On piercing metal...

[Uncle Cereal]

Yesterday was supposed to be easy. One simple goal. I had to stabilize the frame of the Boler by adding a piece of metal on each side of the piece that drops down under the door. After looking at different options and talking with experienced people, I chose to put a 1 X 2'' tubing on the inside and a V-angle piece on the outside.

So the plan was simple: pierce the V-angle piece, the frame tubing and the new tubing. That means that I had to pierce 5 layers of metal, in four different places: that's a total of 20 holes...

To make a long story short, I managed (with great pains!) to make 6 holes out of the 20 I was shooting for. I burnt quite a few drill bits in the process and had to come back in town to buy more.

I have a cheap Jobmate drill that has two speeds: 1. stopped and 2. too fast.

I discovered, after a full day of frustration, that I needed a slower drill and that I needed to lubricate my drill with WD40, oil or even water.

So my day wasn't wasted since I learned an important lesson... A few friends laughed at me when I explained the situation to them. Hey, that's OK: it is kind of funny...now!

[Paul O.]

Motor oil, even used, or any oil for that matter, is a big help for drilling or hacksaw cutting any metal, especially steel.

[Uncle Cereal]

The more I talk about it, the more I realize it's common knowledge... Not for me until yesterday, but I'll never forget!

[DuaneQ]

Originally Posted by Uncle Cereal

Yesterday was supposed to be easy. One simple goal. I had to stabilize the frame of the Boler by adding a piece of metal on each side of the piece that drops down under the door. After looking at different options and talking with experienced people, I chose to put a 1 X 2'' tubing on the inside and a V-angle piece on the outside.

So the plan was simple: pierce the V-angle piece, the frame tubing and the new tubing. That means that I had to pierce 5 layers of metal, in four different places: that's a total of 20 holes...

To make a long story short, I managed (with great pains!) to make 6 holes out of the 20 I was shooting for. I burnt quite a few drill bits in the process and had to come back in town to buy more.

I have a cheap Jobmate drill that has two speeds: 1. stopped and 2. too fast.

I discovered, after a full day of frustration, that I needed a slower drill and that I needed to lubricate my drill with WD40, oil or even water.

So my day wasn't wasted since I learned an important lesson... A few friends laughed at me when I explained the situation to them. Hey, that's OK: it is kind of funny...now!

Yep drain oil works fine. There are a lot of charts out on the internet for drilling speeds for drilling different materials too.

I finally ordered a Drill Doctor from Amazon. Haven't used it yet. It was a Christmas present to myself. Next summer I hope to learn how to use it. I've got a ton of worn drill bits at home and thought why would I just keep buying new ones. I have tried to sharpen them by hand with a grinding wheel but that takes quite a bit of skiil and patience.

Robot Check

A little expensive but drill bits ain't cheap either.

You will find a lot of people make fun of you when you make a mistake. Let them know that mistakes are not made sitting on the couch.

[Paul O.]

And those who learn from mistakes (theirs or others') grow in their wisdom. Those sitting on the couch are twice removed from that wisdom.

[Uncle Cereal]

So far, people have laughed with me, not at me... It's a learning and a humbling experience: win-win!

[groys02]

For what it's worth:

I had to remove fenders from box-sides on a 49 Chevy pickup a few years ago... held on with clutch-head bolts [kind of a butterfly-shaped recess in bolt heads]. Ordered a set of clutch-head sockets... fitted in the recess in the bolts, and turned... and promptly made a neat, round recess that nothing will engage with!
Went to Lowe's and bought a medium-quality 1/2" electric drill, and drilled the tops off the bolts. Really nice having lots of torque in the drill, and a slow-speed motor. Now I use it all the time, with penetrating oil as the bit lubricant. Works for me.........

Gary

[Uncle Cereal]

Gary, I went to a friend's today and used his press drill to pierce my tubing. All I have left to drill is the frame. I stopped by the trailer in case my new knowledge would make it all easy: Nope!

So I read your post and it's like a foreign language to me. But I think it should interest me since I read "really nice having lots of torque". I understand that much... Would you mind trying to explain the same thing again with different words and/or images? I would be VERY grateful!

[Glenn Baglo]

It's not clear to me exactly what you are doing, and I'm certainly no expert, but I question drilling holes in the frame.
Why are you not just welding this additional structure to the frame?

[groys02]

Originally Posted by Uncle Cereal

Gary, I went to a friend's today and used his press drill to pierce my tubing. All I have left to drill is the frame. I stopped by the trailer in case my new knowledge would make it all easy: Nope!

