4 ms·

Agreed. But my experience with drilling metal with handheld power drill was so unsatisfying that I'd be glad to have an excuse to never try it again.

by vlehto 9y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Metal fabrication is my day job... To drill mild steel (regular old steel, containing 0.05–0.25% carbon, used for most things you see made of steel, like structural steel and most car body components) you need to use high-speed steel[1] drill bits, and they need to be sharp. With the correct speed and feed rate drilling mild steel with a power drill is quite doable, up to about 12mm diameter hole in 12mm thick plate. Regular stainless steels, 304 and 316 grades, are drilled with the same drill bits but slower, lower feed rates, and with constant cooling using a cutting fluid. I've seen people try to drill steel with drill bits intended for timber, or blunt drill bits, this isn't going to work. YouTube has good videos of how to sharpen drill bits. Worth learning, but mostly impractical on anything below about 3mm diameter (1/8th inch). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago
  Pretty much all off consumer tooling is HSS. People just use way too much speed and cook them. It doesn't help that most aren't too sharp to begin with. Ever since I bought a drill bit sharpener (faster for the same quality as doing it by hand on a grinder) I've been using my hss tooling more. For steel that just needs a hole and will be drilled with a hand (power) drill I've found that masonry bits are king. A small pilot keeps them from walking and the carbide tips hold an edge very well. For truck frame rivets in accessible locations it's faster and cleaner than a torch. The straight cutting edges are also very easy to grind.
cr0sh 9y ago
Steel can be pretty difficult to drill with a hand drill, but with a sharp bit, a proper pilot divot, and some cutting fluid of some sort (old timers used bacon grease - still a great cutting fluid, even when it goes rancid). The main key with metals (and heck, even with wood and certain plastics) is to have in place the pilot divot, so the bit doesn't wander. People seem to have the most trouble when they don't do this part first. Sharp drill bits are also very important. You usually only need a cutting fluid on steel. Also - aluminum is almost as easy to drill as wood. Just add a good divot of course, and go for it. Some light 3-in-1 oil can serve as a mild cutting fluid. It isn't really needed, but it can be useful to keep the chips from flying everywhere (not as big a deal though when hand drilling). Another easy to drill material is HDPE (cutting board plastic). Cuts and drills like soft wood, just don't get too aggressive with speed (especially when cutting - as it can heat up, melt, bind the blade, or self-weld behind the cut).

Agreed. But my experience with drilling metal with handheld power drill was so unsatisfying that I'd be glad to have an excuse to never try it again.

by vlehto 9y ago

Agreed. But my experience with drilling metal with handheld power drill was so unsatisfying that I'd be glad to have an excuse to never try it again.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

Metal fabrication is my day job... To drill mild steel (regular old steel, containing 0.05–0.25% carbon, used for most things you see made of steel, like structural steel and most car body components) you need to use high-speed steel[1] drill bits, and they need to be sharp. With the correct speed and feed rate drilling mild steel with a power drill is quite doable, up to about 12mm diameter hole in 12mm thick plate. Regular stainless steels, 304 and 316 grades, are drilled with the same drill bits but slower, lower feed rates, and with constant cooling using a cutting fluid. I've seen people try to drill steel with drill bits intended for timber, or blunt drill bits, this isn't going to work. YouTube has good videos of how to sharpen drill bits. Worth learning, but mostly impractical on anything below about 3mm diameter (1/8th inch). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_steel

dsfyu404ed 9y ago
Pretty much all off consumer tooling is HSS. People just use way too much speed and cook them. It doesn't help that most aren't too sharp to begin with. Ever since I bought a drill bit sharpener (faster for the same quality as doing it by hand on a grinder) I've been using my hss tooling more. For steel that just needs a hole and will be drilled with a hand (power) drill I've found that masonry bits are king. A small pilot keeps them from walking and the carbide tips hold an edge very well. For truck frame rivets in accessible locations it's faster and cleaner than a torch. The straight cutting edges are also very easy to grind.

cr0sh 9y ago

Steel can be pretty difficult to drill with a hand drill, but with a sharp bit, a proper pilot divot, and some cutting fluid of some sort (old timers used bacon grease - still a great cutting fluid, even when it goes rancid). The main key with metals (and heck, even with wood and certain plastics) is to have in place the pilot divot, so the bit doesn't wander. People seem to have the most trouble when they don't do this part first. Sharp drill bits are also very important. You usually only need a cutting fluid on steel. Also - aluminum is almost as easy to drill as wood. Just add a good divot of course, and go for it. Some light 3-in-1 oil can serve as a mild cutting fluid. It isn't really needed, but it can be useful to keep the chips from flying everywhere (not as big a deal though when hand drilling). Another easy to drill material is HDPE (cutting board plastic). Cuts and drills like soft wood, just don't get too aggressive with speed (especially when cutting - as it can heat up, melt, bind the blade, or self-weld behind the cut).