Drill press speeds - plywood

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: | Ok, setting up my drill press, I've got a nifty speed chart for | different | woods (Hard,soft) and other material (metal, plastic) and | different drill bits, but nothing mentioned for plywood. | | DAGS and nothing immediate shows up. Are there | any "rules" that govern drill press speeds for different | plywoods and different drill bits?

Drill the plywood just like you would the solid wood. :-)

(Trying really hard not to overthink the problem.)

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

Set it on the slowest speed and leave it.

Keep this in mind: The harder the material, the slower the cutting edge should be. Most of my drilling is done at 800 rpm, but for large bits and wheel cutters use 300 rpm. Plexiglas is harder than wood, softer than metal so the speed would be somewhere in-between. I consider most ply as softwood (pine), but there are some hardwood plywoods.

What!? ... You mean you can _change_ the speed on a drill press?? :)

I set mine on "hardwood" a few years back and promptly forgot about it. It works just fine in anything I've thrown at it ... my bet is yours will too.

Sat, Jul 21, 2007, 11:35am (EDT-3) snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Father=A0Haskell) doth sayeth: Set it on the slowest speed and leave it.

That's the factory setting on mine. When I first got it, I did check to see if it was easy to change the speed - it was - but have never changed it.

JOAT I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do them. - Picasso

Any chance that speed chart is available for others to view? I have numbers for "wood" but not fir different types of wood, etc.

I suggest you check the following link of WOOD Magazine's website for a number of free drilling information charts and information:

My experience with thermoplastics (PVC, plexiglass) is they partially liquefy and flow under heat and pressure, allowing the cutter to grab. With large bits or fly cutters, lube with paraffin or beeswax, set the drillpress to low rpm, feed lightly, and back off the cutter frequently to cool it.