Hi Simon, drill bits of the diameter you need here can be rather fragile and snap very very easily. Solution I used and others do to, is to cut the head off one of the pins, fit that to your mini drill and pre-drill the holes with that. You will find that one pin will probably do all of the pre-drilling you need. Then you can fit the pins with splitting of the bamboo being kept to an absolute minimum..... Worked for me everytime and less expensive.... Hope this helps..

Regards

Alan

Hi Simon,

Not to deter from Alan`s advise, but to give you an alternative choice, here are the sizes you would need to know.

The pins I received are 0.6 - 0.65 mm diameter.
Drill bit used 0.35 - 0.4 mm.

My experience:

With careful drilling at a slow speed with a palm size electric drill, I broke three bits for the bamboo planking.

The hole gave sufficient space for the nail to pass through, without splitting a single plank and also gave enough grip to the plank to hold it in place even on the tightest curves of the hull.

Now this is where you have to make the choice.

People on this forum give their time, experience and ideas free, but only you will know what you are comfortable with.

I invested in a pack of 5 drill bits at the cost of a few British Pounds, don`t know what they will cost where you are, but have a bit of a practice with some offcuts and see how you feel.

Hope you continue to enjoy the SOTS experience and if you have any more questions, don`t hesitate to ask.

Happy Building

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Thanks for all the advice. I will take my time and experiment a little and see how things go.