shepherds hut

[AES]

They look good lurker (and good price too) but in this particular case I doubt that going down to "only" 1.00 mm dia will be small enough.

I had in mind a little set I also bought quite cheaply which goes down to the old size No. 80. I'm not going out to the cellar to measure that drill now now, and don't have my lookup tables handy right now either, but that No. 80 is "VERY VERY" small! I think the biggest drill in my set is about 1.00 mm or so in dia.

 

[donwatson]

From my handy 'Zeus' book the #80 is 0.35mm (about 0.013" ?)

 

[AES]

Yeah, thanks donwatson, I think that's right (I'm still too lazy to get my Zeus out - it's in the next room would you believe)! LAZY so-n-so me .

Doesn't matter really, the only point I was trying to make was to lurker about that set of drills he linked to. "Nice" though they seem to be (especially at that price!) at 1.00 mm dia, the smallest in that set is probably a bit too big for what John (aramco) needs for those little hinge pins.

BTW, the little set of drills I was referring to were "picked up" (and paid for!) by me in a model shop one day - the sort of shop that specialises in plastic scale models. Apparently they bore little tiny holes in their models sometimes.

As I've tried to say before, "just" because we're "woodworkers" doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared to look outside the usual dealers for specialised stuff like those little drills. I don't use them very often, but when I do need them they don't 'arf come in handy!

Cheers

 

[aramco]

@aramco: John, I have a similar problem with unsteady hands (though I suspect mine is nowhere near as bad as yours). But just as a suggestion for those hinge pins - IF you haven't tried already.

Try a very small drill (Dremel type, or could be a pin chuck type if you can twiddle it) to pre-drill where those pins should go. Of course the drill bit itself will need to be VERY small diameter (perhaps 0.5 mm or even less - depends on the pin dia of course).

But if you don't already have a set of such tiny drills they're quite handy for all sorts of little jobs and not expensive - try Axminster, or one of the suppliers listed in the sticky at the top of the Metalworking Section (just one e.g. of many is Arc Eurotrade). Just use the holes on the hinges as a drilling guide (as the hinges are already in place) and drill though the ply, ideally stopping before you break out on the inside (a bit of sellotape wrapped around the brill bit at the right depth works fine). Now the pins should be quite easy to "drive" in, holding each head with a pair of fine needle nose pliers and "just" push.

HTH, and apologies if you've already tried that idea and it doesn't work for you.

no I havent already tried this but its a good thought, i do have some 1 mm drill bits I will try this on a piece of scrap and see where it gets me, probably searching the floor among the debris to find the pin I dropped, magnets to the fore

 

[AES]

no I havent already tried this but its a good thought, i do have some 1 mm drill bits I will try this on a piece of scrap and see where it gets me, probably searching the floor among the debris to find the pin I dropped, magnets to the fore

Yeah John, I understand your difficulties, but according to the hinge & pin sizes you MAY find 1 mm a bit big. Good luck anyway mate.