"Who sells separate bits for a pin vise?" Topic

Sooner or later, all bits break. The ways vary from too much torque, stupidly using it to ream a slightly bigger diameter hole (raise your hands if you haven't tried that!) and the worst offence, dropping the pin vise on the floor which always lands bit down.

My stash of good bits is almost gone, and my buddy Jim's is gone. He needs to drill out some Old Glory hands for spears.

So I was trolling Hobby Lobby And Hobby Town today for bits for a pin vise. Oh, I can buy a brand new pin vise set for $17.95 USD with 6 bits, one of which might be the right size that I need…
I used to have a FLMRS (Friendly Local Model Railroad Shop) that had all the sizes for all the brass rod I needed.
I should have bought more before he went out of business.

Anyway…
Who sells them on line?
Better yet, who will have them at Historicon?

If you have a FLHS (H for Hardware) that carries Dremel, try them.

Yeah, I went to a large hardware store that had a good range. $3.50 USD* each I think.

* A not USD

Squadron mail order. Check in Wal Marts hardware section, they used to sell dremel and I have purchased drill bits from them in the past. Harbor freight and Sears might have them as well.

Hobby shops that specialize in trains.

Harmony House Hobbies sells them. You get a bunch for about $5. USD Or at least the last time I bought them I did, that was a few years ago.

MicroMark has some:
link

Your friendly local wal-mart has full arrays of dremel and other bits. Quite cheap.

For the thin ones, train, or specialist hobby shops sell them.

John, ACE Hardware has an excellent selection of bits, that you can buy one at a time or in sets. And they have some really small sizes that you can use for "hand drilling". Look for the metal drilling bits. Very cheap.

You have to look through the hardware cabinets to find the small sizes. It's worth it.

amazon.com sells packages of same sized ones. search for:
wire gauge drill bit
just know what size you are looking for.

I'm lucky enough that I am only 20 minutes away from this place: mcmaster.com

I can find just about any size of drill bit rather cheaply.

Try Ace Hardware. That's where I get mine.

Electronics hobby stores sell bags of drill bits in the 'make your own circuit board' section – usually 1.2, 1.0 and 0.8 millimetre sizes to fit common components. The price of a bag of 10 bits is usually around the price of 2 at the hardware store.

Micro-Mark is a mail order tool business for the hobbyist. Check out this link: micromark.com

Currently they are having a sale

Mike

Dremel sales do not mean pin vise bit sales. Lowe's has a fine Dremel selection but no separate pin vise bits.
I'll try Ace Hardware next. Although they are a franchise, some of their merchandise selections can be eccentric.

Walthers is always a treat to browse through what the model railroaders use, even if you skip the trains.

link

Here's what I've been using for years,

Harbor Freight Warrrior HSS micro drill set

link

They work great, and at the price if you break them you don't care much.

In the U.K. Maplins is a good source. They are an electronics components store which also stocks tools and accessories. That makes me think that a similar store in the USA might be a good bet.