On 2010-09-26, Jon Elson wrote:
Ignoramus10035 wrote:
eBay is full of those:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_nkw=%22micro+drill%22+carbide

or similar tiny carbide end mills.

My question is how usable are they on a hobby sized CNC machine like
my Bridgeport Interact, with slow top speed. Is using them totally out
of question, or just frustrating, or perhaps they are handly for small
work?

Sure you can use these on your mill. Feed will have to be
appropriate for the spindle RPM, something like .0001" per
revolution, for the smallest ones. That makes for pretty slow
going, but if you are only doing a few special holes in something,
it will work fine. These are really designed for drilling
composites, but you can drill copper, brass and aluminum just fine.
Steel will require even more care. If the point of the drill enters
even a hair off center, the drill will break.

Thanks Jon. I can live with that, this would be for one off things.


i