surgical drills for small bits

[tbuskey]

I drill pilot hole for screws and nails.  Often I need something below 7/64" and sometimes under 1/16"

 

I break them on a power drill.  I break them with my Miller falls #5.

I've tried pin vices. archimedian jewelers drills and small push drills.  The take too long and the push type sometimes breaks the bits too.

I have a #41 Yankee push but it only goes down to 1/16" and the hole can end up "woobly".

 

I was looking for a tiny egg beater drill and heard about surgical drills.  Most of them are $$$.  I finally found one under $20 on ebay.

It looks like the Fiskars drill.  It came in a sealed plastic envelope, like the hospitals use after sterilizing things.

 

I just used it to drill a bunch of 3/32" holes and it worked as well as the MF for larger bits.

All my other drills are packed away in case I want to torture myself.  Best $20 tool ever.

[lew]

Thanks!

[Cal]

Thanks for the info, and welcome aboard Tom.  Glad to have you here and contributing.  Looks like our Mass. chapter is growing

[Gerald]

I have a micro chuck to hold the very small bits. Got it from an estate but it has a name on the package

[HARO50]

18 hours ago, tbuskey said:

It looks like the Fiskars drill. 

Does it EVER! I have the Fiskars version, but really haven;t used it much, other than to make sure it works. Will have to try it out on a small box currently in the works!

[tbuskey]

The light weight really helps with breakage.  The chuck can handle the tiny bits my archimedian drill did too.

 

  Let us know how the Fiskars works.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I've been needing (wanting, maybe) a pin vise for the small drills and tricky holes. Maybe I should get one of these instead.

[HandyDan]

I have a Fiskars. Got it in an auction box of stuff.  Hardly ever use it but have.  Operates quite smoothly.

 

[aaronc]

I've never seen these so thanks to those posting. I'll pick one up...could be useful to me on occasion.