Double-ended pin vise accessory

[mklotz]

In my ship modeling youth I saved my pennies and bought Starrett's four collet, double ended pin vise...





I later learned that, when using it with tiny drills or taps, keeping it vertical with some mechanism could prevent a lot of broken tools. Also, it lacked the swiveling top found on typical jewelers' screwdrivers, another useful feature.

So, I took a tiny scrap of brass and solved both problems. Two different diameters turned on one end allow it to be mounted in whichever collet is not being used to hold the drill or tap...



while a chamfered hole in the other end accepts pointed guide rods held in the (non-running) Unimat or drill press. When the guide rod is not needed, the chamfered hole serves as a nice, smooth substitute for a swiveling top.