How do you drill through stainless steel at home?

[Michael A. Terrell]

news:rec.crafts.metalworking would be a better place to ask. (Added)

[notbob]

A lotta bad advice from this group. You shoulda asked a metal working group.

As an ex machinist, here's the drill (sorry-couldn't resist):

You need a HSS drill bit (high speed steel). If you can't see the letters HSS somewhere on that drill, it's not and yer wasting your money. Make sure the drill bit is sharp! Brand new is even better.

You need a cutting fluid. A specialized cutting fluid is best, but clean motor oil will do, like the kind you put in yer car or lawmower. Have a squirt bottle or oil can full on hand and keep that drill bit WET! The cutting fluid is as much about keeping the drill bit cool as it is in aiding cutting action.

Use the proper drill motor "speeds" (RPM) and "feeds" for the material and drill size. Generally, the smaller the hole diameter and drill size, the higher the drilling speed (RPMs).

Drilling "feed" is how fast the drill bit is plunged or pushed into the work. Some drill presses have an automatic feed which you can set, but usually it's jes experience and judgement that dictates how hard to feed. I see you have a drill press. This is GOOD!, as stainless steel (SS) is difficult to drill with a hand drill motor. The trick to drilling SS is to keep the feed pressure firm and constant. Once you start the hole, do not reduce pressure or "get a better grip" on the drill press handles while the bit is still spinning in the hole. Back it out and start again. Once in, constant presssure. You may see some smoke from the fluid. That's can be a good sign and an indiction to add more fluid. You should see chips ejected out of the hole. Smoke and no chips means you are not cutting, but "work hardening". Keep adding fluid to the hole/drill while cutting to keep it cool and the chips ejecting. Add fluid with left hand while right hand works the drill press handle. Light colored chips (yel, org, red) are good. Shows good pressure. VERY DARK blue or purple chips means you are pushing too hard (feed too fast) and you will prematurely dull your drill bit.

If you see no chips ejecting from the hole, you are not cutting and are now "work hardening" the SS. Bad mojo! If SS work hardens, yer screwed. It becomes almost impossible do go past that point. You will hafta buy a carbide drill. Not titanium coated or any of that crap. Go straight to carbide. If you hafta go to carbide, NEVER stop the drill motor with drill in the hole or while drilling/cutting. It will break that carbide bit instantly, gar-own-tee!

And yes!! DO use a center punch to make a starting point. It will NOT work harden the SS. Work hardening is caused by the heat generated from the drill friction. That's why you don't want yer drill getting hot. Keep that sucker douched! ;)

nb

[Phil Allison]

" one big boob"

** Nope - just from you f*****ad.,

** Got fired for incompetence did you ?

** Fraid it almost certainly will.

** ROTFL

Work hardening = hardening by "cold working".

Something most of the stainless steels are FAMOUS for.

Wanker.

... Phil

[notbob]

JUNK!

First, they are what we called "brass bits". This is cuz they are ground with a reverse relief angle on the cutting edge. Rodman calls it "special negative back grinding". Bottom line, it purposely dulls the drill bit by preventing a good sharp cutting action, which is how a drill bit works. But, on some metals and plastics, a sharp cutting edge is not good. It can violently grab the material and rip it out of yer hands or a not-so-secure clamp and/or sometimes breaks or crack the material. Brass and plexiglass are good examples. Gotta use brass bits, or yer gonna bleed. Rodman bits might be good for those two materials and probably wood. Useless for drilling steel or alum.

The other giveaway? "Chrome Vanadium Steel" Any metal drill bit made of CVS is a piece of crap. Probably great on wood, but will be dull junk before it drills its 2nd metal hole. You want HSS (high speed steel) drill bits. Nothing less for metal work.

nb

[The Daring Dufas]

I use Tap Magic cutting fluid. I bought a a couple of small cans of two different formulas which served me for years before I needed to buy more. The great thing about their product is the fact that it clings to the bit and will stay put so using a lot is not necessary. I've used it when cutting/drilling in different metals including stainless steel. Oh yea, it makes cutting threads into metal a lot easier too. ^_^

TDD

[George Herold]

Yes, That's my experience, slow and steady and make sure the bit is always cutting!

George H.

When you feel the drill start to break out of

[Stanley Schaefer]

That's a hell of a can opener if it's 1/2" thick! Might be lassoing it with a lanyard would be a better way to go.

Stan

[Denis G.]

I'd grind a very small flat spot with a Dremel tool (to prevent the drill bit from skating) and anneal the end with a propane torch. You can remove any discoloration with polishing.

[Boris]

The hole is in the business end, so you can't use it.

[Charles LeMaire]

Is stainless steel magnetic?

[Danny D.]

Hi Jeff, Interesting diagnostics. The flat part (where I don't want to attach a cord) is slightly magnetic. The cylindrical handle (where I do want to drill) is not magnetic at all.

I had not realized how hard stainless steel is!

