What to do with a 150ųm drill? (.006")

[Alexander McGilton]

Can't really disclose the what and why that lead to needing such a drill.

Just sharing the issues with handling such a tool. Inserting a drill this small to its holder is interesting enough. The case has a breakaway protector that holds all but the tip, reminiscent of some medical intravenous device.
Made the mistake of trying to calibrate the tool by the push button Z height setter. It surprisingly survived the pressure to get a reading and a presumed height to the cnc tool of set. What I didn't know is that the chessel tip crunched to the Z setter. Then sapped on the first drilled hole.

I then had to resort to the old paper trick. Only this time I don't risk sliding the paper by hand. I made a crease in the paper then pressed down with the drill until flattered the paper to make a set point.

Sub .0001 feed per revolution. Lasted for more than a thousand holes in .050 thick acrylic before breaking near the end.

 

[ChazzC]

Can't really disclose the what and why that lead to needing such a drill.

Just sharing the issues with handling such a tool.

Save the ones that broke: when the spiral tip breaks off it leaves a nice long cone with a 150um tip, excellent for picking up a center punch or crossed layout lines on a manual mill or drill press. I make mine on purpose from 100um bits.

 

[RJSakowski]

Not a.006" but a .008", drilling 304 stainless. I was making custom connectors for a .007" optical fiber. I used Guhring drills. I still have a few. For small holes, my preference now is carbide pcb drills The increased rigidity makes it less likely that the drill will wander. and break.

 

[matthewsx]

Used ones just a little larger for drilling out jets in racing carbs.

 

[WobblyHand]

Haven't tried drilling holes this small. What's the main couple of things for success? In this thread there seems to be some examples of what not to do, which are useful, anything special to do?

 

[RJSakowski]

Haven't tried drilling holes this small. What's the main couple of things for success? In this thread there seems to be some examples of what not to do, which are useful, anything special to do?

I drilled the stainless on an Atlas/Craftsman 6x18. I found careful visual observation of the chips coming off the flutes to be the best indicator. As long as there was a nice curled chip, I could continue.... slowly. I used a 50X microscope to view. On the RF30 clone, my greatest concern was setting my tool length. To that end, I made a touch off indicator from an old power relay and an LED light. The relay contact had enough spring that I wasn't in danger of breaking the drill by overshooting. The mill workpiece was Delrin so not much danger of breaking while drilling. I bought one of the sensitive drill chucks but wasn't able to use it as I couldn't set tool length with it. On the mill, I drilled blind, using the DRO to determine progress. Trust in the force, Skywalker!