"Jon Danniken" wrote in message
...
Howdy,
snip.

My main concern, then, is this: am I out of my tree to consider drilling
one inch holes in 1/8" material with a 1/4 horsepower drill press?

You'd have more than one problem. Even with decent fixturing, it's entirely
possible that your drilled holes, assuming you had success, would not line
up. Part of the problem would be the condition of the material, which most
likely is not uniform in size, nor square.

The big problem you'd have isn't just power. Small drill presses are
expected to turn small drills, so they are geared accordingly. In order
to run a 1" drill without damage, it would have to be turned down around 475
RPM. If you can't run that slowly, you're likely to damage the drill from
heating.

One more thing to consider. Drilling large holes in thin material generally
results in three sided holes (holes that will not accept a pin the same size
as the drill used to drill the hole). I expect you won't enjoy much
success with your plan. A mill would really help.
Alternately, if you can run slow enough and can step drill, you could use a
reamer to size the holes. Overall, you would be best served if you could
drill through both sides at the same time.

Harold