Opening up small holes in etched brass kits

[Compound2632]

I'm looking for some advice on opening up small holes in etched brass kits. I'm currently building several etched brass and whitemetal brake van kits (from London Road Models, ex-D&S). Brake vans have plenty of handrails to fit, for which 0.5 mm diameter straight brass wire is supplied. These should be bent up and fitted into etched holes in the van body. This isn't a big problem in whitemetal, but for the brass kits I struggle. It would help if I could clear or open up the etched holes a fraction - in some cases they're clogged up with solder, too. Brass is a notoriously difficult material to drill and I'm not having much joy with my 0.5 mm bits in the hand pin chuck drill, having already written off a couple.

 

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions or advice? - Limited to hand tools only, please.

[Kris]

What you want is a reamer or a cutting broach, both will work. 

http://www.squirestools.com/files/12-06a.pdf page 90. Other sellers are available. 

Edited July 16, 2017 by Kris

[Compound2632]

What you want is a reamer or a cutting broach, both will work. 

http://www.squirestools.com/files/12-06a.pdf page 90. Other sellers are available. 

 

Kris, many thanks. Not too pricy. I hadn't though that it would be possible to get a broach sufficiently small.

[Mallard60022]

I use various Broaches every time. Bit hard on the fingers but I find them invaluable. Tip, don't buy cheap ones as the plastic handles break off/away quite easily. How do I know this?

Phil

[micklner]

Use Broaches in a pin chuck .

[Mallard60022]

Use Broaches in a pin chuck .

Thank you chuck. Never thought of that ...... doh!

P

[Theakerr]

I use root canal dental files and broaches sourced from China.  Cheap and very effective with a pretty good range of sizes.  Last lot (two separate shipment) were through Ali-Baba and they took forever to arrive, but based on the tracking data, it was not the China end that was the problem it was the Canada end.  Word of mouth suggests this may be more than co-incidental.  About a year ago they would have come through much much faster.

[Compound2632]

Thank you all - I'm glad I broached the subject!