What kind of drill bits do you buy? Do you find they melt styrene rather than drill through them, or is your variac able to slow things down sufficiently to avoid that?
Regular bits as sold by Walthers. Yes, they will make a real mess, the bit will grab and snap, all the horror stories you can imagine if you just stick it in, plug the drill in and go.
However, by using the Variac, I get the line voltage down to about 20 volts for the tool I use with that #80 bit, about 35 for the tool I have the #76 bit in, and in general, I adjust the /voltage/
with the Variac for whatever tool I'm using. I almost /never/ use a Dremel on full line voltage. The reason for the different voltages in my examples is that the tools have different characteristics
and require different voltages to start turning.
Variable speed Dremels do not slow the tool down enough for small bits in plastic, nor does the stand-alone Dremel speed control I have. With the Variac, I can slow it down enough that the tool
doesn't have enough torque to turn the drill in plastic at all, and that can be a hassle- I have to very carefully turn the drill by hand in reverse to get it out, but it also doesn't have enough
torque to break the bit, even those tiny ones. With practice, it's easy to look at the knob on the Variac and say "here for this tool, there for that tool" as may be the case. I could put a mark on
the panel with a paint stick, but somehow I never seem to find a need for that. I step on the switch, and listen to the note from the Dremel, and that tells me enough.
We've all got our techniques we're comfortable with. I drill a /lot/ of holes in Athearn shells for grabs, etc. On the dash 9, for instance there are about 90, that's right, nine zero holes I do in a
single shell using the #80 bit. Some of them are for things like lift pins, grabs, other pieces of .013 wire. Some are just pilot holes for later, larger items, but it's so easy I just do them all
with the #80 bit while I'm "in the neighborhood", so to speak. I can get five or six shells out of one bit before it gets too dull to cut, assuming I don't break it on the edge of the bench putting
the tool down- that's what usually does it in. Even if I only got one shell from a bit, figured into the cost of the finished model, it's trivial.
I mark each spot with a prick punch, then place the bit against the spot to be drilled, then step on the foot switch that controls the whole thing, and "zzzzt", the hole is drilled, I pull the bit
out of the hole, then release the switch. Quick, easy, safe, reliable.
I have been using a hand drill for just about all holes in styrene >(I have 3 for various size bits). I still use a pin vise for those odd holes where I don't want to bother setting up a bit on
the Dremel, so yes- having one for each range of drills is handy.
Fred D.
What do you use the wire wheel for?
Polishing rust or corrosion off electrical contacts, or paint- sometimes I get paint on what should be mating surfaces that also carry power, and the wire wheel is handy. I used to use it for
cleaning wheels, but I seldom do now. A related tool is the cloth wheel. When I paint and weather a car, I give the coupler a shot of rust, then when it dries I polish the face of the knuckle with
the cloth wheel or wire wheel so it becomes a lot easier to couple. If things are set up right, you should be able to "get a join" without the car ever budging, even if the car is fitted with very
free-rolling trucks.
Fred D.
After all that information I hate to show my ignorance by asking such a basic question, but what type of adapter do you use on your dremel so as to be able to use wire drill sizes.
Not at all unreasonable. Dremel does have collet chucks that will clamp down on that small a bit, but I can't tell you what number to get. I have Dremels and third-party equivalents from Sears spread
over a fourty year purchase period, and they have changed collet designs a few times.
I think they have a web site, although I haven't the foggiest notion of the URL. I'm told they are very good with customer requests, so you could contact them with the model number from your tool and
ask for the proper collet to close down to zero- make sure they understand what you are chucking into it. Also, please be sure to get a steel collet- they also supply them in aluminum with a lot of
their tools, and they are't very reliable in the smaller sizes.
I've been modeling since 1953 or so, and I've picked up tricks, developed a few of my own. I know we all do and sharing them is the reason the internet has become so popular a tool, even for
hobbyists. Not too long ago, someone mentioned using guitar strings as a source of small wire for modeling projects, for instance. I'd have never thought of that, even though I have had a guitar in
the past, and have poked holes in my fingers with the strings. I've got lots of guitarist friends, and I promptly asked one for some old strings. I swapped him some old Varney spikes, since he told
me that banjo players stick them in the neck to use for temporary frets.
Fred D.