Posted by Sebastian Brad Comyns on December 30, 1998 at 21:18:54 in 207.166.219.202:
In Reply to: Drilling Port Holes posted by Jody on December 28, 1998 at 17:33:34:
Okay, without a doubt a Dremmel or similar high speed rotary tool is indispensable for building T however be sure when purchasing one that is of the variable speed variety (particularly one with a setting as low as 5000 RPM or so).
While using a fixed speed Craftsman Rotary tool on one of the models Ive built I discovered a serious problem with using it. The tool was fixed at about 28,000 RPM which I quickly discovered an interesting problem with speeds that high.
Over about 10-15,000 RPM drill bit no longer actually drill... instead they actually melt the plastic. Rather then ending up with a hole in the hull and a pile of black plastic shavings I ended up with a irregularly shaped hole and plastic melted all over the bit which caused me to stop and clean the bit after each two holes.
I ended up resorting to blisters on my hands from using a pin vise which gave wonderful results and on the most recent one I intend to make the same sacrifice again and go with the manual pin vise again.
Sebastian Brad Comyns