Drilling Center Holes in 6mm 23guage discs

I have 1000 die cut 6mm gold filled discs. I bought a drill press for my foredom to do this. I built a ‘jig’ by drilling both a 5.9mm and 6mm holes in hard wood. I stack up the discs in groups of about 10 and try to drill but the darn things are spinning around. short of double stick taping 1000 discs, does anyone have a solution for another jig that would work? Thank you!

Make a sandwich with 2 pieces of 3/4 inch thick wood .Pine would do fine.
Base is bigger than the top.
Top would be a strip about 1 inch wide, 6 in long , with a clearance hole in the center for drill bit to pass through and a Wood screw on either end to apply pressure on the stack of disks.
One end screw is loosened to load the discs, then tightened to apply pressure and keep them from spinning.
The discs should not spin , go slowly with the drill to get the feel of it .
Mike

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Thank you, but I don’t know how I’d get a stack of 6mm round pieces to stay put while I tighten the screw(s) … they’re not EXACTLY flat … part of the problem, I think. Since they’re die cut, one side is flatter than the other. It’s a good thought though and maybe I can rig something up with the same principle. Really appreciate it.

You should be able to flatten then on a flat surface (anvil), by tapping them with a rawhide mallet. Or gently with a hammer.
Hold the stack of discs with one hand, tighten the screw with the other.

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thanks. I have 1000 of these. think i’ll have to do them one by one, which may be less work than trying to figure this out!

You could use super glue to hold the stack together. Afterwards heat them with a torch or in a kiln and the glue will let go. Machinists often mount stock to a backplate on the lathe this way.

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It should be noted that burning CyanoAcrylate releases Cyanide, so breathing in the fumes or exposure to the fumes can be hazardous. If there is enough of it, it can kill you.

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Would using a power punch be an option? You could make a simple jig to fit inside the throat of the punch to eadr align the disks.

Lori,

A wooden fork (easy to make) is useful to keep small objects from spinning.
Also if necessary a slip resistant pad can be helpful .
This can be made from a thin silicone baking sheet, sold as a nonstick
baking aid.
Cuts easily with scissors.
Mike

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GREAT idea. thank you!

[image: www.lorikaplanjewelry.com] http://www.lorikaplanjewelry.com

what is the chemistry behind this?

Refer to https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Ethyl_2-cyanoacrylate#section=Density
for the full info. A short synopsis though is “When heated to decomposition by products include: Nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, and toxic oxides of carbon” All of those gases are toxic to your lungs and in sufficient quantities will make you very sick.

This is a bit late, but you could have first punched the holes and then punched out the discs with a disc cutter.

Thanks for the info, it’s not often someone backs up their claim on the internet with data. Bravo!

Don, how then do you then line up the holes with the edge of the disc cutter? Mine is this blocky thick thing with two thick plates of steel, and I can’t even see inside to the bottom to see the edges of the metal, much less line up a tiny hole that I may have drilled. I have the same problem-- trying to drill holes in tiny, thin discs, and I need a whole bunch of them. Thanks!
-M

Turn a piece of wood that just fits into the big hole to a point and then use it to line up the disc. Most disc cutters come with a set of alignment tools to do just this task, at least mine did…This is Rob , not Don

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Ron,

I have trouble with the disc cutter, too, and really hope you can help me understand what you mean about turning wood to fit in the big hole, etc. Maybe a sketch?

My instructor suggested one of those gadgets that screws down to make a hole, but it would be good to know how to use the disc cutter more accurately.

Thank you,

Noralie

Disc cutters are sometimes sold with a turned set of aluminum or some other metal cylinders that are each the same diameter as the punch. There is one cylinder for each punch size. The cylinders are turned on the end to a point. You punch out the first hole, then line up the material in the bigger hole and center it with the pointed cylinder. Tighten down the punch, remove the centering cylinder, punch and you should have a small hole centered in the larger disc once it is punched out. My disc cutters are Pepe. Go to a Pepe sight and read the description of how this works. The cylinders are an optional add on to the disc cutter price.

Check this out at OttoFrei
http://www.ottofrei.com/Pepetools-Metric-Set-of-11-Center-Positioning-Dies-5mm-to-25mm.
This is what I use. Punch the small center hole & then position the sheet/hole in the disk cutter (at the size you want) Put the appropriate size center punch for the disk into the hole that you are going to punch out. Adjust the sheet until you feel the point of the punch fit into the hole in the middle and lock it down. Remove the center punch, insert the disk punch & and hammer one out. Hope this helps.

Many thanks for the explanations. I’ll check out Pepe’s website, mine is a Pepe. side note: For some time I thought Pepe was a workman who had signed his piece!

Noralie