Thanks for the pics Jinx! I have a Dremel MiniMite (miniture battery
powered Dremel) that I might try. Would also be easier as I wouldn't
have to go to the workshop to drill boards. I have been using .024" bits
for half my holes (roughly .6mm) and .040" for the others (roughly 1mm).
I agree it's likely press as I seem to snap both sizes with equal ease.
I think I might be able to chuck up the smaller shanked drills in the
Dremel too. I'll have to give that a try.

Thanks!

Josh
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Jinx wrote:

> I prefer to use a hand drill. It's a 12V 15,000rpm PCB drill, bottom
> picture http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/joecolquitt/0makepcb.html
>
> A stand or drill press doesn't give me enough feedback about bit
> pressure on the board, to avoid the very problem you're having. On
> the very rare occassion I do break a bit it's not whilst drilling (eg
> rolls off the bench - scream, curse, quick, blame someone). The bits
> I buy (from RS) fit into a 0.7 - 1.00mm collett. I have some 0.6mm
> with 1/8" shanks that the local PCB mftr sold me for a couple of $$
> and they have their own collett, but I don't use those very often, it's
> mostly 0.8mm and up
>
> To use small bits in the drill press (which doesn't close below about
> 2mm) I have an old cordless drill chuck with a bolt shaft where the
> gearbox used to attach and put that in the drill press chuck. Not for
> anything less than 1.5mm bits though. I've (temporarily) added a
> couple of drill pictures to the PCB page

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