Today I am going to talk about a DIY 3D printed desk drill press adapter for a rotary tool (Dremel or a similar tool). This holder can be used for drilling small diameter holes (usually 0.2 – 3mm in diameter). The need for such device arose when I had to drill some holes in a home-made PCB and almost always doing it with a regular drill the drill bit just would break. So, I needed a tool to hold down the drill and as PCB drilling is better done with high RPMs – an idea of a Dremel holding mechanism came to mind.
Part List
- 4x LM8UU bearings
- 2x 8mm diameter and 120mm length steel rod
- 2x springs with around 9mm inner diameter (I had some laying around)
- Some M8 washers (amount depends on the spring length)
- 2x at least 26mm in length M3 bolts with nuts and washers
- 4x 15mm M3 bolts with nuts and washers
- 3D printed parts
- 1x M5 40mm Bolt with a nut
- 4x small zip ties (~2mm width)
- 1x 3mm in diameter and 30mm in length screw.
- Padding for the base (optional)
- Drill bits for a rotary tool
The Construction
The DIY desk drill press was 3D printed from black ABS plastic. Vertical motion is accomplished with vertically moving linear bearings on 8mm (5/16 inch) steel rods. These bearings are zip tied to the sliding plastic frame. This frame also holds a rotary tool. By moving a lever, you push the frame downwards and when you let go the lever, the bottom springs pushes it up.
The frame holding the rotary tool is made of two identical 3D printed parts which are glued together. Also, whole frame is bolted (with 4 M3 bolts) to a slider with linear bearings zip tied to it.
The steel rods (they just fit tightly in holes) are held vertically inside a main plastic part. This part is also screwed (with M3 bolts and a screw) to the plastic bottom which also holds a 3D printed square table-like part on which a part to be drilled is put. The bottom is also made from two 3D printed peaces (‘BottomPlateBottom.stl’ and ‘BottomPlateTop.stl’) glued together.
The springs pushing the sliding frame upwards were randomly selected. They need to be at least with 9 mm (~3/8 inch) inner diameter and around 3-4 cm (~1 inch) long. Furthermore, some washers might be used if the springs are too short or they compress too much.
Drawbacks
The holder has two drawbacks:
Firstly: the table-like part is a bit flimsy as it moves a bit around – but you can hold it with your hand as you are going to hold with the same hand a part being drilled. Or this part could be printed a bit smaller.
Secondly: whole construction is made mostly of 3D printed ABS parts – the holder is not totally rock solid. It means that if you will try to drill a hole too fast the Dremel holding part tends to bend backwards a bit, but not too much to make drilling impossible. Drilling slower is the best solution to this problem. Also, this problem might go away by using harder materials, like PLA.
Summary
So, although this small DIY 3D printed desk drill press for a rotary tool has some flaws, it is still a great tool for a drilling solution on your desk. It is compact tool which can be stored in a drawer while it is also comfortable enough for small hobbyist projects where tiny drill bits are used.
Links
All STL files for 3D printing can be found at Thingiverse HERE.
Also, STL files can be found at MyMiniFactory HERE.
Other posts containing tool mods: HERE
Gallery
