Since diamond would vaporize or dissolve into the metal it would be
best to use another super hard stone that wasn't pure carbon.

MSCdirect sells carbide drills. I used one to drill a hole into a
High speed steel 1/4" square metal turning steel. Normally one would
grind a shape and then cut steel with it. I drilled a hole and ground
off the front - now a U and a form tool.

It was red hot and cut through nicely.

Martin

Michael Koblic wrote:
Ernst wrote:
On Jan 4, 3:39 pm, Gunner Asch wrote:

Carbide, on the other hand.....those do work miracles if used
properly. If not, they become nightmares ........
What would be the best approach when using carbide bits with a hand
drill motor? One other thing: Ever used a diamond-coated bit? A
long, long time ago when I was a Navy jet mech, we had to drill out
some super-hard fasteners on an N1 case. If memory serves, someone
went to dental and got some "diamond dental bits". Whatever they
were, they worked pretty well.


FWIW:
I have used diamond coated bits in my Dremel to drill stones. I had bits
from two sources: One from Calgary which were awful and one from Hong Kong
which were fine. I built a baffle of plasticine around the prospective hole
and poured water in it and drilled the hole underwater with some success.

I tried the same thing only once with steel: Removal of a broken 6-32 tap.
Success was limited...