Looking for a modeling drill press

[Foxer]

I'm looking for a modeling drill press ... mostly for 1/25 cars and was hoping some of the machinists here could guild me in my search. The current project driving this is the need to drill a number of holes in a wheel that are just inside the rim and go around th eperimeter. It would equate to a ring of small drills in a bit less than a one-half diameter circle. So I would need an attachment that would enable me to drill a circle of holes exactle centered on the wheel and at exact angular spacing in the 1/2" diameter. Hopefully this is clear as I don't know what this attachment is called as I'm no machinest.

Heres a photo of a wheel simular to what I want to make ..

I'd appreciate any recomendations to a hobby drill press that would enable me to create this pattern of holes accurately.

[gluebomb]

You would have to measure out the holes yourself if using a drill press. A hobby milling machine you would be able to do what but they are really expensive.

[Mike Kucaba]

You need an indexing table and I have seen these mounted on a drill press, but that that is not very common. Usually they are mounted on a milling machine table (Bridgeport is commonly dropped as a name for it). You would calculate the distance between hole centers and drill a hole, then rotate the table that distance. In 1/25th I'm sure there is a way to do this but I'm at a loss as to how economically.

I believe I bought some wheels like you show cast in white metal. I'll have to check

[jwrass]

Mike, I have a Dremel Model # 220-01 Workstation and it works great! It is a Moto Tool holder that turns your tool into a mini drill press. It drills 90 degrees on the vertical and 15-90 degrees on the horizontal. Check it out on Dremels web site. Laying out the holes is a breeze!!!! You need to do some basic Math. Make yourself a mini dial indicator (indexer) with a protractor (or software) and some styrene or wood.

Make a flat base say 3" x 3"(wood or styrene) find center and mark it. Measure the diameter of the hole in the center of the wheel, match that dimension to some styrene rod or wooden dowel.

Draw a circle or trace the outside of the wheel diameter on some card stock, find the center of that circle and mark it. Draw a bulls eye from the center mark and extend them past the outside wheel diameter and make marks at the 12,3,6,9 o'clock positions (this is just for reference)

Glue the paper template to the base matching centers. Drill a hole at center that matches the rod or dowel size, glue the rod/dowel in the hole and make it plumb and square. The rod/dowel doesn't need to be that long, just long enough for you to slip the wheel center over the rod/dowel, with a bit of a margin.

Determine the number of holes and spacing and make witness marks on the outside diameter of the template, make one witness mark on the wheel, line up the first mark and drill, rotate the wheels witness mark to the next mark on the template and drill. repeat this until you have all the holes drilled. I would do a dry run on some flat stock to check spacing before you commit to a wheel.

I have made indentions with metal embossing tools that you can find at any big box hobby store. You may have to heat the tool to get the effect you want, a hair dryer works fine. (don't heat the part) you may need to back up the part to do the indention for this I would use modeling clay.

I have done this procedure before on some wheel covers for some INDY car wheels of the late 80s era. It worked for me!!!

I hope this helps. jwrass

[Mike Kucaba]

Thanks for the info on the Dremel drill press. I was attempting to help out the O.P. on this. One of the other problems is that the holes are drilled on a 90 degree. It would require jigging the wheel at that angle, or having a radial option on the Dremel press. There is also what looks like a bevel as the holes on the 1:1 appear stamped.

I am somewhat familiar with machining as I ran large mills, lathes, drill presses and the like. I do have a Sherline lathe and mill, but have not been able to set them up as I just don't have the space since moving to AZ.

I also checked the white metal wheels I bought some time ago and they have 16 holes around the circumference, and a five lug pattern. Close but not exact.

[jwrass]

I just checked my Dremel Drill press and I was wrong! It swings 0-90 degrees on the Horizontal Plane (X) so you can drill the holes with the wheel flat on the base at any angle from 0-90.

I too own a South Bend Lathe and a Brigeport Mill that I use in my 1:1 shop. I have seen others make small Items in 1:25 but It would be difficult for me to make anything that small with the tooling I have. If I wanted to do something special in 1:25 I personally would buy modeling machines as the cost for tooling for my equipment would exceed the cost of a small machine.

As far as the recessed areas go you can do this with the embossing tools I mentioned. You can also make a decent recess with a counter sink by hand (not in a machine)

Do some Trial and error with regards to the embossing technique, use the end of a ball point pen, nail set, center punch, etc ( you don't need the embossing tools) on some flat stock say 020 you will be surprised at what effects you can make.

Cheers jwrass

[Foxer]

Thanks for the very helpful comments, guys. And so detailed! I did use a quick photo of a similar wheel just to illustrate what I was trying to do, but the actual wheel I didn't have any good photos. It was one I bought in hard times for a '69 Beetle I'm replicating. below is the best I can do on the actual wheels. It looks like I need 24 holes after analyzing the photo closely ... 15 degrees on center.

I've looked at that Dremeal Workstation before and maybe this is my excuse to do it. I'll never need a Mill for my projects. Your suggestion for a rotary holder sounds pretty simple .. gonna have to did into it closely. I'm a Structural Engineer so your explanation was clear to me.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Foxer

[cobraman]

I wonder if you were able to make one if you could cast the rest in resin. ??????

[jwrass]

Mike, By your first post I figured you were in a technical field of some description. I'm a Mechanical Engineer and have spent all of my career in in the Commercial HVAC Industry (37 years in Aug) I had a bug as a second car in like 1983 and froze my ass off in the Winter!! On sub zero days I literally drove with one hand on the wheel and the other with a ice scraper, scraping the inside of the windshield. But it was a fun car!!! My neighbor at the time was really into Bugs he would buy beaters fix them and I would paint them ( been doing 1:1 custom paint for some 40 years as a side line) If I remember right they changed wheel profiles in different years but they never changed the body style except for the bumpers when Gov had the mandate on energy absorbing bumpers some time in the 70s. The picture you posted of the blue car is not very clear on my end but the slots look elliptical in shape to me. I think you could make these with the Dremel (It's a great tool to add to your arsenal anyway) but you may have to fashion some type of jig or you could make additional indexing marks on the template and give them a slight twist to make them elliptical. You may want to make one good one as a master and cast the rest. I do this with INDY car type wheels and have had great success. I hope this helps, let me know how it go's. jwrass

" I'm a engineer but they never let me blow the whistle"

[LDO]

Check eBay for a small drill press. You might find some quality old iron.

Also look for a Sherline rotary table and tilting angle table. Those two accessories Will let you index the holes and drill them an an angle...but how will you get the wheel "blank"? Just get the Sherline lathe and mill package. It's inevitable <grin>