Can't find 0.5mm Drill bit!

Hello All,

We are building a Mendel in Canada where it is hard to find metric bits. Although we were able to find the 3.5mm size, we are having a tough time finding the 0.5mm drill bit for the extruder. Can anyone suggest where I can find these? I looked for it in stores like Home Hardware, Canadian Tire, Lowes, etc. but no luck.
Also just a general thought. Ever since we took up this project we spent a lot of time and energy looking for the imperial equivalent measurement for every single item. Is there anyone from North America who has built a Mendal from scratch using imperial stuff? If yes, can that person suggest a way out or an alternative which they might have sort to while they ran into similar issues?

A response would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

See this post regarding english substitutions. If after reading it, you still want the substitutions that I was working on, let me know.

As far as the 0.5mm drill bit, consider buying the part already drilled. Brian is selling nozzle parts in this post. I bought my nozzle parts from him. They shipped fast and look great.

Buzz

McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) has 0.5mm drill bits. They even go as small as 0.05mm! It's not a size you will find at your local hardware store but your local metalworking supply company should have them. Perhaps a metalworking shop can tell you where they would order some.

Using mm to inches formula 0.5mm is 0.019685. A #76 drill bit is 0.02 inches. You might try looking for one in a hobby shop.

Try these guys...

[www.biscotoolsupply.com]?

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Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Hi ultra!

Jewelery supply shops everywhere have good range of cheap steel bits.
[lacytools.ca]

They're everywhere and they ship everywhere.

Here's your Toronto RepRap User Group, by the way.
[dev.forums.reprap.org]

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Amazon sells sets containing #61 -- #80 (not exact 0.5 mm, but not far off)

20pc MICRO-DRILL BITS INDEX 61-80 w/ Plastic Case

[www.amazon.com]


Warning, #80 bits break if you look at them funny.

-- Larry

Larry_Pfeffer Wrote:
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> Amazon sells sets containing #61 -- #80 (not exact
> 0.5 mm, but not far off)
>
>
Good price for a set!

#76 is as near as dammit to 0.5 :-)

The only problem {I've bought such sets} is that it is really easy to break a #76 and then you have to buy another set. That's a bit of a waste.

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Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Thomas A. Edison

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the effort

I was able to find #76 = 0.508mm drill bit at one of the local metalworking supply company.

Thanks Again,
-UTRA

Try asking a local CNC company where they get their drill bits from.

Try asking a local CNC company where they get their drill bits from.

Travers.com is good for us up in the frozen North.

But Lacy Tools is actually in Toronto.

As I said, Jewelery supply shops everywhere have a good range of cheap steel bits. They're everywhere and they ship everywhere.

Plus you can get many of one size. They're the optimal supplier for this.

www.micromark.com

They specialize in small tools, and you can buy a set of six or so (I forget exactly how many) bits of a specific size. I assume that's because they know that you know that you'll break some in the process of doing whatever it is you're doing.

I bought two sets, one each of approx 0.5mm and 0.3mm bits. Haven't broken one yet, have made four tips. None of which have actually extruded plastic yet, but I'll get there eventually.

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

You can find these drills at Lacy & Co.Ltd
69 Queen Street, East 2nd Floor, Toronto
Near Church & Queen Mon-Fri 9-5:30pm
Closed on weekends. They have even smaller
Drills that 0.50 .

finding the drill bit is only half the problem. the other half is how to actually drill the hole. most drill chucks won't grab the small bit sizes, and even if they do, usually aren't precise or fast enough to actually drill a .5mm hole.

i used a dremel drill press, instead of my big drill press, which worked beautifully (but you'll need to get the chuck attachment).

Buback, how did you mount the brass bar vertically enough to get a dremel drill press to drill straight? Did you drill the 3mm hole the other direction with it also? I tried to make a one piece nozzle with a dremel drill press, broke three bits trying to make the small hole, and drilled out the side trying to make the 3mm hole.

When I needed to drill a 3.2mm hole in my PTFE thermal break for my hot end I did the following...

First I clamped a vice on to my drill press table, making sure all drill bits would reach and that I would be able to change bits without moving the drill press table/platform whatever you call it.

Then I clamped a block of wood in the vice and drilled a 10 mm hole in the wood (my PTFE was 10mm)

I inserted the section of PTFE I wished to drill into the 10mm hole in the wood and changed the bit in my vice to 3.2mm

I then tried drilling the PTFE. The PTFE spun with the drill.

I tightened the vice ever so slightly causing the wood to clamp the PTFE tightly.

Drilled my 3.2mm hole which was then centered in the PTFE (or as centered as closely as I could notice or cared about anyway)

A 0.5mm bit of course would be much trickier... given you need a thing to hold the bit

Add me to the "Buback, how did you do it?" list. I have ideas about hot ends, but figured I'd never be able to move on them for lack of machining skills or tools. But I do have Dremel press...

Have a look at the Wildseyed Simple Hot End. You can find it in the wiki and on Thingiverse. That tip uses a 0.8mm MIG welder tip. The hole is then made smaller by taping the tip with a hammer. It's very easy to get a small hole in this manner.

AgeingHippy, I thought about using a hole drilled in wood as a mount for the thing I'm drilling, but unfortunately the dremel drill press will only hold a 1/8 inch or smaller bit. Its fine for a 3mm, but not 6mm for the actual brass bar.

oh yeah that's a trick one. I was actually doing something completely different, with borosilicate glass. so, probably not very useful for the standard hot ends.

I've not perfected the design i'm working on, and in fact haven't worked on it in months, opting instead to buy a hot end and just get printing. when i eventually get back to it i'll add it to the glass hot end wiki pages

For getting a hole centered, there's nothing like turning the workpiece instead of the drill bit. I successfully made several combination nozzle & barrel pieces using nothing more than a hand drill and a c-clamp. Careful marking of depth was required, of course.

But the basic procedure is to put the barrel in the drill, clamp the bit to the table, and have at it. If it vibrates when you touch it, that means it's not centered, so try again to start in the precise center. It'll auto-center as it goes along, because the difference in off-centeredness is distributed evenly around the workpeice, if that make any sense.

When drilling the .5mm hole, I found holding the bit in my fingers the best way by far. That way you don't break it when (not if, when) it binds. I think any other method would definitely break the bit, as the spinning mass is too large for the tiny drill bit to stop without breaking. Maybe with the higher RPM's of a dremel that would prevent binding? All I can say is that holding the bit and spinning the nut works fine for me.

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

Hi Utra
Re Can't find 0.5mm Drill bit!
Its been awhile so you have probably finished building your mendel, If you still need some These drill bits are of the shelf starting at 0.3mm and up in incriments of .1 mm they are so small its quite cheap to send internationally by airmail.
super low price at this address (my site) 0.3mm drill bit
[www.boltsnutsscrewsonline.com]small drill bit 0.3 up to 1mm
they are sorted by price so can be painful to find the size.
Cheers Jimmy

My local hobby store decided to raise the price on their tiny bits after someone (me) kept buying them. It was fresh on my mind when I went to Harbor Freight so I went on a hunt while there. I found these:
[www.harborfreight.com].
I've drilled one nozzle with the .5 from the set and it works fine. Very rubbery bits, but that's probably a good thing.

As a bonus the packs have 3mm bits in the set for your PTFE!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2011 06:43PM by billyzelsnack.

Do you guys now if there exists micro drill(s) for steel (HV test 180), that can drill 0.1 mm(or less) in diametar and 1cm deep ?
Thanks.