Drilling one inch holes

[AlanB]

Pooh,

I live in Clarksville TN, 3.5 hrs from you.

I am in Sequatchie at the Trials Training Center pretty regularly.

If you want to play in the shop and get some shop time in you could come up and we could fabricate that piece at the house some weekend.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I just looked at the hole saws online at home depot.
That looks do able.

I thought about using a bushing for the axle.
But I'm not a welder by any definition of the word.
I can make a lot of sparks and burn rods, but that's about it.

I need to mount the plate on an axle so I can turn it
and use a cut-off bit to cut a circle out of it.
Again, if someone had a PC or O/A setup I wouldn't have to go to all that work.

None of this has to be super accurate.
The holes have to match a mounting plate I already have.
A little slop wouldn't really hurt anything. Just not too much.

The first picture here is the plate I have.
The second picture is what I will do with the plate.
The third picture is the complete project.

Pooh Bear

 

[Pooh_Bear]

Alan, I may just take you up on that offer.
If you don't mind a short slightly overstuffed pooh bear in your shop.
If nothing else maybe you can teach me to weld some.

Is that Sequatchie County or the town of Sequatchie.

Thanks for the offer.

Pooh Bear

 

[AlanB]

Town of Sequatchie.

www.trialstrainingcenter.com

Come on up sometime, there is always a project or 3 in my little bitty garage to work on, and most involve welding.

Have the capability to do most types of welding commonly done, maybe not always the ability, but the capability.

let me know and we can plan a weekend around it.

 

[PineRidge]

I last used a 1" bi-metal hole saw purchased from Home Depot and popped a hole in 3/8" steel on my landscape rake. It actually amazed me just how quick it went considering I was using a hand held drill. The hole saw has a 1/4" pilot drill to keep it running true.

 

[bigdad]

Hey Bear.....

Be careful with those hole saws. Hold on tight man! You are going to need a pretty good size drill to punch that size of a hole. Or use a press. I would drill a 1/4 inch hole first to guide the saw blade gently....those teeth can grab in a hurry and either break your wrists or throw you across the room. Buy quality whole saws and be very patient.

Big Dad

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I have a drill press. Not a great drill press but it works for me.
Got it back when Home Depot sold the Ohio Forge brand.
Ohio Forge was also the same people that make Craftsman.
Cause some of the Ohio Forge boxes had Craftsman manuals in them.
I put an X-Y table on it with a vice. Makes drilling real easy.

I'm gonna seriously look into getting some hole saws.
I only need 3 sizes, 3/4, 7/8, and 1 inch.
Could end up saving me a lot of money.
If I break just one of those drill bits I have now I'm in the hole then.

I didn't know the town of Sequatchie was big enough to have anything in it.
Used to be a What-A-Burger. We could eat there when we went swimming
down at Camp Glancy on the Little Sequatchie river up in Coppinger Cove.
We drive thru there sometimes when we drive down to Kimball.
Kimball is the closest town to us with a Walmart and a Lowes.

Pooh Bear

 

[Brad_Blazer]

I got my drill bit set from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=527
Pooh Bear

I have that drill bit set and have had good luck with it so far. $20 on sale for the set. If that's a floor model drill press it should work. Make sure your belts are good and tight, make a medium pilot hole, use cutting oil and enough pressure to take out a continuous shaving. Since the speed is a little high, lift the bit out after 1-2 seconds or when it smokes heavy. You only have to wait a few seconds for the heat to transfer out of the cutting edge and go again. It should only take a few goes to get thru the plate. I've drilled through 3/4" stock with that 1" bit using the HF "drillmill" which has about the same 3 pulley belt drive as a floor model drill press. It stops turning once in a while but makes it through. The bit is still holding its original edge.
If you chip or dull the bit, the big ones are easiest to sharpen because you can see what you are doing. Use a very light pressure on the bench grinder, start at the cutting edge and rotate upwards following the original radius of the drill bottom. Repeat alternating sides until the edges are restored. The back relief on the bigger drill bits lets them work with a smaller pilot hole. You can try it on the bench grinder, do it with a Dremel, or neglect it since you need a sizable pilot hole anyhow.

 

[patrick_g]

I recently surprised myself by drilling over a hundred holes in 3/16 and 1/4 inch stock with just one 11/16 bit (and a quart of cutting oil.) I have a 16 speed Harbor Freight (Central Machinery) floor model drill press that is 15 years or older. It is slightly underpowered for the larger bit sizes but gears down and eventually gets the job done.

For things that won't come to the drill press I take a Milwaukee rt angle drill to them. It has a gearing arangement that slows it a bit but it still will bend a 3/4, 7/8, or larger bit if the bit catches. I may have to look into an aux speed controller to slow it down more.

Patrick

 

[flusher]

I need to drill some one inch holes. Quite a few of them.
Should I drill a small pilot hole then drill the one inch hole,
Or should I drill a small hole, then a bigger hole, then a bigger hole, up to one inch.

I have one hole that I need to drill at 3/4 inch to accept a 3/4 axle temporarily,
then I need to go back and drill the hole out to one inch.
Is this gonna give me problems.

I have one one inch drill bit. I don't want to have to buy another.
For the cost of two of these bits I could have a machine shop do all the drilling.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

How thick is the material?
If it's relatively thin sheet metal, do what electricians do and use a step drill.

If it's thicker than 3/16", use a Milwaukee Bi-metal hole saw and chuck it into a good size power drill. Mine has a 1/2" chuck.