Todays shop time.

[BukitCase]

Drew, here is a relatively short "course" in mag drills, from one of the better manufacturers of them - it explains most of your questions in the first few pages.

http://www.hougen.com/downloads/Hougen_Mag_Drill_&_Annular_Cutter_Guide.pdf

They aren't cheap, starting around $5-600 for BASIC models, up to more than $2000 for some. The downside is the "price of admission", also the cutters aren't cheap - they run from maybe $25 each for smaller ones (1/2" is about the smallest) up to over $100 in the 1-1/2" to 2" range, and even more for bigger sizes. Cutters come in depth of cut from 1" up to 2" in all sizes, up to as much as 6" depth of cut in a few sizes; all you need is $$$...

I do a lot of trailer hitch tubing, so most of my cutters are 2" depth of cut. My drill has a 3" stroke, and I can "nest" a piece of 2.53" receiver tube AND a piece of 2" inside tube and drill all 4 surfaces with one setup, giving me PERFECT alignment.

The UP side - if you're drilling a LOT of holes bigger than 1/2", they make a drill press (using twist drills) look like a HAND CRANKED drill. Mine can drill a 5/8" hole in 1/4" steel in about 11 SECONDS, with NO PILOT HOLE needed. Same hole in 1/2" steel, about 16 seconds. 1 inch hole in half inch steel takes about 35-40 seconds; again, no pilot hole required, just a center punch where you want the hole.

In one of the pics I posted in JeepnFord's weld table thread, I drilled 26 1/2" holes (13 per side) 1 inch apart, in a TOTAL TIME of about 1/2 hour. Plus, those holes look like they were done on a precision milling machine.

You can also use regular twist drills in a mag drill with an adapter chuck (the standard chuck is a 3/4" Weldon chuck - it's like a 3/4" collet for a mill, but with two flats for set screws instead of one.

For thinner metal, the "price of admission" is LOT lower - you can get sets of cutters that will work fine with a hand-held drill (the bigger deeper ones tend to SNAP if you side-load them while drilling, so they need a VERY rigid support - even a basic drill press may have problems with cutter breakage.

The "sheet metal" type of cutters are good up to 1/4" or 1/2" thick depending on the set - I've used this set a few times, has most of the advantage of annular cutters WITHOUT the need for the mag drill -

Blair 119 Rotobroach Cutter Kit Hole Saw Kit - Hole Saw Sets - Amazon.com

Blair (and others) offer other sets that go bigger in size, but generally NOT thicker than 1/2", some are only 1/4".

HTH... Steve

 

[daugen]

thanks Steve, I own a lot of tools, hard to find one I don't like... and now I've learned of a new one.
Funny no one is marketing these to upscale contractors or homeowners. I never see a magnetic drill advertised but then
I'm not getting trade magazines either.

Greatly appreciate all the good info. As in so many things, read it here in TBN first!

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Drew, here is a relatively short "course" in mag drills, from one of the better manufacturers of them - it explains most of your questions in the first few pages.

http://www.hougen.com/downloads/Hougen_Mag_Drill_&_Annular_Cutter_Guide.pdf

They aren't cheap, starting around $5-600 for BASIC models, up to more than $2000 for some. The downside is the "price of admission", also the cutters aren't cheap - they run from maybe $25 each for smaller ones (1/2" is about the smallest) up to over $100 in the 1-1/2" to 2" range, and even more for bigger sizes. Cutters come in depth of cut from 1" up to 2" in all sizes, up to as much as 6" depth of cut in a few sizes; all you need is $$$...

I do a lot of trailer hitch tubing, so most of my cutters are 2" depth of cut. My drill has a 3" stroke, and I can "nest" a piece of 2.53" receiver tube AND a piece of 2" inside tube and drill all 4 surfaces with one setup, giving me PERFECT alignment.

