"Tim Wescott" wrote in
message
...
I may have asked this before, but I'm slow:

I have some 304 sheet. I use it to make
control-line model airplane
handles. Each handle needs to have about 20
1/16" or .050" holes drilled
in it, in a pair of tidy lines.

This stuff breaks my regular old HSS drill bits,
and my drill hand-
sharpening mojo is pretty spotty at 1/16".

I'm using them in a drill press. The whole
process feels weird -- it
feels like there's a skin on the metal which
prevents the drill from
starting to cut unless I feed it fairly hard,
but once broken through
doesn't cause much problem. Most of the time
that I break a drill bit
it's because I'm feeding it "just a bit harder",
then SPING -- I've
broken another bit.

Is there a better drill bit to use, or have I
just doomed myself to
trouble? Is there a better flavor of
_stainless_ to use? I understand
that 304 is difficult to work with, but it's
what McMaster had in the
thickness I wanted; having experienced its joys,
however, I'm ready to
consider something else.

I think my next step is to get a dozen 1/16"
drill bits, but if there's
some magic material that'll help here, I'm
listening.

--
My liberal friends think I'm a conservative
kook.
My conservative friends think I'm a liberal
kook.
Why am I not happy that they have found common
ground?

Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits &
Software
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Perhaps you could hone a very fine split point on
the drill?
That's tiny but could be done with a small diamond
file and
a steady stroke. It's worth a try....
pdk