What will a miniature fanatic do with a 3D Printer? Print a teeny tiny Power Drill!
Lance Abernethy from New Zealand, a maintenance engineer by day (that explains it) is a fan of miniature objects and one fine day he decided to build a mini power drill – that really works! Abernethy says: “I have always liked small things and have created small items since I was a little kid. I was with my work colleagues and was talking about mythical stories about one country making a twist drill and sending it to another. The other country returned it with a hole through the middle. Things like this easily challenge me and my idea was born.”
The drill measures just 1.7 cm tall and has a completely functional motor that enables it to drill through soft object.
Using the outline of a normal drill, he 3D printed the external casing in a size as small as possible. He used a 0.25mm nozzle and a 0.04mm layer height to print this drill-y. Then he fitted it with a small button, a miniature motor and employed wiring from earphones, and battery from a hearing aid machine. Talk about innovation!
But it wasn’t an easy job. The miniaturist admits it took him took 3 hours to solder all the components together. “The wires kept on breaking off when I was trying to connect them and it was a nightmare trying to hold them in place and try to not short the battery”.
The final product is 17mm tall, 7.5mm wide, 13mm long, and holds a 0.5mm twist drill. Time to ask Lance what’s the next “small” thing on his agenda!
