Walthers Pin Vise for lowering a ride

[chato de shamrock]

I bought a Walthers Pin Vise (#949-664) last week along with a drill (#80 .0135 diameter) but hadn't had a chance to try it out cause i went out of town. I just opened them up and tried putting the drill in the pin vise but the drill seems to be too small for the vise to hold. I was told by the guys that sold me both vise and drill, at houseofhobbies, that they would fit, but i went on Walthers' website and it said the drill only holds drills as little as a #70 drill. My question is, has anyone used this type of vise before and how small a drill can you get on there? Can you squeeze a #80 drill like the guys at the store said?


By the way, for those of you who lower your cars by cutting the shocks and then drilling and gluing a piece of metal inside the newly shortened shocks to hold them firmly, what size (in diameters) drill do you guys use?

Like always, thanks for your time spent on contrubuting to my thread.

[SteveK2003]

There are a number of pin vises that can use a #80 drill. I have one from Zona which is inexpensive and works great. I also bought one from Excell at first which is OK, but the collet for smaller bits isn't cut very well.

I bought a set of 50 random carbide bits at a model train show, you can get them multiple places like Micro Mark, and they have 1/8" shanks (Which is why I got the Zona vise, the Excell one wouldn't open up large enough). They are good quality and they center much more easily than a tiny #80 bit, but like I said, you just get 50 random ones (Some are as small as #83). But being cheap, you don't mind so much. There must be a place to buy the 1/8" shank bits outside of these bulk boxes.

[mike@af]

I have two pinvises, and there are a few sizes in between that dont fit. So I just take some Tamiya tape and wrap it around the shank, and cram it in the pinvise, tighten it up. Usually works.

[008]

I wrap small electrical wire insulation around the bits that don't tighten up. Eventually you'll do this to more bits since the teeth of the pin vise will loosen up over time.

[willimo]

I am also in the tape camp, though I've an X-acto pin vise that came with three different sized chucks. One that closes to zero, one in between and one that's a bit bigger than 1/16". There are a couple bits that fall between the sizes.

As for your lowering question - while I don't use that particular method, my answer would be "Use a bit the same size as the wire/rod/whatever you are sliding into the hole you are making." That generally works for me when I am drilling holes

[2.2 Straight six]

i have 5 pin vices, of various sizes. two of them will close completely so they can hold any small drill.

[SteveK2003]

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLH99&P=7

This is the one I use now. It's excellent, very true, and I haven't found a bit yet that doesn't fit.

[chato de shamrock]

Thanks guys. I went to houseofhobbies and they exchanged it for the zona vice like the one steve posted the link for. they actually had the wrong information and sold me one that wasnt good for tiny drills. but they were cool and exchanged it. thanks again for your comments.