It occuers to me that I need to know more than "put a drill shaped
thing on the metal, turn drill on, push".

Can anyone recommend a good site for information about drilling?

Things like what different bits there are and how to tell what you
have? What speeds for what metals, which drills for which applications,
what difference does torque setting make, when should you drill a
pilot hole?

Zebee

On Aug 12, 9:52*pm, Zebee Johnstone wrote:
It occuers to me that I need to know more than "put a drill shaped
thing on the metal, turn drill on, push".

Can anyone recommend a good site for information about drilling?

Things like what different bits there are and how to tell what you
have? *What speeds for what metals, which drills for which applications,
what difference does torque setting make, when should you drill a
pilot hole?

Zebee

Hi,
It has been a while since I met you. Sorry I do not know a good site
on drilling, but then I have not been looking for one.

But I will try to answer when drilling a pilot hole is a good thing to
do. In my opinion drilling a pilot hole is something you usually want
to do in a home shop environment. Look at a drill while it is turning
and back lighted. There is an area in the center where the light is
always blocked. That shows that when you are drilling the center is
pushing the metal from the center out to where the drill has cutting
edges. So if you drill a pilot hole that is the diameter of this
center section, you cut the amount of force needed to push the drill
way down. So you want to drill a pilot hole that is the same size as
this center section or maybe just a little bigger. Then if your
machine is rigid enough and has enough horse power, you can use a
drill that is the size of the hole you want. If your machine is not
rigid enough or does not have enough hp. Then enlarge the hole in
several steps. If you are drilling something soft like aluminium, you
can probably skip the pilot hole. If you are drilling some thing like
stainless that work hardens, then you want the drill to be getting
below the area that work hardened. So a pilot hole will be a big
help.


Dan

Zebee Johnstone wrote:
It occuers to me that I need to know more than "put a drill shaped
thing on the metal, turn drill on, push".

Can anyone recommend a good site for information about drilling?

Things like what different bits there are and how to tell what you
have? What speeds for what metals, which drills for which applications,
what difference does torque setting make, when should you drill a
pilot hole?

Zebee

The main thing is pressure and speed, pressure being more important in
my opinion.Use as much pressure as you can without breaking the drill
(this will come with experience)
When I was working with apprentices most of the cases of burned and worn
drill cutting edges was because of not enough pressure.