Any hand drill work as close as dental handpiece?

[EPAIII]

Before you blast me, remember YOU did ask for a HAND tool.

It is called a pin vise.

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

General makes a popular model that is about 3/8" diameter. Look about half way down the McMaster page for Precision-Control Pin Vise - $11.73. The hex shaped end cap at the back is larger, but it is held with a spring wire and can just be pulled off and a scrap of wood or something with a hole in it near the edge can be substituted. The General model is probably the one shown there and it comes with two double ended collets: 1/16", 3/32", 1/8" and #61-80 or smaller. So your 1/16" bit will fit.

It will take a while turning it by hand, but it will probably be faster than the disassembly you talk about.

I have a couple of them and tried to find one to measure the OD but I could not locate it. Perhaps tomorrow.

 

[ratbldr427]

Here's my air craft drill and an adaptor for a 5mm taper reamer. It came with a screw on collet holder and various stub drills with threaded ends,1/4-28.
You can get an idea the head size from the 1/4" adaptor. The nut is 7/16". Click on to enlarge.

 

[Bill D]

FYI Most aircraft threaded drills, countersinks, rivet shavers etc. are 1/4". there are some cages and tools that are 3/8 threads.
Bill D.

 

[MichaelP]

A little introduction to dental handpieces.

To start with, contra-angle handpiece is a poor substitute for a drill press or cordless/corded drill when you need to drill thicker metal with regular spiral drill bits. They work decently when you either drill something like bone, wood or thinner metal or when you use burs (carbide or diamond) by pecking.

If you want a decent torque and more precision, use electric motor dental handpieces.

For latch-type bur shanks (see Larry's post above), you will have to use right angle handpieces. Their main issue is more wobbling. And they, usually, come with lower gear ratio. However, 25,000rpm ones exist, and knock-offs can be bought more than reasonably (Disclaimer: I have no personal experience with knock-offs): https://www.net32.com/ec/nsk-compat...pIGuGHy7PfMinPV49sxoCy8gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds ). Latch type bur can take a higher torque without slipping, therefore, potentially, they'd be more suitable for spiral drill bits than friction grip (which usually use bur instead of drill bit and works "pecking style").

If you don't want burs to wobble in a contra-angle, you need a friction grip one. Either right angle or a surgical 45-degree electric handpiece. They take straight 1.6mm shank burs. Those handpieces are more expensive, of course (I was never interested in checking knock-offs, but they exist. Good brands like KaVo, NSK, WH, etc. are perfect, but $$$$).

Then there are straight and slightly angled electric handpieces that have a collet that takes 3/32" shanks (a.k.a. HP shanks). They'd be better for spiral drills. But they may need a bit more side clearance than some contra-angles.

All electric handpieces and motors (except the lab ones: see below) now use "E" Type connector, so you can use any control box/motor with any electric handpiece.

Labs handpieces are straight and beefy, and some (made you know where) can now be bought very inexpensively on eBay or Amazon. Surprisingly, they work VERY decently. I bought one for my workshop about 8-10 years ago (around $200, IIRC), and never had a single problem. No, they are not as good as my 4-5-figure electric handpiece units I use daily at work, but they do everything what you can expect of them in the shop. Precision, comfort, and convenience wise, Dremel is just a toy in comparison. Lab handpieces should definitely work better with spiral drill bits than any of the above handpieces. Despite the fact that they hold the drill in an internal collet, they do it very well. Lab handpieces take the same 3/32" shanks as straight handpieces or Dremel. Unfortunately, lab units (at least those I dealt with) don't have "E" connection: the lab handpiece and its motor come as a single unit.

EDIT: I did a little search online and was able to find a few lab units that come with E-Type motors now. Even the same inexpensive line I bought for my workshop (Marathon) now have this model. So you can consider buying a lab unit with E-type motor and a lab handpiece, add an electric contra-angle handpiece of your choice to have a versatile set.