Grab irons on diesels. Nice detail or headache?

[ednadolski]

Otherwise, sharpen a piece of music wire in the proper diameter and just pierce the shell.  That's what Vince Kotnik does when installing .004" dia wire grabs in Atlas shells.

I guess he just chucks the music wire into a pin vice?

But where does one get music wire that small?  The smallest diameter I can find is 0.015".

(Be careful -- sharpened wire that small can poke your finger like a hypodermic needle.)   

Thanks,
Ed

[ednadolski]

But where does one get music wire that small? 

Aha, http://www.smallparts.com has it.  (Guess I should do my research *before* I post....)

http://www.smallparts.com/Music-0-006-0-0002-Straightened-Length/dp/B000M4Z3NS?ie=UTF8&qid=1270226625&sr=1-14&pf_rd_r=0453S5FB2YGYV0R35HR2&pf_rd_m=A2LPUKX2E7NPQV&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=0&pf_rd_p=493388211&pf_rd_s=center-3

[sd80mac]

Here are smaller than #80 bits from the HF set:



Here is the waste... (pink #80, green #83)

I had some of those Drill City bits. Drilling by hand without a drill press caused them to break about as fast as a you can blink. The slightest lateral movement causes them to snap off.

Yeah, Carbide is brittle.  The HSS #80 bits are very forgiving for hand drilling as they can take a pretty large side load before snapping.  I use them for filing small square holes sometimes, like adding an MU receptacle to the nose of a PA.  I drill around the perimeter and then file up and down with the side of the bit to connect the dots.  

Try that with Carbide and it will snap right off.

If anyone knows where to get HSS in smaller than #80, that would be cool.  Otherwise, sharpen a piece of music wire in the proper diameter and just pierce the shell.  That's what Vince Kotnik does when installing .004" dia wire grabs in Atlas shells.  You don't really need a drill to do these small holes.  And that way you can have a perfect fitting hole and not have grabs swimming in oversize #80 holes.

[DKS]

Otherwise, sharpen a piece of music wire in the proper diameter and just pierce the shell.  That's what Vince Kotnik does when installing .004" dia wire grabs in Atlas shells.

I guess he just chucks the music wire into a pin vice?

But where does one get music wire that small?  The smallest diameter I can find is 0.015".

(Be careful -- sharpened wire that small can poke your finger like a hypodermic needle.)  

Thanks,
Ed

You can get .004 wire here--

http://www.ngineering.com/other_detail_stuff.htm

[GaryHinshaw]

A few quick questions:
 - I guess you used a #80 HSS bit? 
 - How did you position the drill template, and what did you use to hold it in place?
 - What paints did you use for the touch up?  Any tips on how you got such a good match?

The bit I used was actually a carbide bit from this Drill Bit City set.  These are "resharpened micro grain tungsten carbide" bits, which I assume is just "carbide."    I just hold the shank and twist; all of the holes in this shell, which is pretty soft plastic, were made with one bit.  I have to say I actually prefer #80 holes for these ladders because then I have a fighting chance of getting all the grabs aligned and parallel.  To my eye the holes fill in pretty well with CA, but wonky grabs stick out like a sore thumb.  But that's just personal preference.

By the way, there seem to be two distinct Illinois outfits called Drill Bit City:

http://drillcity.stores.yahoo.net/info.html
http://drillbitcity.com/about/index.htm

Not sure which one is the "real" Drill Bit City (maybe one is a spin-off of the other?), but I used the former.

I'm pretty anal about holding the drill template.  I put a piece of double-stick tape on the back for grip, then - before I position the template - I drill one top-rung hole and one bottom-rung hole by hand (make sure the bottom hole matches the template spacing).  Then I bend two short pieces of .010 wire to an L shape and insert them through the template holes and through the shell holes: this forces the alignment of the template.    Finally, when I'm drilling the rest of the holes, I hold the shell and template together with tweezers.  The tape and wire Ls keep it from sliding around.

The touch up paint is all Polly Scale.  For the green I got lucky: stock BNSF Heritage Green (it could have been a wee bit darker).  For the orange, I mixed a custom color but, alas, I didn't write it down!  I'm pretty sure it was about 2/3 BNSF Heritage Orange, and 1/3 GTW Morency Orange, which is a more intense orange.  In both colors, I added a dash of Future floor polish to give it some gloss (and thin it slightly).

HTH,
Gary

[DKS]

By the way, there seem to be two distinct Illinois outfits called Drill Bit City:

http://drillcity.stores.yahoo.net/info.html
http://drillbitcity.com/about/index.htm

Looks like they're the same business. They both have the same mailing address on the "Contact" page.

They seem to be a good company to deal with; I receive my orders within a couple of days of placing them.

[GaryHinshaw]

Ah, right you are David.  Guess I didn't "drill" down far enough into their site.   ;D