New Zealand Man 3D Prints the World’s Smallest Working Drill

Kiwi maintenance engineer Lance Abernethy has 3D printed the world’s smallest working drill with his Ultimaker 2 3D printer.

The functioning drill measures 17mm tall, 7.5mm wide, and 13mm long and holds a 0.5mm twist drill.

“I have always liked small things. I wanted to make it as small as possible” Abernethy tells 3DPrint.com.

The New Zealander used the CAD software package Onshape 3D. The drill consists of two halves plus a 3D printed chuck which is pressed onto the motor shaft. Abernethy uses a hearing aid battery for power, a small button, and a miniature motor. For wiring, he stripped out a headphone cable.

“It took me 3 hours to solder and try and squeeze [all the parts] in,” he tells us. “The wires kept breaking off when I was trying to connect them and it was a nightmare trying to hold them in place”.

Article Source: 3DPrint.com, Eddie Krassenstein, March 18, 2015.

Image Source: 3dprint.com