"Drilling Holes in Minis - Part I" Topic

Handy info, Thanks Bill

Xin

Look into Dremel Stylus, I have two with adjustable chuck. Adjustable speed and soft start.👍👌

Yes go with the Dremel cordless in fact get two and you'll see how wonderful it is to quickly and easily drill holes in minis. Have one loaded with the most common hole e.g. for drilling out hands for flag poles in figures, even larger pilum, spears, lances etc., and the other for the hole matching in the base of the stand for the flags to set into .. you'll see these same drill sizes are used for many other needs.

I've already blown my TMP budget on the next two installments in this series, but I'll keep the Dremel in mind!

I'd guess they work better on soft things like plastics and softwoods.

I've not heard of finger drills before – is there an advantage to these over the pin vise other than not having to load a drill bit each time?

I find the ability to put the back of the pin vise into the palm of my hand that gives it stability. I wonder if the finger drills have the same stability?

I use the pin vise on plastic models, which is what I think the Micromark accessories are for, largely to drill out gun bores in 1/72 from 20mm guns right up to 155. However, it also worked very well for very precise hole drilling in Langton's metal 1/1200 scale Age of Sail hulls for rigging.

You can use any kind of replacement bits as well.

I don't know what kind of metal those models are, but I'd use a pin vise myself based on my experience with the Langton ships – I do have a couple of Dremels, but I find those hard to keep in place and sometimes the bit grabs the metal and the model itself gets ripped out of my hands.
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Tim

…is there an advantage to these over the pin vise other than not having to load a drill bit each time?

Well, they're also smaller than a pin vise.

I wonder if the finger drills have the same stability?

You can't put pressure on the bit the way you can with a pin vise that fits into your palm. On the other hand, the finger drill is very lightweight.

I do have a couple of Dremels, but I find those hard to keep in place and sometimes the bit grabs the metal and the model itself gets ripped out of my hands.

I believe Dremels are designed as high-speed tools, which makes them good for many things, but I have read that slower speeds and more torque are better for drilling.

Dremel Stylus, Mr Editor. ..it works excellent for .039 to .040" drill bits. (Not your power cord Dremel, to be clear.)

Iirc. .04" works well with North Star Pike.

I have been able to use my battery powered Ryobi drill with the speed dial on it turned to slow speed. Amazingly the chuck holds small bits to about .57 size.
I use the finger drill to start the hole so that when using the drill the bit doesn't wander before grabbing.

As an aside, on my 6mm tanks, I drilled a hole into the turret and superglued a small brad into it. Then a slightly larger hole in the hull body for it to slip into. The longer brad is better than the original cast peg in preventing the turret from easily falling off while allowing it to be rotated.

I used a pinvise to drill out the eagles on Baccus 6mm, and mount them onto flagstaffs of brass wire. Would never do that again, but they looked awesome.