Secret to using pure carbide drill bits revealed

[Bygar]

Solid carbide drills should only be used in a drill press.
Drill press quill run out will dictate the smallest drill size practical.
Most small drills should be operated at maximum speed available from drill Press.
Precision drill presses are made, but rather pricey. But will usually give the30,000
or more RPM desired for small PC drills. Some commercial drills turn at variable speeds
up to 45,000 RPM.
I live in the lower mainland of B. C. Canada
I did PCB design using tape and preform pads (of course adhesive).
Now its only a hobby mostly.

[dyarker]

2 years? 2 YEARS?

did someone let Chris out of the cage???????????????

I know it's been quiet here, BUT 2 YEARS!?!?!

[jwax]

Hey Bygar, where are you located?

[Dimbulb]

my dremel is permanently mounted on an aluminum drill press stand.
I added two 1/2 inch round rods mounted upright near the back of the
base plate and a hardwood 1 X 2 has two holes for the rods.

This reinforces the dremel for straight up and down motion.
I rarely break drill bits now unless I come down to fast.

The dremel is variable speed, I use about 3/4 speed.

[MrAl]

Wow yes a blast from the past, wayyyy past.

I've had this problem too with the Dremel drill press. It's made for the Dremel yet it isnt quite as stable as i would like it to be. If it was more stable i could use it with the carbide bits, but it's not and i dont care to break any more bits.

I found one trick however, that works with drill presses and the like. Use the drill press to drill almost all the way through, then stop. Do all the holes that way, going only about 90 percent through. Later, finish up by hand, using the Dremel by hand to drill the rest of the way through.
Why does this help? Because the work piece itself helps to stabilize the forward and backward movement of the bit while drilling, and while it is still going through it only has to move about 1/16 inch or less to drill part way through, but to drill all the way through it usually goes as much as 1/4 inch (maybe 1/16 through the material work piece and then all of a sudden it pushes through and goes farther). The deeper it has to go, the more front to back movement occurs, and that can break the bit easily. When it only has to go 1/16 inch deep (maybe a little less than that) it only has a very very small front to back movement (or back to front really) so it doesnt break because there is no tendency to try to 'bend' the bit while it's still in the work piece.