Best Pin Vise Hobby Drill for Miniatures, 3D Prints & Scale Models

Last Updated on May 2, 2022 by FauxHammer

Whether you are looking for a Hobby Drill, Hand Drill or its correct moniker Pin Vise (I didn’t know this originally either). You’re likely looking for the same thing. a tool to drill holes into your models. Today we are looking at finding you the best Pin Vise for your Models & Miniatures.

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

• UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
• US/Canada: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (US), eBay (CA), Amazon
• Germany: Taschengelddieb
• Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
• Australia: eBay, Amazon
• Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

• 3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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It finally happened, my Pin Vise broke. For those of you who only know the pain of spilling a pot of Agrax Earthshade, you can’t understand the loss of a hand drill. It’s been a part of my kit for over 20 years, one of the oldest tools I owned and it’s dead. I’ve spent the last month looking for a new one. I ended up buying a few to test them out.

To see all of our guides to the Best Tools for Miniatures, click on the image above.

Best Pin Vise Hobby Drill for Miniatures & 3D Prints – Summary

If you’re just looking for the list, see below if you want to see the reason behind each selection, click here.

	Model
1	Tamiya Fine Pin Vise
2	Modelcraft Pin Vise
3	Citadel Drill
4	The Army Painter Drill
5	Generic Amazon/eBay Pin Vise
6	Spiral Pin Vise
7	Hobby Knife
8	Dremel / Rotary Tool

Parts of a Pin Vise

A typical Pin Vise has several Components (Top Left to Bottom Right)

• Handle (the Spinny bit on the back)
• Body/Shaft/Chuck Sleeve
• Collet(s)
• Chuck

The handle is the part which rests in your palm and allows you to hold the PinVise steady as you spin the rest to drill a hole. not all hand drills come with this but I find it to be the most necessary component.

The body/shaft/chuck sleeve of a hobby drill or whatever you want to call it is the main body of the drill.

The Chuck is the part you tighten to grip your drill bits, You can get get a hand drill with a more traditional chuck like you see on normal drills which is entirely variable in size. More commonly, you will see a Hobby drill has reversible Collet(s)

Collets are like a traditional chuck except the are a fixed size. Usually, a Pin Vise comes with 2 two-sided collets. One collet is in the front of the drill as it is in use, the other is stored in the handle until you need it. Each has 2 fixed diameter holes for a total of 4 different sizes. Each hole will hold a small range of different sized drill bits. If you need to change to a much large or much smaller bit than the one that is currently fit, you need to use the other side of the collet or the other collet.

This can be annoying if you are often swapping between drill bits which require a different collet.

The Best Drill Bits for Models, 3D Prints & Miniatures

I’ve had the same Hobby Drill for over 20 years, it’s never let me down (until it did). When I say mine broke. it’s because I spilt glue on it and it seized the handle. Less “it broke”, more “I broke it”. It’s the sort of tool that you will buy once. so if you are in the market for one, make it a good one. They aren’t expensive at all. But they can be “cheap” in every sense of the word (we’ll get to that in the list).

The most important part of the tool is your drillbits. I don’t mean the strength of them, bar the few occasions you are drilling metal, even the cheapest bits should be able to drill plastic just fine.

The most common thing we all drill (Space Marine Gun Barrels) it makes sense to drill the side holes with one diameter drill bit and the front of the barrels with a slightly larger drill bit. It’s a subtle change, but one that makes it appear just slightly more real.

The issue I have with Pin Vises and drill bits is that I love the low profile of a typical Hobby Drill that uses collets. The issue with collets is that the difference in drill bit size means changing around the collet configuration every time you swapped the drill bit. More annoyingly, I had to swap to the other collet so I had to unscrew both the chuck and the handle, every time. You know if you’re painting an army, this is just frustrating. A minor annoyance that after time really grates.

My search for a better Pin Vise started with better drill bits, or at least a way to change bits without fully reconfiguring the whole Hobby Drill.

