The really cheap path through 3" of steel

[Jack Olsen]

I actually have the right tool for this job. I picked up -- really cheap -- a Hougen magnetic drill press on ebay a while back. But it was really cheap, and sold as-is. When I plugged it in, the electronic magnet part didn't work. I suspect I'll be able to fix it, but that will involve some time.

So I've put off using it for drilling the three holes I need to make in my bench that's topped with 1" thick steel plate. The vise has just been sitting there. It's heavy enough that it's been useable.

But tonight I decided to just see how hard it would be to drill a 1/8" pilot hole through the steel. I have a Harbor Freight low-speed drill that cost me $39 on sale, and some Titanium Nitride covered bits from Harbor Freight that I got on sale as well. I used a punch to mark the first hole and went to work. In about three minutes, I broke through the other side.

I was surprised, so I finished off the other two pilot holes and decided I'd try the 1/2" bit.

I kept the revs slow, and used light oil on it. But I was really surprised at how cleanly and quickly it cut.

Now I've got the three holes I need.

I'll never be intimidated by drilling through mild steel again. And knowing that, I'll probably never getting around to fixing that Hougen.

I've got to get some bolts for it, now.

 

[ddawg16]

"Bolts? Dang, I knew I forgot something."

Nice job....as you have found out, thick steel is not an issue....just take it slow and use some oil.....

I'm following the stuff your doing.....I like the thick plate you have....I'm in the planning stages of a welding/beating/roll around bench...but not as big as what you have....

One of the advantages of that heavy top plate you have is that you can beat the **** out of it and it's not going anywhere...makes for a nice solid base

 

[tylerae40]

very nice mate, you should get the magnetic base drill fixed, they are the bomb for thick steel! we use the on the mines- upside down, and every angle the idiotic designers say. The key to a good hole imo is slow, straight and cool- and a sharp bit. I use trefolex, its green tapping and trilling compound- works great. - i've broken and stuffed alot of bits from not using compound, and being stupid : ) nice bench mate

 

[onewaydave]

slow, straight, cool and sharp x2

Slow, I've galded too many bits being in a hurry.
Straight, I've about broken my wrists using a large bit in a 3/4" drill by drifting off plumb. Good thing is that as the cord wraps around the drill that just broke out of your hands, it eventually unplugs itself.
Cool trumps messy and sharp cuts like butter.

 

[Shadowdog500]

Nice holes! I may be wrong, but from what I remember that top is only being held on by gravity and is not secured to anything. If you are mounting a big vise on the edge, and will be puling on it, I think you may want to at least tie the heavy top plate into the cabinet and wall to keep it from moving.

Chris

 

[bluesman2a]

I know you're finished with this project, but for future reference:

If you use a heavier cutting/tapping oil and a little more downforce, you'll get a better cut. The trick with thick steel (assuming you have a decent bit), is to start with a small pilot hole, then in smaller steps open it up. For your case, I probably would have done at least 3-4 steps from the 1/8 to the final 1/2. Cutting fluid is cheap, keep the area/hole flooded, I like to put the trashcan under stuff like that, keeps it clean. Also one good indicator on how you are doing is that your cuttings will come out in a "ribbon" shape, all connected together. As kids we used to see who could make them the longest, but you can slightly release pressure on the drill when they get a bit too long and it'll break them, then you can reset back to the appropriate pressure for the next section of the cut.

 

[sberry]

I also use faster speeds on small pilot bits, less than 30 seconds to cut 1/8.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

Is this a win for the HF drill and the HF bits?

 

[X1 Mike]

At the risk of overcomplicating a couple of little holes I’ll add my two cents.

As far as RPM’s there is a formula for that. You can calculate it by knowing the recommended cutting speed (surface feet per minute which is listed as CS) and the drill diameter (D). The formula is (CS x 4) / D. With mild steel you want a cutting speed of around 90 as a material gets softer the speed will increase aluminum for example will increase to around 300. Likewise if you are cutting steel that is an alloy you are going to want to slow down your CS. If we plug numbers into our formula we get (90 x 4) / .5 = 720 RPM. As far as feed just watch your chip, if you have an excessively long stringy chip like the chip at 1:00 on picture #4 you are feeding too fast. Proper feed in mild steel should result in a tightly rolled helix chip. The chip at 10:00 towards the edge of the plate on the 4th picture is just about right. If your drill is sharpened properly you should have an equal chip coming off each flute. If your drill motor has the torque to remove the steel don’t waste your time stepping the hole up in increments. Only do that if you just want the edges to wear out leaving the rest of the cutting lip unused. Overall it looks like Jack did an excellent job I think the toughest part would be to get over top of the drill at the height of the table to drill squarely.

 

[crashbumper]

I actually have the right tool for this job. I picked up -- really cheap -- a Hougen magnetic drill press on ebay a while back. But it was really cheap, and sold as-is. When I plugged it in, the electronic magnet part didn't work. I suspect I'll be able to fix it, but that will involve some time.