The UP side - if you're drilling a LOT of holes bigger than 1/2", they make a drill press (using twist drills) look like a HAND CRANKED drill. Mine can drill a 5/8" hole in 1/4" steel in about 11 SECONDS, with NO PILOT HOLE needed. Same hole in 1/2" steel, about 16 seconds. 1 inch hole in half inch steel takes about 35-40 seconds; again, no pilot hole required, just a center punch where you want the hole.

In one of the pics I posted in JeepnFord's weld table thread, I drilled 26 1/2" holes (13 per side) 1 inch apart, in a TOTAL TIME of about 1/2 hour. Plus, those holes look like they were done on a precision milling machine.

You can also use regular twist drills in a mag drill with an adapter chuck (the standard chuck is a 3/4" Weldon chuck - it's like a 3/4" collet for a mill, but with two flats for set screws instead of one.

For thinner metal, the "price of admission" is LOT lower - you can get sets of cutters that will work fine with a hand-held drill (the bigger deeper ones tend to SNAP if you side-load them while drilling, so they need a VERY rigid support - even a basic drill press may have problems with cutter breakage.

The "sheet metal" type of cutters are good up to 1/4" or 1/2" thick depending on the set - I've used this set a few times, has most of the advantage of annular cutters WITHOUT the need for the mag drill -

Blair 119 Rotobroach Cutter Kit Hole Saw Kit - Hole Saw Sets - Amazon.com

Blair (and others) offer other sets that go bigger in size, but generally NOT thicker than 1/2", some are only 1/4".

HTH... Steve

And around here everyone apparently thinks they only APPRECIATE in price! I've been trying to find a fairly priced non-abused used one for at least 3 years. :confused3:

More often than not they're priced more than they were new and they are beat to shight.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Luke, there's a few here

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/386590-welding-table-build-6.html

and a couple on the next page; when I get more time I might start my OWN thread instead of sidetracking another one

Meantime, here's a few showing the basic parts - 12" piece of 10" channel, added some pieces of FB to get more pull from the mag drill's magnets, then flattened the surface on the mill.
The vise is a Wilton reversible
Amazon.com: Wilton 145 45, Reversible Mechanics Vise-Swivel Base, 5-1/2-Inch Jaw Width, 6-Inch Jaw Opening, 3-3/4-Inch Throat Depth: Home Improvement
But any normal one would work for this - my table bolts on in place of the fixed jaw. If you want accuracy it helps if you weld the jaw piece on as perpendicular to the top surface as possible, and the 1/2" thick face lets you counter bore so those screws don't interfere.

Making the table that wide lets me use vise grips and angle scraps for "stops" when I'm making multiple pieces I want all the same (pics in JeepnFord's thread)

Any other questions I'll be glad to answer, this thing just kinda "evolved" so I probably forgot to mention a few dozen OTHER things ... Steve

Here's some of the stuff I do with the "MDVT", I call 'em my "tinker toys" - all 2" receiver material, 1/4" wall - I buy the 2.53" tubing for females and standard 1/4" wall 2" tube for inserts. I probably have a few more than the pics show, whenever I can't come up with a combo of pieces that'll do what I need, out comes the saw/drill/welder :licking:

They all fit any/several of the 7 receivers I added to the FEL bucket on the old 580B, as well as any normal vehicle receiver if necessary - the receiver tube in the vise with a cutter in the hole doesn't show the OTHER end of that tube, which has a piece of scrap 1/2" FB clamped in it as a depth stop - so I can make any number of males at a time, and have ALL of them drilled in exactly the same distance from the end. This guarantees that ALL the pieces will fit ANY of the others, even if you flip one over.

The last couple pics are moving a downed tree (everything but the roots) - 2 of the 4' tubes (with 45* adapters) inboard act as "bale spears" to help lock the crown of the tree into the bucket, then the 2 6' tubes get a tow strap wrapped around the tree, which gives a "triangulation" for lift and stability. I moved that tree out of my neighbor's yard and about 100 yards down to my burn pile in one trip...

Thank you very much Buckit. No more explanation needed. You have substantially surpassed my (skill x time) metric.