That’s when I found PCB Drill Bits. These bits are for drilling Printed Circuit Boards in electronics and computing projects. They come in sizes from 0.1mm (insanely small) to 3.2mm (too big) in diameter, are cheap and are usually made from Tungsten Carbide. I’m not sure if you’ve ever played Rock-Paper-Scissors-Tungsten-Plastic. But Tungsten beats plastic, and pewter too. Perfect! Although the finer sizes can snap easily when compared to steel – so, be a bit careful with them.

The best part of these, however, is that the shank (the bit your drill holds) is a standard size. so long as you get a Pin Vise which holds 3.2mm drill bits, which is the standard shank diameter for PCB Drill Bits.

Not all Pin Vises hold this diameter however so I will note the ones below which do.

The best way to drill Space Marine Gun Barrels

I originally held a guide here on drilling gun barrels but it made this post way too long. Instead, I’ve put that guide elsewhere and you can view it by clicking here. it does tie in nicely with this article.

Best Pin Vise Hand Drills for Miniatures & Models

And now onto the list, I normally do a top 10, but I am limited to options, these are also pretty cheap to buy, no matter what model you get. so the price doesn’t really come into it. The below options are all the ones we looked at specifically. If you think there is another option worth considering, let us know.

8. Dremel / Rotary Tool

Let’s get this out of the wat straight off the bat, you can use a Dremel or any rotary tool. They are absolutely great for a myriad of tasks, but they are overkill for drilling holes in miniatures. Unless you are incredibly precise, you are likely to slip and worse drill a hole in your hand.

They will hold a 3.2mm drill bit (standard Dremel bit size), perfect for PCB Drill Bits.

7. Hobby Knife

This is a somewhat valid option, for a while. you can use a good sharp hobby knife in a twisting motion to carve out a hole. used gently it will work for gun barrels. The front hole at least. the side holes will likely just get mangled. It’s imprecise. and you will quickly snap the point of your knife making each new hole worse. But it can be done.

These don’t hold drill bits

6. Spiral Pin Vise

You may find some of these online, the shaft is similar to that of the plunger on a child’s spinning top toy. As you push down the grip on the handle it will spin the drill. Like a Dremel, these are overkill for plastic miniatures. but they are still useful as you can just turn the handle like a normal Pin Vise.

Don’t go out of your way to get this, unless you are drilling deep holes into metal miniatures.

All of the ones of these I have seen don’t hold 3.2mm drill bits so you can’t use PCB Drill Bits

5. Generic Amazon/eBay Pin Vise

Search Pin Vise on Amazon or eBay and you’ll find these. They are a cheap option and come with a load of drill bits. They are generally fine and do the job. They don’t use collets and instead have a more typical drill chick which will hold any size up to 3.6 mm.

This head, however, is larger than most Pin Vise heads and does get in the way a bit of you are drilling areas where other parts of the model it in the way. The other annoyance (and it is just an annoyance) is that the handle wobbles a bit squeaks like hell.

This holds up to 3.6mm drill bits making it perfect for 3.2mm PCB Drill Bits.

4. The Army Painter Drill

The first of our known hobby branded options is The Army Painter Pin Vise. this one is great and well built. It does use collets however these are only 1 sided and there’s one for each of the different sized drill bits you get with it. The drill feels a bit short in my opinion but is still comfortable to hold and it has a smooth mechanism. The handle is fastened in with a rubber ring and just pulls off to access the internal storage.

It only supports up to 1.8mm drill bits with one each of 1.0, 1.4 & 1.8 mm bits included in the box. But this means you won’t be able to use this with 3.2mm PCB Drill Bits.

3. Citadel Drill

The Citadel Drill is one of the most well-known hand drills in this community. It’s generally pretty good. It’s well built with a smooth turning motion. I don’t find the triangular-shaped handle the most comfortable, but that’s likely just a personal view as I’m used to a different type of handle.

