Tips for drilling metal

hi all

just wonderd if anyone could give me some advise on drilling metal using a pillar drill?

cheers alex

what metal?
how thick?

As james says the metal and how thick would be useful but some standard things apply no matter what,

1) Ensure that your drill bits are sharp. It is best to use high quality ones as these will require sharpening less often.

2) Make sure that the hole will drilled where you want it. Sounds a bit obvious but a few mm here and there can put everything out of place.

3) Use clamps to secure the metal to the plate below the drill bit. Believe me (speaking from experience here) holding it in your hand may seem like a great time saver but in the long run when you have to go find some bandages and clean up the red stuff on the drill etc it really isnt.

Also dont forget the basic rule that the larger the hole the slower your drill speed needs to be.
Some materials sush as stainless steel or Ti have additional requirements with things like feed rate/cutting speed and cooling/lubrication.

and wear eye protection..

to get the hole in the right place its worth making a dent with a centre punch too.

Always center dot the position of the hole .... also pre-drilling a small pilot hole will help if you have trouble drilling a large hole.

Wear goggles, especially when using coolants.

Amen to that Kane! That stuff in the eyes is not recomended!! (I Know!):sad:

well i have two things to drill, first stainless steel of 2.2mm thickness, and i think its stelland 1.2mm. the drill bit are titanium coated, and thebit is 4.5mm thick.

thanks alex

Note from general experience: A titanium coat drill bit will more often than not, with cheap variations at least, be no more effective as the equivelent plain HSS bit. If the HSS bit is cheaper, get that instead. Think of a titanium coat of cheap bit standards as some paint that the manufacturer adds to make the buyer pay more :)

Ewan is right in some cases the drill is softer with the coating and will just burn out once the coating has worn. SS 500-800rpm maybe, its alot about feel so its hard to advise on speeds. Top tip make sure the drill is sharp otherwise SS will destroy it.

Geoff, you get used to it.

Carnt remeber the last time You came around to my house and i havnt said Ed, youve got swarf in ur eye again

well actually it did start to smoke and go black, the reason why im asking for advice

Slow the speed down, use lubricant. Sharpen your drill bit.

If you are going for a lot of drilling I cant recommend enough a set of cobalt steel drill bits (you can pick up a set for around £20 on ebay). Fantastic for drilling anything!

Getting a new set for valentines day. She really does know how to spoil me :)

HAHAHA gary i looked at your post neat top about holding your material as a time saver i remember when i did that nearly lost my fingers, the drill bit grabbed and it pulled my hand slamming it against the vice with my fingers between the bit of plate i was drilling and the vice lucky for me the drill wasnt in the chuck very tight so the bit just spun in the chuck, left me with sum nasty cuts but i would have lost my fingers for sure if i had tightened the drill bit properly.

A god tip is to use hard metall (tungsten) drill IF you can get our hands of it, BUT it need to be steady if you drill whit this or it will brake,its good for hardenad steel, rpm; 2000.