Thread: Custom brass washers using a dremel

Still very new to this hobby of SR restoration and one of the things I noticed was the #0 stainless washers from my local Hardware store were too tight to fit over a 1/16 brass pin. Drilling them out isn't an option because I don't own a drill press and a hand drill is too cumbersome. A dremel is better but still difficult. So I was left to attach a piece of the rod to the dremel and sand it down to get it to fit. This was time consuming and inconsistent.
Came up with this solution :

cut blanks from std bass sheet...

Drill out the hole using dremel..

make them in pairs so they're consistent, trim the corners,


Mount them to the dremel cutting tool post...


grind them round on a file.

Results. Take them to the anvil, flatten them out,
re-attach to the dremel and grind them some more.
Sand and polish.
I probably can't make them too small because of the diameter of the dremel cutting tool but was able to get them cut down to a workable size without having to grind down the brass pin. Going to try it on some stainless sheet if I can locate some.

That works - I've had to resort to that technique before as well.
A hand held microreamer to enlarge the washer hole is easier (ream a bit from each side of the washer). And you can hold the washer with vice grips while you ream it.
Dremel makes a small reamer bit, but every time I've tried it on something small, it ripped the washer apart.

A cheap round diamond file works like a charm for cleaning up the holes... it's so exasperating to try to work washers over the pins sometimes. This technique looks like a great starting point for doming, though, I'll play with it sometime.