If only A_Pmech offered a tool repair & restoration service...

 

[1Garageman]

Is this a win for the HF drill and the HF bits?

I sure as hell think so

I would of bet before hand though that a thirty some dollar drill from HB and bits wouldn't of made it through that metal though. I would of bet some money on that. I am getting more and more confidence on their tools.

Thanks for sharing this with us Jack!

 

[Tman]

This reminds me that I have not drilled the holes in my fab table yet.....DOH!

 

[Ign]

Fix the mag drill and next time you can drill, get a spring loaded tap guide, and tap the holes for the bolt size of your choice. Extra trick, no nuts protruding on the underside.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I was surprised by how simple it was compared to what I was expecting.

X1 Mike's and bluesman2a's reples reinforce some things that occurred to me as I was doing it -- that I should probably be shooting for a particular type of chip to indicate that my drill speed and pressure are about right. Of course, I had no idea which type of chip I should be shooting for.

Is it a win for the products of HF? I'd say it still fits into the normal 'comfort zone' for Harbor Freight's tools. If you need to do it on a regular basis, and you need to count on consistent results with no down time, you're going to hate the HF stuff. If you only need to drill three holes in a year, and you could finish it today or next week, then it's cheaper than renting a Hougen.

However, I think the difficulty of holding the drill would increase dramatically with greater-than-1/2" bits.

I have an idea for being able to mount other occasionally-used tools (HF compact bender, HF roll bender) to this same corner of the bench, and my thinking for that was to make an intermediary base -- a piece of 1/4" steel that mounts to these same three holes, with a spacer of some sort and then another piece of plate steel on top of that (parallel, but raised up by a half inch or so) with multiple hole patterns in the upper plate for different tools and different positions (rotation-wise) for those tools. I'd bolt the intermediary base to the tool, and then mount that to the bench.

To make the intermediary piece, I think I'll need to drill out access holes in the lower plate so I can hold the nuts or bolts for the upper plate. For those access holes (which I'd need to put a couple of fingers through), I'll need larger diameter holes. That means either a hole saw on the drill press or an excuse to go through and repair that old Hougen.

I may be wrong, but from what I remember that top is only being held on by gravity and is not secured to anything. If you are mounting a big vise on the edge, and will be puling on it, I think you may want to at least tie the heavy top plate into the cabinet and wall to keep it from moving.

Agreed. It's a 510-pound piece of steel, so it won't be easy to move. But my plan is to drill up into the steel from underneath with some compression-type nuts and bolt it down from below. I've also thought about using 2" angle stock along the back edge as a way to secure the bench to the wall and also as a backsplash to keep small stuff from rolling down into the space between the steel and the wall.

 

[bluesman2a]

X1 Mike's and bluesman2a's reples reinforce some things that occurred to me as I was doing it -- that I should probably be shooting for a particular type of chip to indicate that my drill speed and pressure are about right. Of course, I had no idea which type of chip I should be shooting for.

<snip>
I have an idea for being able to mount other occasionally-used tools (HF compact bender, HF roll bender) to this same corner of the bench, and my thinking for that was to make an intermediary base -- a piece of 1/4" steel that mounts to these same three holes, with a spacer of some sort and then another piece of plate steel on top of that (parallel, but raised up by a half inch or so) with multiple hole patterns in the upper plate for different tools and different positions (rotation-wise) for those tools. I'd bolt the intermediary base to the tool, and then mount that to the bench.

<snip>

Agreed. It's a 510-pound piece of steel, so it won't be easy to move. But my plan is to drill up into the steel from underneath with some compression-type nuts and bolt it down from below. I've also thought about using 2" angle stock along the back edge as a way to secure the bench to the wall and also as a backsplash to keep small stuff from rolling down into the space between the steel and the wall.

Glad to be of help... Mike has some good information, which works well when you are on a press or other machinery, but most hand drills don't show RPM. As somebody who has learned a lot of this just through contact, the chip method is a good instant feedback mechanism. Assuming you have a decent bit that is sharp it's also easy to experiment and get it right fairly quickly.

As I was reading the rest of the post I had a thought here: why not just drill and TAP the appropriate holes. If you look at chassis tables, which this is closely related to in material/thickness, many of them are a grid of drilled/tapped holes, then when you need to put down a fixture, you just bolt it to an existing hole. Drill as many holes as you need for the different accessories you have. Or, you've already started with reciever hitches. Just drill/tap holes for a reciever hitch mount and put all of them on 2" square-tube mounts.

 

[bluesman2a]

on a side note, that's a monster of a vice, where'd you find it?

 

[sprint7]

PM sent about Hogen drill

 

[Axis11]

Christ, the jaws on that vice are huge.

 

[X1 Mike]

Glad to be of help... Mike has some good information, which works well when you are on a press or other machinery, but most hand drills don't show RPM.

Most drills don't have an tach but if you know your drills max RPM you can get a pretty good ballpark setting to run it at. Just watch how fast it spins at wide open and back it off until it's going aprox whatever percentage of max is required. Plus the chip will tell you every thing you need to know.

