I need to drill out a small steel sleeve that is inside a dead plastic firing seal in a competition CO2 pistol (Czech Tau-7). The normal approach for seal replacement involves yanking it out with a brass wood screw, but this is a very early one. The older seals have a small tube inside that needs to be drilled out so the woodscrew can dig into the seal. I really don't want loose metal chips floating around inside. That is a guaranteed way to end up with a leak, or worse, to chew up the new seal. There isn't much metal to remove. The sleeve is only 15-20 mils thick, ~0.2" in diamter, and about 1/8" long. I've been planning on doing it upside down so the chips will fall out of the action, and I can park a vacuum nearby to try to encourage that. There are a couple of small pasageways the chips could get into. Although I will clean it as best I can, there's only so much I can do without completely disassembling the trigger, firing mechanism and removing the sights. I will hose down the inside with solvent first, to remove any oil that might attract chips. I was thinking that if I magnetized the drill bit, the chips would stick to that, and not float around inside. The possible downside is that if the chips get magnetized and get loose, they will then stick to the inside of the pistol, which could be worse than just having them loose. Any thoughts? Thanks! Doug White

Doug White fired this volley in news:XnsA5759719AFA99gwhitealummitedu@69.16.179.42: That seems like the best solution. If you're expending all that effort just to keep the chip contamination low, why not do that work 'up front' and eliminate all the back-end problems? L

Magnetize Drill Bit to Avoid Loose Chips?

Dec 19, 2015 23 Replies

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Doug White 10 years ago

John B. wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I'm going to try the superglue approach suggested in another post, but I will first need to remove some burrs left from the failed attempt with the wood screw. I'm going to use grease in the drill bit flutes to try to keep the chips under control from that process.

I've drawn up the critical dimensions for the superglue puller, but I doubt I will get a chance to try it out until well after New Years. I'm looking forward to reporting success with that. Fingers crossed...

Doug White

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Larry Jaques 10 years ago

Don't let it drip!

It likely won't be enough. I'd fill the chamber with grease to prevent it, just in case.

G'luck!

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Doug White 10 years ago

Doug White wrote in news:XnsA579E64818C3Bgwhitealummitedu@69.16.179.42:

Well, I figured I should report back on this adventure. I made a Delrin guide, and successfully bored out the burrs in the metal sleeve. I greased the bit, and that did a good job of collecting the shavings.

I then made a tight fitting pin on the end of a cap screw, which I super glued into the sleeve. I used a nut on the screw to try to jack the sleeve & seal out. That popped loose very quickly. Attempts to drill out the metal sleeve just spun it inside the plastic seal.

The final solution was to make a hollow core drill that I used to cut out the middle of the plastic seal. That got rid of the metal sleeve, and reduced the thickness of the plastic so that the press fit was weakened considerably. I made a brass hook tool, and succeeded in pulling what was left of the seal out of the pistol.

I'm going to give the inside of the pistol a thorough cleaning & oiling to prevent future rust, and then install a new seal. I'm reasonably condfident that all will be well after that.

Thansks for all the feedback & ideas.

Doug White

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Pete Keillor 10 years ago

Thanks for reporting back.

Pete

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