Dave wrote:

Hiya

I have just tried drilling some 3mm thick mild steel with a 13mm
hole......... hell of a lot of noise, loads of vibration and now the drill
seems to do anything but drill!

Ok, please stop laughing, I'm a beginer!!

The drill bit was a Piranna 'Bullet' that it said was for drilling metal,
but what I have only just realsied is that the max recomended rpm for 10mm
was about 1000. The drill was the cheapest Clarkes one speed drill (i'm on a
budget and this might be a '1 of' project) so I guess this is much faster.

So my questions a
Is the drill running too fast? What speed should i drill 12mm holes at? Does
anyone know where I can the cheapest drill to drill at the recommended
speed?

Thanks for any help given

Dave

I'd aim to use lkess than 1000rpm for 12mm but you are where you are and have
only one drill speed.
Clamp the work firmly onto a sacrificial piece of wood. the workmust not deflect
away fromthe drill bit. This is possibly where your noise is coming from.
For mild steel, a quality brand drillbit (dormer etc) is all you should need.
Use a pilot drill say about 4mm followed ideally by something around 8mm.
As a minimum, the pilot drill should allow the chisel portion of the next drill
to pass into the pilot hole.
Often helps to put some oil when drilling.

Good luck

Bob