"Pike drilling--literally" Topic

I have several hundred 15mm Old Glory pikemen from various renaissance armies who need their hands drilled for accepting pikes. Would anyone who has already performed a similar task please recommend:
Hand-drilled or power drilled?
If power-drilled then what size of Dremel (or a cheaper copy perhaps)? And what size of drill bit to fit the Old Glory pikes?
This is not a job I'm looking forward to, so any advice that saves me time,frustration and blood-spilling would be much appreciated.

I use a Mini craft drill that I hand hold but I keep meaning to buy a stand for it. With a transformer you can control the speed – that is a great help in preventing the drill skipping as is a clamp of some sort to hold your work steady. This drill with transformer and drill stand will make light work of a boring (sorry no pun intended) task.

Mini drill bits can be bought in sets quite cheaply on ebay so buy a set not just one drill bit. Its not hard to put a pike next to a drill to make a reasonable guess at the diameter. If you want to be precise use a caliper then add a bit. You might well find as I did that your brass wire or pike isn't actually perfectly round at all but an oval in section.

Doing the odd one by hand is all well and good but for 150 you need mechanisation IMHO!

I have several .027 and .032 drill bits that I use for drilling hands for spears on 25mm Old Glory. I use a black and decker power drill. I get my ultra tiny drill bits at a specialty contractors store. I can oly imagine trying to drill 15mm hands.

It can be done, but I would prefer to hand drill them, since no doubt, using a power drill, not only will the miniatures be drilled, but the 1800mm sized hand will probably get done a few times as well, with painful results.

I already did a couple hundred. Hand drilling is the most reliable, but I hope you enjoy blisters. The best way I found was to drill just a starter hole by hand, then finish with a Dremel. I put a starter hole in the top of the upper hand and the bottom of the lower hand. Once I drilled through both holes with the Dremel, I continued to the other to line them up. Super-glue will hide the slightly enlarged hole. I used a 1/32" drill bit and the flexible shaft attachment for the Dremel. Even if you think you have a good supply of bits on hand, get some more. They will get dull on the soft metal and they will break. Set the Dremel at the lowest speed possible. Friction will melt the figure if you use high speed. Make sure you hold the figure in something other than your hand. I found a spring type clothes pin works best. You can also use a pair of pliers with some sort of padding wrapped around them. You will break some drill bits and I put a couple through my finger when it happened. Not something I would recommend unless you are pretty masochistic.

If I remember correctly, there is a relatively small thickness of lead that is formed in the "fist" that can punched through. Get a stout needle, hold it in some plyers (I used needle nose because they are small and can get close into the figures) and squeeze the plyers tightly to hold the needle, then press through. Try this first, beware of your other hand, however, before the drilling, as this goes much faster.

ilodic.

ilodic, I tried that at first. I damaged several figures because you are unable to support the bottom of the hand properly and it bends rather than allowing the needle to pass through. There is a tiny indentation, but it is frequently not there due to the vagaries of the casting process.

I find the initial pinhole is very important, since
it allows exact placement.. and helps the drillbit to
stay 'on track'

I use a needle fitted and ep[oxyed into an old brush handle.

Use this.. with a pair of magnifier glasses.. to make the initial pinhole. Also.. the tendency is to go from the top..
Don't..! Start from the bottom of the hand..:-)

Make sure the bottom is flat,,

I recommend (and concur with Cold Steel) in getting the hole started by hand, then finishing with a Dremel.. do all the holes first, then switch the drill to the Dremel and
finish 'em all off..

A cute touch is to also drill a hole in the base to fit
the wire in.. gives another holding point.

A variable speed drill with a flex shaft is what I use.

I'm a hand / finger drill person – the loss in speed is more than compensated by a feel for when the metal is fusing due to the friction (which is a huge danger when you are into the 48th figure and the dogs need walking)

I get my drill bits from a jewelry supplier – if you have anyone in town who will make proper (i.e. with jewels) jewelry, they can point you to a supplier who can get any sized drill you need.

Much thanks to all who responded with lots of good advice. I'm still not looking forward to the task but it is reassuring to know that others have gone before me.