Drilling a hole in plastic with no drill shavings falling into the hole? Ideas?

[gchappel]

I need to drill a 5/32" hole in a plastic printer ink cartridge.
The big issue with this particular type of cartridge is there is no sponge or filter between the ink cartridge and the printer hoses and print head. So if any plastic shavings from the drilling fall into the cartridge I will likely brick the printhead.
I can not drill it upside down, as some of the cartridges will be partially full.
Any great ideas? I was considering just putting an attachment to my shop vac at the drill site and vacuum up the shavings. I was also thinking of an airhose from the air compressor blowing across the drill site- it would have more air volume than the shop vac but could possibly blow down into the cartridge?
I have 12 of these to drill.
I am likely over thinking this, but this place has really smart people.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Merry Christmas all
Gary

[Baz]

If the objective is to get a hole in the cartridge, I wonder if you could just use a rod heated up to melt through the plastic. Like those long nails used for gutters.

As to your question, Gary - no idea other than what you suggested.

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

[URY914]

hI like the shop vac idea. But How about putting something like Vaseline over the hole location and drilling thru it. The shavings would stick to the Vaseline?

[porsche tech]

Maybe wheel bearing grease on the drill bit...the shavings can stick to it.

[porsche tech]

Oops posted at same time...

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by URY914

How about putting something like Vaseline over the hole location and drilling thru it. The shavings would stick to the Vaseline?

Probably. That's what I use when I want to drill a hole without leaving any shavings. But a problem might be getting petroleum into the ink and gunking it up. What is the ink base? If it's a water base you might be better off with something like KY Jelly (whatever that is) or some other water based gooey stuff.

[gchappel]

It is a water based pigment suspension. Something gooey is a great idea. Waterbased gooey should work.
It will be a week or so before I get the needed supplies to start the project- wanted to think ahead.
Thanks again

Gary

[Tobra]

KY would probably melt, not gooey enough.

I have seen attachments that will hook up to suction that sort of surrounds the bit, sort of like a collar that goes around it, which you then hook up to suction/shop vac.

Sort of like this one that is for a little sander, but might work okay. Clamps on, and attaches to shop vac using a hose.
https://www.dremel.com/en_US/products/-/show-product/accessories/mm830-dust-extraction-attachment

[LWJ]

I think all drill bits leave chips.

I'm Leaning towards a hot needle poking in.

Better yet, think ball inflation needle where you can pressurize the container and blow any wayward debris out.

It is still a poor solution.

[cstreit]

I think the hot-rod melting a hole is the best idea here...

[Tobra]

Yeah, I like melting the hole better too

[gchappel]

Hole needs to be precise in size. Could I just heat the drill bit and push it through?
I think I could pressurize the tank a little- another good idea I hadn't thought of.
It may be worth sacrificing one of the cartridges to practice on.
Wow, smart group here
Gary

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Baz

If the objective is to get a hole in the cartridge, I wonder if you could just use a rod heated up to melt through the plastic. Like those long nails used for gutters.

As to your question, Gary - no idea other than what you suggested.

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

Ding, ding, ding, Plant Wizard from Oz for the win!

(Pretty sure the "Who" did the theme song for the Plant Wizard from Oz, or was it "Foreigner?")

[devodave]

Option on the heated rod would be a heated tube, like brass. A good scale model hobby store that carries brass tubing might have the size you need. Would leave a cleaner hole, especially if you carefully twist it while pushing down. You could even cut teeth into the tube face!

[SCadaddle]

Heat the drill bit up and run the drill in reverse.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

It's 1:30 am and I can't sleep, so....


Experiment to see if you can find / modify a soldering iron/ miniature soldering iron with a similar sized tip.

A lot of the cheapo soldering irons I see on a quick internet search have removable tips, so you could modify them as needed.

The biggest potential problem I see, is when the plastic melts, it will "blob" around the site which might (or might not) interfere with the precise 5/32.

I would also possibly experiment with heating a smaller diameter drill bit up itself and twisting it clockwise on insertion to engage/catch any melted "bleb" in the drill flutes to get the majority of the hole completed, then going to proper size drill bit (or tubing- like devodave mentioned) to finish. The initial drill bit (perhaps a 1/8 or smaller) would be a twist/engage/pull motion. The idea would be to at least pull the excess towards you where you could shave it off with an exacto knife. The final size 5/32 would be a small step up from the previous sizes. It might require going through several smaller sizes incrementally to get to a clean final hole.

I would experiment on things like "tic tac" plastic containers etc. first to get a feel for what works.

edit- Now that I think about it, a mini torch might be easier to heat the tip of something up, like a punch.

more edit- I can't complete a project without buying something at harbor freight. These punches would hold heat well and have various sizes to experiment with:

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-punch-set-93424.html?cid=paid_google|||93424&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=s|pcrid|385337702124|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|slid||p roduct|93424|&pgrid=73846655970&ptaid=pla-310099998185&pcid=6549823817&intent=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6IHwBRCJARIsALNjViX0_NCcaK3n12Aqkx2Z 8hX2l2KwnG4uMF2_78XAqLTDPF-6n7ggwSgaAiwIEALw_wcB

[gchappel]

Great minds think alike, and likely derail at the same point.
Clear tic tac container- genius.
Time to go experiment.
Thanks all,
Enjoy your holidays
Gary

[asphaltgambler]

For jobs like this in plastic- use a butane soldering iron they are now the size of a large ink pen, use the needle tip. Works like magic

[john70t]

Drill upwards

[wswartzwel]

yes... turn it upside down and drill up. also use the vacuum... you can drill through one of the vacuum cleaner hose attachments so it has a better seal over the hole you are drilling. melting the hole might result in blobs of melted plastic dripping inside.

Is this for a large format photo printer? I have seen where people have done this to help reduce the cost of printing. Please let us know how this works out when you have completed the project.