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[derekwarner]

Hi Pondweed........
I am far from a competent driller of small diameter holes in brass....but am old enough to know a few tricks
Look up a table for surface cutting speed for brass  ...you will probably find a calculation for conversion to RPM per diameter
You may well find the recommended RPM for a 0.5mm diameter HSS twist drill is 20,000 RPM 
You must use a pedestal drill [or a small die grinder with collets......but this MUST be aligned in a vertical  press with some form of accurate feed]
Most hobby pedestal drill as fitted chucks go down to say 1.0 mm....so a precision keyless chuck may be required
The work must be adequately supported....with accurately placed centre pop marking in the piece being drilled.........
0.3mm diameter is a very small hole......the smallest holes I have drilled in brass is 0.68mm diameter or 0.027".......& I find these difficult & testing....these are conventional two flute 115 degree included angle drills
I do have experience with single fluted "rifling" drills for deep hole drillings 8,000 mm deep .....but these diameters are 20 mm +.....I have ZERO of knowledge of single fluted fractional mm HSS drill bits......
Now in theory.......brass does not need a cutting compound, however ROCOL  general purpose cutting paste will assist    .....good luck.......Derek

[Pondweed]

Hi Derek
Your .68mm drill looks to have be single land/flute. No? Appreciate the good, sensible advice. But this is my problem with brass or other metals, mention of pillar drills along with all the other hardware needed to cut, drill and file metal and you're into light-engineering territory whereas I need to do this on a kitchen table. I know some guys fix their motorbikes in the front lounge but this ain't one of those places.

But I'd be interested in others experiences in drilling sub 1.0 mm holes.

P.S. Just mentioning this so we all use the same terminology about drill-bits othrwise this could become messy. When I looked at drill bit terminology last night, the 'flute' or 'flutes' are the grooves up a drill-bit that remove the spoil, the 'land' was the high or full diameter bit of drill that spirals to the point.

Cheers

[pugwash]

Pondweed, rather than go the high speed drill route you could also go via a pin drill by hand - so far I have managed to drill down to .45mm in a 1mm brass tube,
I put the drill bit into the pin drill until only about 1/8 inch is showing and put a very small flat on the brass tube with a jewellers file and if you are
careful( and lucky) the)drill bit does not slip ( and break) but I buy my drill bits in bags of 10 as they don't tend to last long
Geoff.

[RAAArtyGunner]

Remember reading a modelling tip that if you put tape, clear tape,masking tape, over where you are drilling it will stop the bit wandering, also start with a slow speed then increase once the point has "cut' the surface.
 
As in all instances a sharp tools cut easier.

[warspite]

I had a go in brass recently, as i wanted to replace the plastic fantastics version, drilling small holes to pass thread through solid rod, the other holes were through brass tube to pass other tubes through. I enjoyed the build to a certain point - but as a first time try at this, bricked it. The results turned out fine at a distance - especially painted, I used what I had, a 40w soldering iron, a dremel style multi tool and a bosch hand held 14v drill, holding the 1mm drill and above was difficult as it would sometimes jam as the drill became more blunt, soldering was a laugh, the solder I had was some plumbers solder - quite thick but it worked out well with the flux I had bought from Maplins (then found the flux later that I bought for the plumbers solder).
 
I am in awe at the quality of the craftmanship of george - makes me want to get my old corvette out again and refit her.

[pugwash]

Does anybody know how George is getting on with this model - If it is anything like the Tid Tug he finished a
few years back it will be stunning

Geoff

[oldiron]

Does anybody know how George is getting on with this model - If it is anything like the Tid Tug he finished a
few years back it will be stunning

Geoff

He's slowed down for a bit. I think he has a bit more done than when he lasted posted, but he's taken a bit of time off completing it and doing one or two other projects.

John

[Akira]

This is an amazing build. Your brass work is taking my breath away.
I especially like your Hedgehog. I was pondering how to approach one for my icebreaker. Now I see how.
Many Thanks
Jonathan

[youngtiger1]

Hello George, I joined here searching Flower Class Corvette and saw your thread. I am blown away by your craftsmanship. You are very talented individual with some brass and soldering gun. I hope to try this teach myself next summer as i need to start on my FCC 1/72 kit by revell. Well, it seems there has been number of years since your last update, so hope to see what else you might have done your lady. Thank you for sharing your work. 


Mike   

[Tworrs]

Lovely model. Your skills are something for me to strive for.
Thanks for sharing.
Garry