Holding tiny drill bits (down to .3mm)

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FlyFishn

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Does anyone have any thoughts on holding tiny drill bits down to .3mm (3 tenths of a mm)?

I have a couple pin vices for them and one has a spring loaded spiraling action - I push a block down against the spiral and it spins the bit. Kinda neat, but for what I use it for (circuit board work) its a pain in the butt.

I've seen collet sets for rotary tools that go down to .5mm.

Some mini chucks I've seen advertised as 0-3.5mm or so actually bottom out around .8mm.

I'd like to work with the rotary tool up front - it has a 1/8" standard collet. There is a smaller collet in the set, not sure of the gripping diameter, but all the tool shanks are 1/8 that I use. I think a hand-held cordless drill may be too heavy of a tool for the real light board work, but if I can grip the bit holder in a normal chuck that may come in handy for something at some point. For the fine work the rotary tool I would think would be more ideal, though. Even a "drill press" frame for better control would be nice. The tiny bits are quite delicate.
 
The PCB (carbide) drills I own have 1/8" shanks so they are easy to chuck up. And carbide will last much longer when drilling glass-loaded FR4. You may want to consider them as an option.
 
Get some small soft copper wire and wrap the shank evenly starting on one end and finishing on the other. Grip it it the chuck.

D
 
Saw a tip in a Fine Woodworking book that suggested using three small diameter rods around the drill, all gripped in a normal 3-jaw drill chuck. They used brads, being woordworkers, but 1.5mm or 1 mm drill rod would do. The three rods act as a chuck, assuming you have each rod against one of the jaws, and you get a point-contact on the small drill.
 
You can get tiny little Jacobs chuck and set it up with a 1/2 arbor. My chuck goes from 0 to 1/4" and easily goes into my mill or drill press.
 
Shootymacshootface said:
You can get tiny little Jacobs chuck and set it up with a 1/2 arbor. My chuck goes from 0 to 1/4" and easily goes into my mill or drill press.
Click to expand...

Albrecht makes a really nice keyless chuck that will do down to zero, too. I have the Jacobs chuck and it will easily hold tiny bits.
 
I have that Albrecht Chuck . I think it is 0-5/16 range . It does go to zero .
 
My Dremel 3 jaw chuck will hold my smallest pin gauge which is 0.011" (‪0.2794‬mm). It cost about $11 at the hardware store.
I made an adapter that allows me to use the chuck on a watchmakers lathe tailstock.
 
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There's been a recent thread here about Dremel chucks:
www.hobby-machinist.com

Dremel 4486 keyless chuck.Can't beleive it's made in Germany.

The keyless chuck on my old Dremel (from the nineties) finally gave out. it's not usable any more, this old chuck was a genuine Dremel4486 chuck. You would think finding a Dremel 4488 couldn't be that hard but have yo been looking for one lately? there are so many fake copies out there that...
www.hobby-machinist.com www.hobby-machinist.com
Get a good one, not a knockoff.
 
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