How do you drill through stainless steel at home?

I had to get out a broken grade8 stud that was below the surface of the block on a generator engine and the Dremel Tool made a hole for a screw extractor. A drill bit wouldn't work. ^_^

TDD

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I understand your concerns with the work hardening. It can be a difficult problem, but not always impossible. As long as he doesn't break the drill bit in the hole (causing more complications), I believe that he can remove work hardening with heat. He has some advantage in that he's drilling near the end of the rod where it can be easily heated without warping the piece. It could be difficult, but not necessarily impossible. (If the drill bit broke in the hole, I'd weld on a D-ring and cover up my mistake , but then the OP might not have a TIG welder.)

It takes a certain level of ignorance to believe that it is possible to become "able" without ever actually "doing".

Much like the heat shrink tubing someone with the initials C.Y. mentioned?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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BTW, the chinese-finger-trap seems the most clever!

Apparently you immediately concluded I was making a reference to you. Why did you think that?

Wasn't than an old native american torture?

He can. And then it re-appears in a second, if he doesn't feed with sufficient pressure ('way more than he may be used to with common grades of steel).

It may be that his only problem is with the initial state of the stainless, in which case annealing can solve the problem, if the stainless was left in the as-rolled state to begin with. More likely, though, he's starting too slow, with insufficient feed pressure, and work-hardening it himself. That's so common for people who aren't used to machining stainless that I thought it was most likely.

< >> doesn't mean you should always undertake to do it in future.

Pointless and stupid is all you understand.

Speaking of stupid.... It was pretty stupid for you to pretend you choose not to fix a car or drill stainless for any reason other than you simply have no idea how to do those things.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I will try a job once to learn how before I send it out. Then I can understand the fab shop when they suggest changes to ease production. That mattered when we were trying to push the state of the art in aircraft digital radios while staying with commercial process limitations.

Too often electronic designers know nothing of creating the package their brainchild must live in. Several times I've entered a project as the lowly lab tech and bootstrapped myself up to systems integrator after showing the engineers I could handle every aspect beyond their initial schematic design, freeing them from its drudgery. Proof-of-concept models I machined at home helped enormously.

Then I have to switch from building to buying as much as possible because I'm swamped with designing and assembling all the circuit boards and coordinating the interfaces between each engineer's part of the circuit.

The difference as a hobbyist is that I allocate more time and less money so the balance shifts toward building. Plus each task I can learn to do on the car brings me closer to truly owning it, instead of it (and the dealer) owning me. My shop may have paid for itself by making special tools from scrap to let me do dealer jobs like $600 timing belt replacements. jsw

Jeff Liebermann Inscribed thus:

Now now... He definitely doesn't want to do that :-(

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Best Regards: 
                        Baron.

He did assume that titanium coating implied quality.

I know you like that thing. So put it in the kitchen. Hang this on the BBQ.

Don't mean to be a SS drilling party-pooper. but hey.

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Maybe mapp gas with oxygen might be hot enough to punch a hole in stainless steel.

It takes a certain level of ignorance to believe that it is possible to be "able" without ever actually "doing".

I had a thought that if you're wanting to attach a chain to it and it has a hollow handle, you could use an expanding concrete anchor and a bolt with Loctite 262 to keep the bolt/screw from coming out. ^_^

TDD

Yup.

More:

1. Wood handle. Find a suitable block of wood or wood pot handle. Drill, route, bore, or auger a 1/2" hole down the center and a 1/4" hole out the back end. Drop in a 1/4-20 nut. Slop some glue (RTV?) over the 1/2" handle and slide the block of wood over the handle. Screw an eye hook to the 1/4-20 nut.

1. Vinyl cap plug. Drill 1/8" hole in tip of cap plug. Insert nylon cord through hole. Add a washer for support. Tie a knot so that the cord doesn't slip. Shove cap plug over 1/2" handle. Done.

2. Concrete mold. Make a wooden form for pouring concrete. Slide

1/2" handle through a hole in one end. Insert a plug that will eventually be a hole for hanging. Add concrete. Let harden. Remove plug.

1. Acrylic mold. Same above except using acrylic resin.

2. Shaft extender. Find a piece of steel (not aluminum or copper) tubing with 1/2" ID. Cut to length. Pound over 1/2" handle. If you can't get an interference fit, add glue.

--
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

Ordinary thin wall heat shrink isn't really strong enough. What he needs is the really thick stuff used for insulating electrical connections and that has sticky goo on the inside, much like what someone with initials J.L. mentioned.

However, if that's too much trouble, just use a hose clamp instead. Form follows function.

--
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

Interesting, they call it a "Church Key".

I have an old (way way way old) one, Ballantine stamped on it, stored somewhere in the garage.