The hexagonal grip that you turn isn’t the best either IMHO. With only 6 flat sides there isn’t really a grip. It does, however, have the best look of any of the hand drills and will be great sat next to a set of Citadel tools. The strangest thing is that this comes with only one two-sided collet, even though the handle unscrews from the body to house a second. (I suppose you could store your extra drill bits here instead)

It comes with 6 drill bits and Games Workshop even indicates which size is for what weapon type.

• 2 x 1.0mm for Lasguns
• 2 x 1.5mm for Boltguns
• 2 x 2mm for Heavy Bolters

Unfortunately, 2.0mm is the maximum size (you could maybe squeeze in a 2.1mm or 2.2mm). but you cannot use the standard 3.2mm PCB Drill Bits with these.

2. Modelcraft Pin Vise

This is my baby, I had this model for over 20 years and they still make them now. It is generally everything you want from a typical pin vice. Solid build, decent size and weight. smooth spinning motion. It comes with 2 two-sided collets. one is stored in the handle one is stored in the front.

• One collet holds 0-1.2mm and 1.3-2.4mm
• The other collet holds 0.8-2.0mm and 1.8-2.9mm

It’s long-lasting and inexpensive. It typically comes with 5 assorted drill bits, but it never indicated on the packaging what size these are. I can’t find it online either. but they were always plenty enough to drill my gun barrels on space marines.

The only drawback is that the maximum drill bit diameter is 3.0mm, you can wedge in a 3.2mm PCB Drill Bit. But it is a wedge and you have to drag them out. If you are happy to swap out the collets all the time for changing drill bits, it’s a great choice.

1. Tamiya Fine Pin Vise (74112)

IMHO, this is the perfect Pin Vise. It has a standard build style and is nice and thin. Really sturdy construction and the bearing rotation between the body and handle is firm (no wobbles) and smooth. The body on the D-R is rubberised with a ridged grip making this the most comfortable model available (seriously, check the pics below, the D-R is the exact same vise but it has rubber around it). If you’re drilling a lot of mini’s, this does make a difference. It will likely wear down with time but there’s always the Tamiya Fine Pin Vise D (74050) which is a full metal version.

It has 2 collets. one is stored in under the handle whilst the other is in use. It is one of the slightly more expensive options alongside the Citadel Drill. But it is a purchase that offers you the most convenience and with a half-decent level of care, you will only need to make once in your whole hobby career.

It houses up to 3.2mm drill bits with a perfectly snug fit for PCB Drill Bits

The Best Pin Vise Hand Drill for Miniatures, 3D Prints & Scale Models – Final Thoughts

A Pin Vise is a relatively inexpensive piece of your hobby kit, but there are certainly some benefits to splashing out that extra cash. If you are a Warhammer collector and want all the tools to match. there’s nothing wrong with their set. If you are looking at a more budget-friendly option I’d suggest either The Army Painter or Modelcraft versions which come with drill bits. The cheapest option is a generic Amazon or eBay model and these are absolutely fine for doing the job. I just found some annoyance with them like how squeaky the handle was as it spins.

As I’ve said above, the best option, at a comparable price to the Citadel Pin Vise is the Tamiya Extra Fine which comes in a fully metal version or rubberised handle version. As the most important part of any drill is the bits you use. the convenience of being able to add standard drill bits with a 3.2mm shank just makes things so convenient by not having to keep changing collets to swap drill bit sizes. So anything which houses a 3.2mm shank is worth an investment.

When it comes to a Pin Vise, if you buy right the first time, you should never need to make another purchase again.

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

• UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
• US/Canada: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (US), eBay (CA), Amazon
• Germany: Taschengelddieb
• Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
• Australia: eBay, Amazon
• Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

• 3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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What did you think of this article? please let me know in the comments. Would you like me to do some more top 10’s? If so, what?

See our Existing TOP 10 Articles by following this link.

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