On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:30:20 GMT, Trevor Jones
wrote:

The Davenport's wrote:

This may be a dumb question, but is it easy to drill through iron?

I need to drill 2 x 3/16-inch holes through the cast iron cap of a 1-
inch black pipe. I've never drilled through anything tougher than
wood, so I don't know if that's a big deal or not. What kind of drill
bits should I buy? What drill speed should I use? Should I use a
lubricant? How many holes can I make with each bit? (I need a total of
8.) Since the surface isn't flat, do I have to worry about the bit
bending away from my target spot? How long can I expect each hole to
take?

Browsing this group, I've seen mention of laser and EDM. Should I
consider finding a shop which can use one of those techniques for me?

-TC


Buy a spare cap and a 3/16 drill from the hardware store and have at.


Try around 500 rpm. More or less. Don't worry if you cannot get it exact,
the cap won't tell. Center punch the start point, keep steady pressure.
Hold the work in a vise if you can, vise-grips, if no vise.

Don't worry about lube. It's 8 holes, not 8000.

I am sure that there are several EDM and laser shops that would be GLAD
to take your money. And they would laugh, and laugh, and laugh!



Most would laugh, but at a shop like the one I'm at, as long as you don't
demand it now or tight size or just being an ass aboutit, we'll likely just
whip it out for you and if we charged anything, it'd be a couple bucks.

Mike


Yeah! Stuff like that comes in our front door a lot.

I usually make them stand there and wait while I bang it out, as it's
faster to do it, than the paperwork that would go with if we bothered.

Everything is easy when you know how!

Cheers
Trevor Jones

We used to have people stop in (two-way radio shop) with
simple little jobs that were smart/kind enough to bring
along a dozen dough nuts give-or-take (grin, burp! aah!)

They usually got good service and little in any paper work,
plus a cup of fresh coffee while they waited.