"John Doe" wrote in message
...
whit3rd wrote:

John Doe wrote:

I tried a hole saw in my cheap drill press. Works perfectly for
hardwood, but doesn't work for 6061 aluminum

It's the per-tooth load that's your problem; the drill press
probably doesn't have a low enough speed for proper high torque on
the hole saw, so the per-tooth cut can't get deep enough. I'd
suspect you're getting fine waste crumbs instead of proper chips.
Lube is important for aluminum in this kind of thing, too.

The 'remove a few teeth' might help, or resharpening the saw (to
make a slightly less agressive cut) might do some good.

Yep, it goes nowhere.

My Dewalt DCD991 (0-450 RPM no-load) might do a better job if I
could
get a perfect right angle on it, like in a makeshift drill press.

Planning to buy a DCD130 "mud mixer" (0-600 RPM). That might work
well
as most low-end drill presses, if put in a decent press (a thingy to
move it through the work).

I use a clamped-down Portalign-type fixture to drill straight into
structural steel too large to fit in the mill or drill press. Your
hole saw may grab, overstress and break it, though.
https://tinyurl.com/woa95mo

If you remove teeth from the hole saw, vary the spacing between the
remaining ones. A regular repeating pattern promotes chattering.

This is the right tool to cut large, smooth, accurate holes of any
size within its range:
https://www.shars.com/products/toolh...ds-accessories
They are slow and require the rigidity of a milling machine.