"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 7 Mar 2013 21:46:00 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
wrote:
What's the trick to drilling a hole through 1/2" thick stainless steel?
From my guardrail experience, I had bought titanium coated drill bits.
Titanium is nice, but it's the steel under it that makes the
difference. Use cheaper cobalt drill bits instead. Be prepared to
re-sharpen the drill quite often. You can also use a carbide tip bit,
which is even harder than cobalt steel. A concrete drill with carbide
inserts might work if you keep it cool. Unless you're really careful,
and have the parts bolted down very well, the slightest bit of side
play will break the carbide drill.
Feeds and speeds:
http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-drills-speeds.htm
So I thought it would be easy to drill a hole in a stainless steel can
opener (for hanging on a loop outside by the BBQ cooler).
It's probably work hardened stainless 300 series stainless. Find a
magnet and see if it's magnetic. If it's been work hardened, it will
be slightly magnetic. If not, it will be non-magnetic. If it's very
magnetic, it will be 400 series stainless (contains no nickel).
http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1140
The last time I had to drill through work hardened stainless, I
destroyed two small drills getting a start. So, I took a piece of
hard steel drill rod, with a squared off end, dumped some carborundum
abrasive compound into the hole, and intermittently ground my way
through the hardened stainless. You can go through glass with that
technique. I don't recommend doing this as it took forever and I had
to grind flat and reharden the drill rod every time it got hot, but
eventually, I had a hole.
I can't make a dent!
http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12362068.jpg
What's the trick to drilling through stainless steel?
Ummm... this doesn't really belong in sci.electronics.repair.
Rodman drill bits was showing at a convention I was at. Some pretty
incredible claims, but he was doing some incredible demonstrating over there
just poking goodly sized holes in a variety of metals.
Anyone heard of/used Rodman stuff? Are they even in business?
Steve