P. S. I sill hate you a little bit.

 

[daugen]

Since this is shop talk, I'm going to give myself a safety lecture before one of you give it to me, rightfully. No, there was no C clamp holding that
little vice down. I realized when I was done if it had caught it could have whipped around and been very dangerous. It never moved a bit, surface had some grip, but
overall it was a really stupid thing to do. Secure your workplace before it visits you in the eyes...:ashamed:
At least I had good safety goggles on. But my head isn't that hard.

 

[Big Barn]

Since this is shop talk, I'm going to give myself a safety lecture before one of you give it to me, rightfully. No, there was no C clamp holding that
little vice down. I realized when I was done if it had caught it could have whipped around and been very dangerous. It never moved a bit, surface had some grip, but
overall it was a really stupid thing to do. Secure your workplace before it visits you in the eyes...:ashamed:
At least I had good safety goggles on. But my head isn't that hard.

Thanks for that, Drew. Although it only takes a few seconds to secure with a clamp I am often guilty of neglect.

I use your setup as pictured frequently. It's probably the safest no clamping setup for small diameter holes. Since the drill turns CLOCKWISE you can hold the "leveraged" end of the vise with your left hand and operate quill downfeed with your right.

And that's my "holier than thou" advise for today.....

Terry

 

[daugen]

Since the drill turns CLOCKWISE you can hold the "leveraged" end of the vise with your left hand and operate quill downfeed with your right.

which is exactly what I did. The vice is pretty heavy for its size but I know how my wrist feels when a bit catches in heavy metal and tries to twist the drill
out of your hands. Which is why a drill press is nice.

After reading all the info I now understand this is a very high quality drill whose only magnetic qualities is in the base to stick to the metal being drilled.
I get it. And boy are those cutters cool looking. Plus I learned you can make drilling in stainless worse if you don't go fast enough.

 

[BukitCase]

Re: Todays shop time - Mini-Jib

Here's another useful project, in the interest of fomenting the "hate and envy"

The table my "MDVT" is mounted on weighs about 600#, and it was originally intended to be used as a "crap" workbench - meaning stuff I didn't want on NICER benches, etc - Unfortunately, at 72 I get a bit tired of lifting stuff that weighs more than maybe 100#, probably HALF that if it's several times like my mower deck, whose main goal in life is to challenge me to keep it running when I try to coerce it into acting like a brush hog

Anyway, like me, lifting sorta got old so I decided to mount one of these

1/2 Ton Capacity Pickup Truck Crane with Cable Winch

on one corner of the table - figured I could get away with maybe 200# stuff without the table tipping, heavier than that and my 1" topped 1000# weld table could get moved outside with the loader, and seriously heavy stuff set on THAT...

Once again, reality rears its ugly head - I found out it isn't practical to need a LONG reach to pick something up and a SHORT reach to set it on the table where you need it, if you're using the SAME LENGTH boom (kinda hard to change that HF crane's boom length with a LOAD on it

Sooo, here's my "random neuron firings" answer to the problem - in order (hopefully) Amish CAD, Removed pieces, Jib, Trolley stops, Marking for holes, Winch mount, Hung, Stowed, Helper, and In use.... Steve

Gotta go cut some more steel now, starting my new "weld shop", first 20 feet of a 40' container is getting a 2 ton bridge crane built inside...

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Decided to convert an underutilized side of a shop cart into a much needed scrap metal rack.

Please no comments on my welding abilities. It's a mystery to me why this took me two half day but I got to break in my new dry-cut saw!

 

[BukitCase]

Luke, I like that - I'm gonna need to do something similar, so taking notes :thumbsup:

Your saw looks like a winner, a bit spendy but "cry ONCE", as they say - does its built-in pipe/tube part of the vise work well? That'd be a nice option...

Your rack has the added advantage of a built-in "say when" indicator - when the rack side balances your compressor, it's probably full enough :duh:

Just one question tho - Has Homeless Despot come lookin' fer their cart yet??!? (Sorry, had to ask ) ...Steve