| cowanrg |
| i need to widen a few holes in a PCB and im looking for really small drill bits for the job. i havent seen them at home depot or lowes, anyone know of a place online that carries them? |
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| HeadSh0T |
You should be able to find PCB drill bits at electronic stores which sell components, PCBs, etc...
I can get them of varying degrees of tiny-ness for about $0.25 each locally. |
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| cowanrg |
| do you think radioshack would have them? |
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| Bill Lummus |
Radio shack does have some.
If you need really tiny holes, a dremel with a drill press is a good solution. I saw Costco has a complete accessory kit with some great tiny drill bits (among many other things) for little more than the 3 bit pack from RatShack. |
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| SY |
| If you can't find what you need locally, McMaster-Carr and MSC are the two logical online sources. |
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| JOE DIRT® |
a note to add...if you plan on using a regular drill....you can get a mandrel adaptor to fit the bits
DIRT® |
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| Illusus |
| Also try hobby shops, especially ones that specialize in scale models and radio control air planes, they usually stock high quality, tiny bit sets made by excel/ xacto. |
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| jackinnj |
has both high speed steel bits and carbide bits -- the HSS ones down to a few mills in size -- cutting a hole smaller than wire-wrap wire. I think that I use 0.033 and 0.040 most frequently.
I've also used drillbitcity. There's also a place in Kenilworth NJ which carries them by the thousands !
a word of advise on carbide bits -- forget about the Dremel drill press set up -- it isn't precise enough when pushing through the material and the slight off-centeredness causes bits to break -- i now use the carbide bits on my mill (not yet outfitted for CNC), and the hss ones with the Dremel -- just throw the bits away when they become unsharp.
jack |
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| HeadSh0T |
I've found a dremel to be an excellent tool for drilling PCBs. I've drilled hundreds of holes with it. No drillpress was used either. I've only broken one or two bits but I've got a lot of them because they're very cheap.
My drillbits fit into the dremel without an extra adapter because the tail end of the bit is thick enough (about 3mm). |
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| dhaen |
Some used, but re-sharpened bits from PCB companys are advertised in various places at much reduced cost.
Cheers, |
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| dkemppai |
www.megatool.com
(Yeah, I know the name isn't very intuative for a small drill bit mfr :) )
You need to order a minimum of 25 of each size, but they are really good bits. Very agressive carbide, nice finished holes.
(Take care to hold the board down tight on the drill press table, the bits may pull the board up, causintg the bit to snap)
-Dan |
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| Doh |
| Digikey actually has them. That's where i got mine. |
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| Elkaid |
| You can also find them everywhere you find dremel accessories (Even www.amazon.com) : |
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| Elkaid |
| And oh, by the way, the drill press accessory does a wonderful job for drilling PCB ! |
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| breguetphile |
| I would check a sears or some other place that carries Craftsman. You need to ask for "numbered drill sets". These are not based on a fraction system like typical drill sets and often go significantly smaller. I also second trying McMaster-Carr, the ultimate tool catalog. |
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| jmateus |
Hi
They usually go by numbers, being smaller number the thickest.
My source of these bits is a hobby shop that carries almost all the numbers, they are not cheap though, .75 to .95 a piece.
For normal holes on a PCB I use #66 or smaller #. |
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| Wardsweb |
Check out http://www.smallparts.com/
They have high speed bits starting at .0059 inches (0.1499mm) and cobalt micro bits starting at .0019 inches (.05mm)
You really need their catalog, as the web site doesn't have any where close to the amount of stuff they carry. |
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| karma |
| quote: | Originally posted by Illusus
Also try hobby shops, especially ones that specialize in scale models and radio control air planes, they usually stock high quality, tiny bit sets made by excel/ xacto. |
i second that. i do miss my grasshopper's with the graphite base
;) |
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| sam9 |
| Try www.micromark.com. They have both carbide and non-carbide bits in very small sizes. Be sure your chuck will hold the small ones. Also unless you enjoy cursing and frustration, do not use the carbide bitss with a hand held drill -- they will break if you even look cross-eyed at them. Check out the variety of small taps as well -- very handy for mounting components to heat sinks and other tasks. |
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| Shaun Perez |
| A cheap trick for those small fragile drill bits is to use a small finish nail or any other small nail and to cut the hammer head off with pliers, these obviously won't work in metal though. |
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