I wonder if anyone can help. I need to fix 15 x 2 metre long metal rails ("T" section) vertically to a concrete wall. I'll be using those 'self tapping' bolts that require a 6mm hammerdrill bit. I will need to drill 8 holes in each rail.
Q.1. How much larger will the rail holes need to be 6.5, 7.00, 7.5mm Etc?
Q.2. Nowadays, which drill bit manufacturer is considered high quality?
Q.3. Is there a good, reliable on-line source to the above? Many thanks.
Answer to Q.1. is likely to be found where you get the bolts from. Such things do vary by design/make.
Assuming 'hammerdrill' means non-SDS, answer to Q.2. - with 120 holes to drill - has to be none. Use an SDS drill if the wall is real concrete and sound, anything else will take a long time. Previously posted opinion is that most SDS bits are of acceptable quality and I have no reason to disagree.
Answer to Q.3. could start with Screwfix and Toolstation and include dozens of others. E.g.
Cheap enough to buy a couple if you are worried...
Thanks Rod, just to recap, I don't need hammerdrill bits as I have a couple of good quality 6mm hammerdrill bits already. However, I will need to drill holes in the steel rails. These steel rails are 5mm thick.
I assume these holes will need to be larger than the 6mm bolts, so how much oversize? + 0.5, 1mm etc?
The most expensive HSS drills sold at the local DIY store are Bosch. Which manufacturer is concidered higher quality than Bosch, if anyone can throw some names at me. I can then google for an online supplier. TIA.
Bertie
If you are using Multi Montis requiring a 6mm hole, then I assume you are using the 7.5mm size? Eight of those per rail? What on earth is the load? The QE2? :-)
Manufacturers spec says 9mm for a 7.5mm MM.
Non SDS masonry bits I reckon the Bosch Multi Material bits are the best. If the wall is concrete your gonna need an SDS drill.
then you need standard twist drills. I'd definitely go for titanium ones rather than HSS, they stay sharp far longer, a big time & hassle saver. IIRC screwfix do single sizes in packs of 10.
NT
Don't ignore the advice to use SDS for the wall holes. Each 6mm hole with an SDS drill will be seconds in all but the most seriously hard materials. Your bog standard "hammerdrill" will take considerably longer and with 120 to drill it all adds up...
Can't help on a make of twist drill for the steel but bear in mind that they will only be sharp out of the packet/box not *SHARP*. I was amazed at the difference it made to my twist drills after I introduced them to martek drill sharpener... Also with 120 holes to drill in 5mm steel a cheap pillar drill and drill press vice might be worth while. You'll get far more accurately positioned and drilled holes compared to a handheld drill with much less effort.
Update Popped into the DIY shop and the 'self-tapping' bolts I referred to in my opening post are called Thunderbolts and are similar to Dave TMH's Multi Monti :
I'm not savvy enough to risk buying 2nd hand, but are the following beefy enough to manage (in stages) 8mm holes in 5mm thick rail?
How accurate, position-wise will your drilling be in the wall? Presumably you will be pre-drilling the rails with a pillar drill, after precisely popping all the positions. So if I were doing it, I would drill the holes in all the rails 1mm oversize except for one which would get used as a template for the wall drilling so just a 0.1 mm oversize. Of course I have trouble getting 3 holes to line up for an aerial mast bracket so my advice is worth all I'm charging...
Shouldn't be much more than a mornings work for one man, so (pulling figures from thin air) change from =A3100?
That's assuming you have marked up where you want the holes at least alo= ng the rails. I'd position the press vice for the across dimension and lock= the vice down to the table. Then just slide the rail through the vice to= the correct linear position.
All the sub =A3100 ones are much of a muchness IMHO. I've a =A339 jobbie= from B&Q, works well enough for my use and is a damn site better for drilling= neat holes than a handheld power drill or hand drill. It's not overly repeatable from one setup to another and back but that is what you pay t= he mega bucks for, calibrated dials and movements without backlash. With ca= re mine is perfectly acceptable though.
Agreed. One of those tools that you may not use often, but well worth it for that job. Use one of the slower speed settings. Use one of those quick action woodworking clamps to hold the workpiece down.
I'd go for the latter but direct from Axminster
If the holes in the brackets are drilled at 9mm, which would be right for multi montis, then the proceedure would be to mark & drill the top hole, insert the fixing loosely, check for level & mark the other fixing points. Move rail aside then drill the other holes.
I'd definitely use a pillar drill. I've only used industrial ones, so dont know about those models. But I've noticed pillar drills tend to have much lower power ratings than handhelds, in the 250-500w region, and they still do the job fine. You'll need to clamp the rails, an 8mm hole is a lot of workpiece-swinging torque. And of course select the appropriate belt position for the job - you'll need to consult a drilling speed table to find the optimum speed.
So you save =C2=A3100 less =C2=A340 for a morning's work and you end up wit= h another tool.
NT
Makes more sense Dave - Ive never done a vertical railway before...
er that eBay seller *is* Axminster or if they aren't they use the same freephone number and link to the Axminster site from the About Me page..= .
Following on from TMH and if I were to go for the Ax MD12, I guess this vice would do the job?
of cast iron...
A gotcha with drill press vices is the matching the spacing of the slots for the fixing bolts with the slots/holes in the drill press table. They don't normally come with nuts/bolts either niether do the drill press's, at least the cheap ones.
Yup - it's weird they're not to a standard.
angle iron suitably drilled and bolted as a guide to the drill's worktable makes for much quicker and easier working. You'll need a support (or two) for your rails when they overhang the table but you should be able to hold the rails to the guide by hand but with a mole grip if you find that the drill is snagging.
Cic.
I was wondering what the application was as well :-)
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