drilling small holes in brass

Richard Evans · 2006-10-16T12:42:23+00:00

Hi folks,I need to drill quite a number of 1mm holes in brass sheet. The holes are about 3mm deep. I consistently get trouble with the drill skidding- you can hear it, and the brass gets hot.The drills sometimes snap as they break through, leaving the broken fragment stuck in the brass stock.I assume this is due to the way the drill is ground, but I can't figure out what to do about it. I have enough trouble grinding large drills!I'm using a Proxxon drilling machine at 8500 rpm.I wondered about making a jig which would be a bit of round stock turned to the correct angle (which is what?) with a 1mm hole through the centre: poke the drill through and use slipstone on the tip, but I don't really know what I'm talking about here.Any thoughts?ThanksRichard

Oct 16, 2006 22 Replies

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Andrew Mawson 19 years ago

I believe they made keys from teaspoons in Colditz, but possibly a different type of key

AWEM

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Stephen Howard 19 years ago

Sensible fellow - there's some good metal out there to be had for mere pence a bag, and you get a wider choice of colours. There's many an 18th century clarinet or flute out there with half a key made from an old piece of cutlery out of my stash drawer..

Regards,

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