Tamiya Handy Drill

[BB62vet]

This is a review of the Tamiya Handy Drill -

I purchased this item a couple weeks ago and assembled it over the course of 1 hour. The instructions for assembly were very well done - but bifocals and medium sized fingers were a negative. Patience for this assembly is a virtue and a must!

Once assembled (and it did work the first time!) I felt this might be a worthwhile little drill. It comes with two collets and 1 drill bit (still haven't determined the bit's size).

That was Sunday - Monday night I decided to try it for drilling the rung holes on the stern of my kit hull. I had also purchased the two drill bit sets that Tamiya makes (basic and fine) and went to pick out the 0.03mm bit from the plastic box - I got it in my tweezers and PING - it was thru the air and lost forever (shag carpet) - Oh, the humanity

So, word to the wise - pick up the bit C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y!!! Not wanting to pay really high prices for replacement bits, I found an online source (micro-tools.com) that sells mini-bits in sets for less than $5.00/set. I ordered 5 sets!!! Just to be on the safe side.

I did, however, try out the drill on some scrap plastic with another drill bit - and here is a small problem - the two collets included with the drill do NOT fit the very fine bits required for styrene hull drilling - .03mm/.05mm. So, I had spare collet inserts for my Dremel Tools and found one that is made for extremely small bits - it worked fine using one of the included collets outer collar. The drill has a moderate speed which should be good for use on plastic - I later this past week used the drill while creating radar sets for my USS NEW JERSEY project.

One thing I might add about the drill - it is short and tall which makes it unwieldy to sit on it's handle base. I would recommend laying it on its side when not in use.

I am expecting the new drill bit sets this coming week (also some other modeling supplies ) and will attempt the rung holes again. One thing I've been contemplating is crafting some sort of "stop" that will hold the depth of hole that is drilled. I don't think you need to penetrate the plastic, only a surface hole or indention in order to glue the rung (or other PE part) in place. I'll be doing some thinking about how to make the stop and keep it simple.

Hope this review helps. You can purchase the drill/bits from Hobbylinc (online). May be other vendors, but that's where I got mine.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank

Sounds very interesting. A drill kit? Novel concept. I hope the light weight makes for good micro handling. I found a pin vise that has an adjustable chuck without collets which has a std hex shank that fits in the small electric screw drivers such as by B&D. About the right speed for drilling plastics etc. downside is it is a but bigger and more powerful than needed.

Let us know how it works in actual use. One might make an OK stop for visual reference by just wrapping some tape about the shank.

Cheers. T

[JTninja]

Ive been looking over this kit for the past couple days, trying to decide if I should buy one. Main issue I see is its only a single speed drill, so if you try to drill a hole slowly and carefully, if its off the mark, its hard to adjust. Im worried since my main drilling would be very small for detail, and will have enough to deal with

Wonder if something like this might be better for small, detailed drilling
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007 ... d_i=507846

[EJFoeth]

That drill looks really awful. I'd buy a simple pin chuck and a Proxxon or Dremel with variable rpm.

I think you mean a 0.3mm drill bit I buy my small drills at the tool shop. These are easily over $5 drill but last longer (well, if you are careful). My Proxxon also doesn't have the collets to hold these smallest drill so I either use a drill press with its own pin chuck or the pin vise.

[BB62vet]

Yes, this drill is a kit and if you are patient, it goes together fairly easily. The included drill bit is 2mm and the chucks will allow bits between 1-3mm - so to use the fine bits you'll need to find a chuck the proper size that will work inside the provided collar. One of the Dremel Tool chucks I found that worked well.

There is also a Tamiya Handy Router KIT (#74042) that looks the same as the drill, only molded in white styrene and comes with a 2mm router bit (also sold by Hobbylinc). However, these tools are NOT interchangeable - the drill operates @ 450 rpm while the router is geared to achieve 7,800 rpm.

TJNinja - The single speed is exactly why I bought this - I tried my Dremel Tool and it simply melted the plastic around the bit. I looked at the link you provided for the B&D drill - IMHO, I think it is too 'much' for this type of application.

EJF - I stand corrected on the drill bit sizes - you're right! I have a hard time doing the mm thing. I agree the drill is anything but attractive, but this isn't a fashion statement - it's a tool. I personally think it may work out really good for the drilling of styrene, looks aside.

I've got several pine vises, etc. and really at this stage of my modeling am not too keen on manually drilling all these holes for PE hand rungs. I'll learn this one and make it work for me!

Now I've got to figure out a "stop" for use with the drill & 0.3mm bit - that bit is only about 5/8"-3/4" long, so this "stop" will have to be rather small to work properly.

Hank

[wefalck]

Somehow this pistol grip doesn't appear to be good proposition for precise location of delicate drills. A pen-sized and -shaped one would be much more controllable.

Watchmaking supply houses offer HSS drills down to 0.1 mm diameter (veeery delicate they are!) with a 1.0mm shaft. Sizes between 1.1 mm and 1.5 mm come with a 1.5 mm shaft. Jewelling supply houses offer CV and HSS drills between 0.3 mm 2.3 diameter with a 2.34 mm shaft (the same as the ubiquitous burrs etc.). One can also get off-cast (they are replaced in industry well before the end of their useful life for modellers) carbide drills (also veeery delicate) from 0.2 mm with a 3.2 mm (i.e. 1/8") shaft at ebay cheaply.

wefalck

[BB62vet]

Wefalck wrote:

Somehow this pistol grip doesn't appear to be good proposition for precise location of delicate drills. A pen-sized and -shaped one would be much more controllable.

As I mentioned, this drill isn't making a fashion statement - if you don't like the pistol grip - don't buy it! I purchased it for it's speed and small size.

You may want to post the drill bit info on Tips & Tricks - might be good info for other modelers that may not be following this thread.

Hank

[BB62vet]

Last week I fashioned a drill bit stop from brass strip - the stop will work, it's the drill bit that causes problems. I'm using a 0.3mm bit for the size holes I need to drill - but this bit is WAY TOO FRAGILE to have any strength along it's length and therefore "bows" when any pressure is put on it at this length. So, removing the stop and only exposing about 3/32" of bit length will probably work. With larger diameter bits, this stop should work as planned.

Using scrap styrene I will practice seeng how the 0.3mm holes work using the Pontos pattern for hull hang rungs.

[jikdoc]

i have a tip on the assembly of the handy drill. as said before, it does go together pretty easily with some patience. the kit is a bit short on grease for the gears.

when I first assembled the drill, the bit was a bit off center and wobbly but seemed to work fine. unsatisfied with the wobble, I took it apart again and noticed that one of the gears wasn't set exactly in place. when properly assembled, the whole thing is perfectly centered. so if you notice it's a bit off, take it apart and try again.