Milling

Even a tiny mill is very useful.

Used to fight the fiddliness of tiny parts.

I was trying to build a contraption that would allow me to punch circles into the white plastic foil of my Ikea SAMTID lamp. Unfortunately the wood is too soft, the punch is too dull and the plastic too tough.

I would've needed a 0.75mm end-mill. Didn't have that, so I used a spear-drill. Worked "so-so". The acrylic tends to melt quite easily.

I need a jig to hold these pogo-pins in place while soldering them to a circuit board, which I sadly don't have yet. The slots are too wide (wrong milling tool) and the material is not quite suitable as well. I think I will get better results with a piece of hard wood or aluminium and just drilling 6 holes in a 3x2 pattern (1.27mm raster). If the fit of the holes is good enough (0.75mm hole vs. 0.68mm pogo-pin diameter), the alignment of the pins should be good as well. My "friends" at customs are torturing me again. I've been waiting for almost 3 weeks again. Why do I even use air-mail... Sending the letter as a "message in a bottle" might be quicker.