So I read your post and it's like a foreign language to me. But I think it should interest me since I read "really nice having lots of torque". I understand that much... Would you mind trying to explain the same thing again with different words and/or images? I would be VERY grateful!

Sylvio,
Basically, you can ignore the first paragraph of my post---it doesn't apply to your task. I was just saying that I had old, frozen bolts to remove, and just using a powerful drill to make a hole in the head of the bolt allowed the head to then be broken off. The gutsy, torque-y drill made that possible.
Benefits were low speed and power---so the drill bits didn't quickly overheat and go dull right away. I think I paid $100-125, something like that, for a DeWalt brand drill...... nothing real fancy.

One warning, a half-inch drill's power DOES also mean that if a larger bit suddenly binds in the hole you're drilling, the drill itself can suddenly lurch in your hands and "torque" your thumb sideways. Hurts.

Good luck with your project,
Gary

[Arvonian]

Hi Sylvio,


Your drill should work just fine. People have been drilling with single speed drills for a long, long time.... First, start by drilling a pilot hole. I do not know what the finished diameter of the hole is, but you can drill a small, say 1/8" diameter hole at full speed (it's all about surface feet per minute(SFPM) but that's for another time!) Then, use a larger drill bit and pulse the Jobmate. In other words, on/off, on/off.... This will keep the speed and thus heat down. Be sure to use a little oil. Oh yeah, after you drill the pilot hole, do not use excessive pressure when drilling the larger one....

[Uncle Cereal]

I was told it'd be difficult to weld because of the rust.
I was told that there is some form of welding (semi-automatic?) that could do it.
Judging by how hard it is to pierce the frame, I understand there's a lot of good metal still...

I'll try again and get someone to weld it if need be. Thanks for all the tips.

I heard of a tool they use sometimes in machine shops that kind of transform regular drills in a press drill but the concept is not clear to me.

Speaking of that, the friend who let me use his press drill lent me a variable speed DeWalt drill. My quick try didn't work but, to quote Arnold, "I'll be back!"

[Uncle Cereal]

I spent over an hour trying to make my holes... I managed to make one! Five to go... The last one on the side that's easily accessible from the door side is tough. Since I'm able to stick my finger at the open end of the tubing to feel inside, just in case my bit sticks out a little, I discovered that there are TWO layers of metal to go through on that side! That's why it was so hard to pierce! After all that work, I feel that I'll have to get the pieces welded because I've spent too much time into these holes already. I should be able to talk to one of my "advisors" tomorrow and see which way I go.

Thanks for the help.

[ruscal]

Originally Posted by Arvonian

Hi Sylvio,


Your drill should work just fine. People have been drilling with single speed drills for a long, long time.... First, start by drilling a pilot hole. I do not know what the finished diameter of the hole is, but you can drill a small, say 1/8" diameter hole at full speed (it's all about surface feet per minute(SFPM) but that's for another time!) Then, use a larger drill bit and pulse the Jobmate. In other words, on/off, on/off.... This will keep the speed and thus heat down. Be sure to use a little oil. Oh yeah, after you drill the pilot hole, do not use excessive pressure when drilling the larger one....

This is excellent technique.
The 1/8" pilot holes drilled through 1/2" steel should only take about 1 minute each with your drill on high speed. To enlarge them to say 1/2" should only take a couple of minutes each with pulsed light feed.
Make sure you buy "high speed" drill bits or cobalt will work, but more expensive.
Carbon steel bits dull very fast.
Russ

[Uncle Cereal]

Russ, I don't think my drill bits are high speed. I'm willing to go out and buy a pack of 1/8'' high speed steel bits and see what happens. Thanks for your approximate times: I must average over an hour of labor per hole at this point...

[Uncle Cereal]

Russ, you were right! I got a pack of six 1/8" high speed steel bits, used only one! I attacked my last and toughest hole at full speed and counted so I would know if I eent over one minute! Nope! Wow! I was amazed! (An old gentleman had told me that milk increases the grip so I put some on. I'm not sure it helped but it didn't hurt...). Then, I used every single bit size, I couldn't skip one!

Then, I needed to pierce the other side of that piece of the frame. Two holes were decent, the other two were too easy. So maybe the frame didn't need the extra support, but these two holes make me think it u
On to a different project next week!

PS. My wife was with me to help paint so I spent part of the morning preparing the different doors to be sanded. She was also there to share my success...!