Clean holes

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Chippygeoff

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Hi Guys and Girls.

Just having a break from the workshop. I am making a batch of mice at the moment and I am having a bit of a problem when it comes to drilling for the ears, eyes and the hole for the tail. I make 4mm and 5mm holes for these about 10mm deep but for the life of me I cannot get a clean hole. Unfortunately because of the nature of the item and the angle I have to go in at I cannot do it on the drill press. I had thought of making a jig for the pillar drill but each mouse is individual so I use a small cordless drill. I have tried ordinary drill bits, brad point and last week i invested in some titanium drill bits but I am still getting tear out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I tried adding a photo of a mouse I had made but failed. many thanks.

Geoff
 
I always cover where I want to drill with a few layers of lo-tac masking tape. It's the initial cuts by the drill bit that cause the breakout I believe, and if these are made in tape the cuts are much cleaner by the time the bit reaches the timber.
 
Not saying it will always work but, if your using a cordless drill and drilling small dia holes then try starting the hole with the drill in reverse to make a small indent and then drill as normal, I find doing this controls the initial bite of the drill bit.
If that fails then sometimes I regrind the cutting edge to that of a scraping action, won't be easy with 4mm drill.
 
Have you tried drilling a pilot hole of about 0.5mm-1.00mm first and then moving up through larger bits till you get to the desired size? Takes time but may get the results you are after.
 
Two other ideas to try;
Countersink the hole to slightly bigger than the required diameter with a small snail countersink before drilling. ArcEuroTrade sell a nice 5 piece set for £20.

Use a DeWalt Extreme 2 bullet point drill. These drills are pretty similar to a brad-point style drill bit, having a short smaller diameter section at the end, but tend to drill nice and cleanly and are brilliant for pen blanks IMHO. Unfortunately they now only have the real bullet-points at 5mm and above so it'll only solve half your problems if it works.

Jon
 
Thanks to everyone for tips and advice. I always do the holes with a small bit first and then go in with a bigger one after so it does not slip on the curved surfaces. Thanks for the info on the DeWalt bits Jon, I will certainly be getting some of those. And thanks Crispy, starting the bigger drill in reverse has certainly helps a lot, I am just drilling out 20 mice and it works a treat. Thanks also to Tasmaniandevil, I will remember that trick for other applications I have in mind.

Geoff
 
Hi Geoff

Your other option would be to roughly turn your mice to shape, drill then take a finishing cut and sand to clean up, that should clear up any tear out.

HTH

Richard
 
Geoff,

You could use a small bean bag on the drill press. all you will need to do is to hold it steady in the bag with a good quality brad point,

with high RPM you should not get tearout. Drilling by hand is difficult to get a clean entry/exit which is the probable cause of the tearout

John. B
 
Have a go with a dremel tile cutter bit. It's what I use for my pierced bowls and if you have a look at one of them in one of my posts you can see there is no tear out.

Best Regards

Steve
 
Geoff,

How about drilling the eyes before the turning - then you should hopefully lose the tear-out when you shape the finished item.

Failing that - tell the punter they're ..... three blind mice !

Sorry - hat, coat....
 
Hi

I would suggest using a lip and spur bit at as high a speed and as low a feed as you can manage - that coupled with a layer or two of masking tape should provide the result you're after.

Regards Mick
 
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