I use Tap Magic cutting fluid. I bought a a couple of small cans of two different formulas which served me for years before I needed to buy more. The great thing about their product is the fact that it clings to the bit and will stay put so using a lot is not necessary. I've used it when cutting/drilling in different metals including stainless steel. Oh yea, it makes cutting threads into metal a lot easier too. ^_^
TDD
Yes, That's my experience, slow and steady and make sure the bit is always cutting!
George H.
When you feel the drill start to break out of
d)
That's a hell of a can opener if it's 1/2" thick! Might be lassoing it with a lanyard would be a better way to go.
Stan
d)
I'd grind a very small flat spot with a Dremel tool (to prevent the drill bit from skating) and anneal the end with a propane torch. You can remove any discoloration with polishing.
Hi Jeff, Interesting diagnostics. The flat part (where I don't want to attach a cord) is slightly magnetic. The cylindrical handle (where I do want to drill) is not magnetic at all.
I had not realized how hard stainless steel is!
-I'd grind a very small flat spot with a Dremel tool (to prevent the
-drill bit from skating) and anneal the end with a propane torch. You
-can remove any discoloration with polishing.
Can openers are hard enough to keep their edge while puncturing steel cans, such as tomato juice comes in..
I've seen tensile strength listed as high as 200,000 PSI for Type 302 used for pallet strapping.
You could hang the can opener by a Prusik loop of fancy boot lacing etc around the middle:
This knot survives handling better than a square knot:
If you use braided Nylon cord you can melt and fuse the ends of the loop and roll the warm joint flush so it nearly disappears. jsw
Yeah, it's a doozie (for a can opener)!
I bought it at Bed Bath & Beyond for $4, hoping to lanyard it outside. It's too smooth to just tie a cord around the handle.
And, it's not magnetic & therefore very hard to drill with my vanadium-coated (brass color) steel drill bits:
Persoanlly, I drill small holes first. Then I enlarge the holes to the proper size with a larger "bit".
I simply put some motor oil on the area to keep the tooling cool (mega important) and if I'm using my at home drill press, I follow this chart for RPM rates:
#1 important thing to do is use oil or something similar to lubricate and cool the tooling. Otherwise you run into all types of issues.
Much success.
-- http://tinyurl.com/My-Official-Response Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022 x113 01.908.542.0244 Flagship Site: http://www.Drill-HQ.com Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: http://www.AutoDrill.com Multiple Spindle Drills: http://www.Multi-Drill.com Production Tapping: http://www.Drill-HQ.com/?page_id=226 VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AutoDrill FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AutoDrill TWITTER: http://twitter.com/AutoDrill V8013-R
In my checkered past, I once worked for a company that made air droppable tank gun barrels and such. I swept the floor, which is a good indication of my level of expertise at the time. The company was called "Hydromill" which is a clue of how things were machined. Most everything was machined submerged in a tank of coolant. I don't know if it will work, but submerging the drill, stainless part, and vise in a small tub of oil, while drilling, might slow down the work hardening. I've never tried this mostly because it's too messy.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
It's unlikely that annealing with a torch will do much. The overwhelming problem drilling stainless, of the common 300-series, is what Dan said: work-hardening.
With grades 304 and up, the work-hardening effect is fierce. It requires some experience and a steady hand to drill it with a manual-feed drill press. It will work-harden in a fraction of a second and it then becomes problematic whether you can re-start the drill through the work-hardened layer. That's what burns the edges of HSS drills used on stainless more than anything else. It breaks them, too, in sizes of 1/4" or less.
-- Ed Huntress
Both parts are the same material, probably something in the 300 series. The flat part has been stamped or punched, which work hardens the part, and produces the slight magnetic effect. Nothing pounded on the handle, so it's not magnetic.
Hardly and that's NOT your problem. Trying to drill a rounded surface directly is going to cause a very different problem. Visualize what a cross section of the contact area at the round stainless handle and drill interface. The only point of contact is at the very tiny tip of the drill, where there's no cutting edge. You can spin that all day long and never get the drill bit to cut any metal.
Take a bench grinder and put a flat area where you want to drill. Grind or punch a starter hole. That will give the drill bit cutting edge something to bite into. After that, you should be all right.
Incidentally, you haven't suffered until you've tried to machine titanium.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Hi Jeff, Funny you mention your floor-sweeping past, as I also had a summer job at a "plant" filled with metalworking machines and Germans running them (real Germans, with heavy accents).
They 'drilled' .010" holes in jet turbine blades using a machine they called the "EDM" machine. It never once broke a bit because it drilled by automatic feed in a bath of kerosene dialectic simply by shooting electric current through the bit which was merely very close to the steel being 'drilled'.
I think the EDM stood for Electro Dialectric Machining, and the concepts were that the sparks "ate away" the metal.
Needless to say, I didn't bring one home with me...
Sheesh... why didn't you mention that before?
etc...
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Ya know, I just remembered that I used my Dremel Tool to make a hole in some extremely hard metal on one occasion. I used a little carbide ball bit and it worked quite well but wasn't as fast as drilling. ^_^
TDD
Hi Jeff, Actually every one of those would work!
You're very clever (we should invite you to our weekly "inventor's lunch" up in Palo Alto on Wednesdays).
I've been needing to buy a bench grinder for years, so, maybe I'll use this as my need-based tooling!
BTW, the chinese-finger-trap seems the most clever!
Oooh, I could have fun making a 'novelty' hanger for that!
Anneal the handle, drill lengthwise, swage or epoxy in a cable loop with a "Remove Before Flight" tag.
Variations on the Hangman's Noose make good decorative tool handle grips with loops.
I was born in Germany. Sorry, no accent left.
Today, they use a laser.
I think you might mean Electrical Discharge Mangling:
During my Cal Poly Pomona daze, part of the general engineering curriculum was to run the prospective engineer through every possible metal working machine available. If they had it, I tried (to destroy) it. My favorite was the submerged arc welder, where I successfully created a hot powdered metal and flux volcano. Another was a rather large spot welder, where I convinced a not very swift student to apply grease to his sheet metal parts before welding. The result was a small grease explosion, and a burn line across his shirt from elbow to elbow. My councilor decided that electronics would be a safer major for me.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Hi Jeff,
Up until you said that, I had simply assumed it was two different components. Looking closely, and snapping a picture in the sunlight, now I'm not so sure. It just might be one piece!
Here is a large photo of the junction between the flat & the round:
Small photo of the same thing:
I don't invent anything. I steal all of my ideas.
You'll also need a left-handed wrench for removing/installing the grinding wheel.
I just noticed the coil cord on the telephone handset. Wrap an old handset coil cord over a hook, around the handle, and add some glue. Totally ugly, but easier than drilling.
Personally, I like the shrinking leather knife handle wrap method mostly because the result will be more artistic than the others.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I have one of those! I've never used it (it came with the bits). I'll see if it works.
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