[Ralph Mowery]

Some is , some is not.

[Jim Wilkins]

-I'd grind a very small flat spot with a Dremel tool (to prevent the

-drill bit from skating) and anneal the end with a propane torch. You

-can remove any discoloration with polishing.

Can openers are hard enough to keep their edge while puncturing steel cans, such as tomato juice comes in..

"Cold working will dramatically increase the hardness of this material,"

I've seen tensile strength listed as high as 200,000 PSI for Type 302 used for pallet strapping.

You could hang the can opener by a Prusik loop of fancy boot lacing etc around the middle:

This knot survives handling better than a square knot:

's_knot

If you use braided Nylon cord you can melt and fuse the ends of the loop and roll the warm joint flush so it nearly disappears. jsw

[Danny D.]

Yeah, it's a doozie (for a can opener)!

I bought it at Bed Bath & Beyond for $4, hoping to lanyard it outside. It's too smooth to just tie a cord around the handle.

And, it's not magnetic & therefore very hard to drill with my vanadium-coated (brass color) steel drill bits:

[Joe AutoDrill]

Persoanlly, I drill small holes first. Then I enlarge the holes to the proper size with a larger "bit".

I simply put some motor oil on the area to keep the tooling cool (mega important) and if I'm using my at home drill press, I follow this chart for RPM rates:

or

#1 important thing to do is use oil or something similar to lubricate and cool the tooling. Otherwise you run into all types of issues.

Much success.

[Jeff Liebermann]

In my checkered past, I once worked for a company that made air droppable tank gun barrels and such. I swept the floor, which is a good indication of my level of expertise at the time. The company was called "Hydromill" which is a clue of how things were machined. Most everything was machined submerged in a tank of coolant. I don't know if it will work, but submerging the drill, stainless part, and vise in a small tub of oil, while drilling, might slow down the work hardening. I've never tried this mostly because it's too messy.

[Ed Huntress]

It's unlikely that annealing with a torch will do much. The overwhelming problem drilling stainless, of the common 300-series, is what Dan said: work-hardening.

With grades 304 and up, the work-hardening effect is fierce. It requires some experience and a steady hand to drill it with a manual-feed drill press. It will work-harden in a fraction of a second and it then becomes problematic whether you can re-start the drill through the work-hardened layer. That's what burns the edges of HSS drills used on stainless more than anything else. It breaks them, too, in sizes of 1/4" or less.

[Jeff Liebermann]

Both parts are the same material, probably something in the 300 series. The flat part has been stamped or punched, which work hardens the part, and produces the slight magnetic effect. Nothing pounded on the handle, so it's not magnetic.

Hardly and that's NOT your problem. Trying to drill a rounded surface directly is going to cause a very different problem. Visualize what a cross section of the contact area at the round stainless handle and drill interface. The only point of contact is at the very tiny tip of the drill, where there's no cutting edge. You can spin that all day long and never get the drill bit to cut any metal.

Take a bench grinder and put a flat area where you want to drill. Grind or punch a starter hole. That will give the drill bit cutting edge something to bite into. After that, you should be all right.

Incidentally, you haven't suffered until you've tried to machine titanium.

[Danny D.]

Hi Jeff, Funny you mention your floor-sweeping past, as I also had a summer job at a "plant" filled with metalworking machines and Germans running them (real Germans, with heavy accents).

They 'drilled' .010" holes in jet turbine blades using a machine they called the "EDM" machine. It never once broke a bit because it drilled by automatic feed in a bath of kerosene dialectic simply by shooting electric current through the bit which was merely very close to the steel being 'drilled'.

I think the EDM stood for Electro Dialectric Machining, and the concepts were that the sparks "ate away" the metal.

Needless to say, I didn't bring one home with me...

[Jeff Liebermann]

Sheesh... why didn't you mention that before?

1. Do you have a bench grinder? If so, grind a groove around the circumference of the handle. Tie a rope around the groove. Pull tight. It shouldn't slip.

1. Shrink tube and rope. I have some really nasty shrink tube used by PGE to insulate splices. It's quite thick and comes with a sticky heat activated glue on the inside. Put your rope or hook under the shrink tube and use a heat gun to lock it in place.

2. Do a knife handle wrap. Find some flat leather strips, and lace it like it was a knife handle. Apply wet, and it will shrink into place. Attach a rope or hook under the leather.

1. Chinese finger trap. Find one. Apply glue. Slide over handle. Ummm... don't forget to remove your finger first.

2. Compression fitting. See if you can find a 1/2" compression fitting. It think something in the plumbing department will work. Watch out for stainless to copper corrosion. Also, the electrical department will have power cord compression outlet fittings for electrical junction boxes that might be 1/2". Use your imagination on how to attach a hook.

1. Capacitive discharge spot welding. It's tricky to weld to such a large thermal sink, but I think it can be done with a sufficiently big capacitor. Spot weld a hook onto the handle.

etc...