Absent a milling machine for the slots, drilling a series of holes(which is
called chain drilling) and clearing them out would work, but is time
consuming. However, I have done it fairly quickly without a file by using a
so called " side cutting " drill. I know HF has a set of 3 for sale,
however the largest size drill in the set is 3/8 inch which is smaller than
the 1/2 inch you need. Nevertheless, you could try that, and clean up the
resulting slot with a small die grinder or similar tool.

--
don paolino
"Gunner" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:39:14 -0400, "Rod" wrote:


I'm working with 2" angle iron from home depot making a frame that will
support a dc winch motor for rolling a pool cover onto a spool. I'm
having a
hard time with drilling and cutting slots.

I'm trying to drill several 1/2" holes using a bench drill press. Using
pilot holes I'm able to work my way up to 3/8" holes with no problem but
as
soon as I go for the 1/2" bit it just spins and spins and doesn't want to
cut anymore. I end up forcing it down pretty hard to get through and it
takes for ever, what's the trick?

Measure the web of your half inch drill bit, and use a pilot drill no
bigger than that web thickness, then drill the pilot, followed by the
1/2" drill. Or simply center punch and drill with the 1/2" using no
pilots. Which is the preferred method.


The next question that I had was, I need to cut some slots into the angle
also, so that the dc motor that I'm mounting can be adjusted a little,
I've
been using a cutting torch to cut some slots but with my skills they come
out extremely messy, any good advice or ways to cut these with standard
tools? (drill, jig saw, sawzall)?

Drill a series of holes, and clean up between them with a file, jigsaw
etc.

Or buy a milling machine.

Thanks for any help.


Gunner

Mark



"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke