On Sep 1, 5:51*am, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
On Mon 01 Sep 2008 05:33:03a, *told us...

I have a 1/8th thick aluminum bar 36 inches long and 2 inches wide
that I want to drill some 5/16 inch holes into and bend to 90
degrees. *Could a hand held drill be used to drill the holes or would
I be better off taking it to a machine shop. *If a hand held would do
it what specifications would the drill have to have to do it?

Thanks.

When you say hand held drill, are you referring to a manually operated or
electric drill? *I would only use an electric drill. *Aluminum is
relatively soft, so nothing special is really required in the way of the
drill itself. *An ordinary twist drill bit designed for drilling metal and
other materials will work fine. *I would recommend using a pointed punch (I
know there's another name for it) to mark and dimple the location of each
location you plan to drill. *This will prevent the drill bit from skipping
across the metal.

HTH *

--
* * * * * * *Wayne Boatwright * * * * * *

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Date: Monday, 09(IX)/01(I)/08(MMVIII)
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* * * * * * Today is: Labor Day * * * * * *
* * * * *Countdown till Labor Day * * * *
* * * * * * * -5hrs -42mins * * * * * * *
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Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:43:38 -0700 (PDT)

(I know there's another name for it)

that would be a "center punch"

cheers
Bob