Greetings.

I have a question for this group. I operate a small auto accessory store.
One of my products, made from
6061 aluminum was being designed by a local company. Basically they were
drilling (maybe) a hole just shy of
1 inch wide all the way through a 2 X 2 X 2 piece of aluminum. I'm wondering
how someone would go
about accomplishing this? A drill press with a 1 inch bit, a mill with a
reamer? I'm lost. They shop is not wanting
to continue and I have to pick up where they left off. I do own a mini-mill
just for extra info. Please adivse if
I need to include more info.

TIA
Mike

You might try using an annular cutter, works something like a hole saw
but looks like a hollow end mill. You drill a pilot hole and then drill
out the slug of metal for the hole. Take a look at the kbc online cat
at page 63 at http://www.kbctools.com/usa/main.cfm I have a 1" R-8
shank one of these to use for tube notching, works great in alum. I
have even used it in solid without the pilot. A lot faster than step
drilling.

KMH wrote:
Greetings.

I have a question for this group. I operate a small auto accessory store.
One of my products, made from
6061 aluminum was being designed by a local company. Basically they were
drilling (maybe) a hole just shy of
1 inch wide all the way through a 2 X 2 X 2 piece of aluminum. I'm wondering
how someone would go
about accomplishing this? A drill press with a 1 inch bit, a mill with a
reamer? I'm lost. They shop is not wanting
to continue and I have to pick up where they left off. I do own a mini-mill
just for extra info. Please adivse if
I need to include more info.

TIA
Mike




--
James P Crombie
Slemon Park, PEI
Canada
Machinist - 3D Cad Design - Amateur Astronomer

http://www.jamescrombie.com

One way would be:

In the drill press, drill a 1/2 inch hole through the block. Then "step
drill" in 1/16", or smaller, increments until reaching the final size.
That is 9/16, 5/8, 11/16, 3/4 etc. The well known "Silver and Deeming" set
of reduced shank (1/2" ) drill bits could be used here. As the final size
is approached it will be necessary to use increments smaller than 1/16 to
stay "just shy of 1 inch".

Step drilling is recommended to reduce the holding and cutting forces
required to hog out a large hole all at once.

Bob Swinney


"KMH" wrote in message
...

Greetings.

I have a question for this group. I operate a small auto accessory store.
One of my products, made from
6061 aluminum was being designed by a local company. Basically they were
drilling (maybe) a hole just shy of
1 inch wide all the way through a 2 X 2 X 2 piece of aluminum. I'm
wondering
how someone would go
about accomplishing this? A drill press with a 1 inch bit, a mill with a
reamer? I'm lost. They shop is not wanting
to continue and I have to pick up where they left off. I do own a
mini-mill
just for extra info. Please adivse if
I need to include more info.

TIA
Mike

How many pieces in what time?

--
There are only 10 kinds of people...Those that understand binary and
those that don't.
"KMH" wrote in message
...

Greetings.

I have a question for this group. I operate a small auto accessory store.
One of my products, made from
6061 aluminum was being designed by a local company. Basically they were
drilling (maybe) a hole just shy of
1 inch wide all the way through a 2 X 2 X 2 piece of aluminum. I'm
wondering
how someone would go
about accomplishing this? A drill press with a 1 inch bit, a mill with a
reamer? I'm lost. They shop is not wanting
to continue and I have to pick up where they left off. I do own a
mini-mill
just for extra info. Please adivse if
I need to include more info.

TIA
Mike

Several ways to do this, depending upon how you want to do it and how fast
you want to go.
Setup a lathe with a 4 jaw chuck and drill a 3/4" hole or so and then bore
with a boring bar for the final distance. This is a two operation without
having to change tools.
Drill with a drill press or mill to the finished diameter. This may make
for rough surfaces on the inside of the hole as there is no finishing cut.
You can also do a hand ream if you want to have a decent finish on the hole
but that ends up again being a second operation on the part.
Drill with a drill press or the mill to near the final dimension and then
bore with either the lathe or a mill.
With the mill/drillpress operation, a V stop will probably be good enough to
hold the block in place unless you need to have a very accurate location of
the hole with the location in the final operation to be the most accurately
located.
I'll also note that it may be worth while to have an angle cutter on a drill
press to deburr the corners of the hole.
I suspect that the machinist was doing a two operation on that hole to get
it centered nicely in the block.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works every time it is tried!

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
gy.com...
"KMH" wrote in message
...

Greetings.

I have a question for this group. I operate a small auto accessory
store.
One of my products, made from
6061 aluminum was being designed by a local company. Basically they were
drilling (maybe) a hole just shy of
1 inch wide all the way through a 2 X 2 X 2 piece of aluminum. I'm
wondering
how someone would go
about accomplishing this?


snip

How many pieces in what time?

Bingo!!!

--

SVL

"PrecisionMachinisT" wrote in
:



snip

How many pieces in what time?

Bingo!!!

One more question:
What finish do you need on the hole?




--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email