drill press for drilling out the web of a broken-off tap.
They typically have split points, and are in a wide range of sizes. The colored collar around the shank helps you to pick the right size. (That, plus measuring to get close before you select with the color.) I don't know precisely what the color code is, but it is there.
They, of course, are great for drilling small holes in PCB materials, like the green G10 glass-epoxy, and the blue glass epoxy for which I don't know the name. :-)
Enjoy, DoN.
Crafters and woodcarvers love them. They fit well in Dremels an other small high speed flex-shaft handsets like Foredom. I got a bunch from Gunner about a decade ago (carbide or HSS?), but they seem to eat anything.
eBay sells new carbide 1/8" end mills for a buck, delivered.
- If ever the Time should come, when vain and aspiring
Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government,
our Country will stand in Need of its experienced
Patriots to prevent its Ruin. -- Samuel Adams
Stick them on eBay in bags of 5/10/20.
Lots of electronics hobbiests use them, mainly in home brew CNC PCB drilling machines but also they can be used in a drill press manually if you're careful.
Depending on exactly what they are they work well in a small hand held demel grinder. I buy both the drills and what appear to be tiny end mills that are cheap, break easily, but can do small jobs on hard material. "Cheap" being the key word here :-)
I buy them all the time, usually in 50 or 100 count assorted packs. I use them for doing repairs on various things as well as for hobby use.
Very handy in a Dremal tool or one of the small precision drill presses. Used a lot by hobbyists like RC, model train, ship, and model builders.
The big places use them once, then either scrap them or ship them to places to be sharpened and the good ones get returned, the out of spec go to the hobby market.
Have someone clean them and sort out the broken ones, then toss the rest on Ebay in various lot sizes, for shipping it is handy to stick them into a styrofoam block with a second one over the tips so they don't get broken.
"Ignoramus17939" wrote in message news:x_2dncwzwp2Rju3EnZ2dnUU7-N snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...
They work reasonably well on a milling machine with this type of manual-feed adapter:
-jsw
Yes, they can drill aluminum and brass, even do deep drilling if you peck it. High spindle RPM is best, but you can do it at slower speed if you keep the feed slow.
They can actually be used in a micro hand drill press, but you have to be very careful.
You will find lots of people selling these on eBay and such.
I have a drawer full of them, and use them for certain projects.
Jon
Diallyl Pthalate.
Jon
Stick them on eBay in bags of 5/10/20.
Lots of electronics hobbiests use them, mainly in home brew CNC PCB drilling machines but also they can be used in a drill press manually if you're careful. ___________
Works better with a sensitive drill chuck. Most drill presses have too much runout work well with micro drills. Some like the little high speed Proxxon are decent though.
Thanks, today I learned what a sensitive drill chuck was. I'd not heard of them before.
Can these drills drill metal?
I have a small sensitive chuck like that. I am sure that I would sell those drills, but I wanted to keep at least a couple dozen of them, and I am not sure which ones to pick.
i
Yes. I said that I drilled out the web of a standard HSS tap, and was then able to pick out the teeth and re-tap the hole.
Enjoy, DoN.
You've got enough of them so try it! Go for high RPM while you are about it. And particularly -- avoid side stress on them, as that is quite likely to snap the drill -- the same with the standard shanked solid carbide drills which I used for PCBs back when. The smaller the diameter, the easier it is to snap the drill with just a little side force.
When drilling out the broken tap, the main trick was to get the workpiece solidly clamped to the table of the tiny drill press.
Also -- check for runout in the drill chuck.
Enjoy, DoN.
And what makes them out of spec is the length of the shaft plus bit. This is because the PCB drilling machines are CNC, and have a fairly limited Z-axis movement.
Agreed.
Enjoy, DoN.
Look at the tips with magnification. The ones you want for drills are ground as split point drills. Some are end-mill grind, and are likely used for weird-shaped apertures.
Enjoy, DoN.
You could try them to find the smallest size that doesn't break on your drill press.
-jsw
You might keep the metric/sae sizes by mm/16th inch plus one smaller and larger on each side of them, plus tap drill sizes.
- If ever the Time should come, when vain and aspiring
Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government,
our Country will stand in Need of its experienced
Patriots to prevent its Ruin. -- Samuel Adams
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