 

[JBurgess]

I actually have the right tool for this job. I picked up -- really cheap -- a Hougen magnetic drill press on ebay a while back. But it was really cheap, and sold as-is. When I plugged it in, the electronic magnet part didn't work. I suspect I'll be able to fix it, but that will involve some time.

I have found several times it is the rectifier that fails causing the magnet not to work. Just a sugestion for when you go to fix it.

Nice job of drilling.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I drilled holes up into the steel through the bench today and fit expanding anchors into there so the top and the base are now bolted together. No pictures of that, though, since it's so dark inside the cabinet.

On the vise, I like the idea of threading holes right into the steel. But for today I bolted it down with some 2" bolts. It's not going anywhere.

on a side note, that's a monster of a vice, where'd you find it?

Christ, the jaws on that vice are huge.

It's Chinese, so it's a relatively inexpensive vise at $149. I suspect it's not very well made, but I wanted something big and difficult to break on this table more than I wanted something precise.

The jaws are 10", and open to just over 13" between them.

It's forged steel, "made of unbreakable gray molly steel, these vises feature replaceable steel jaws, built in pipe jaws and anvil, steel handles, 360" swivel base and a powder coated finish." It weighs 68 lbs, and I picked it up from a place called Maxtool. If you go to www.maxtool.com, you can search for it under part number ME3030-10.

 

[swharris]

Jack,

Seriously, a '72 RSR and a 1" thick plate steel bench top? You have too much good stuff ;-)). More pics of the P-car please

 

[X1 Mike]

You do have a great start there, but I would consider doing as was suggested like a chassis table and put a series of not only tapped holes but alternate them with thru holes like you have. You could modify a c-clamp by cutting off the solid jaw and welding a plate with appropriate holes and use that to temporarily clamp parts flat to your plate. I also like to put a couple of small studs in the plate about 3” apart so when I’m filing a piece I can place the part up against them and push with the file.

 

[back2class]

I was looking at the vise mounted on reciver hitches in another thread and thought to myself I would tear that little setup to shreads along with the bench it's mounted too. I held my mouth though. No this....this is how a vise should be bolted to a work surface!

 

[tgreening]

Totally off topic but all the talk of mag base drills, thick steel and big holes brings to mind some past experience.

Many moons ago I used to work at a shipyard building ships for the Navy. I used mag base drills a lot and for safety reasons we always tied them up if they weren't be used on a flat horizontal surface.

Another drill we used sometimes was a big BIG honkin pneumatic drill that had handle bars and a throttle just like a motorcycle. I swear it had about a 1" chuck on it.

One day a co-worker and I had to drill something big up high and in amongst some cables and pipes and what-not so we bust out this drill, tie the thing up and he goes to work. Now he's really crammed up in there tight along with this drill and he starts motoring away and next thing you know the bit seizes in the hole. Torque being what it is and doing what it does the handle bars twist around and smack this poor sucker with a wicked upper cut to the jaw.

The funny thing was the motion set up a cycle. When it would twist his hand would reduce throttle, momentum would smack him in the jaw, the weight of the drill would make it twist back the other way but his hand would nail the throttle, he'd get another smack in the jaw. Rinse, repeat for what was an awfully funny long time. This dang drill is going Vrrmmm vrmmm vrmmm, smack smack smack. I thought the guy was going to knock himself out before it occurred to him to let go of the throttle.

Almost as funny as the time, on a particularly hot and humid day, I managed to strike an arc across my buddies forehead. I left pecker-tracks all the way across. It looked like a tribal tattoo.


Good times...good times.

 

[bluesman2a]

I drilled holes up into the steel through the bench today and fit expanding anchors into there so the top and the base are now bolted together.

Sounds good Jack, but I'm curious here, what kind of expanding anchors are we talking about here, like red-heads?

Any reason you didn't just tap the holes? Probably a stronger/cheaper solution than most wedge anchors.

 

[mrpowderkeg]

My weapon of choice for drilling thick steel, or holesaw through steel is an air drill. First, they turn slow, second, you cannot burn them out, you can drill all day long, as long as they have air and lube. Thrid if they catch, it won't take your arm off. Anyone remember those large B&D heavy duty drills, if they would catch, they would throw you up on the counter or spin you around... Way to go though, 1/2 inch is the max Id go without my air drill,and I'm surprised at the HF bits. How much smoke did you generate when drilling, if you were slow enough, and used enough lube, then I can see how this worked out well for you. Most time guys get in a hurry and even the best bit will overheat.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I was looking at the vise mounted on reciver hitches in another thread and thought to myself I would tear that little setup to shreads along with the bench it's mounted too. I held my mouth though. No this....this is how a vise should be bolted to a work surface!

Yeah, it depends on the use. For a lot of work, I'm not twisting or banging on the vise, so my Craftsman works well with the hitch mount. But this vise is for when something just isn't cooperating.

Sounds good Jack, but I'm curious here, what kind of expanding anchors are we talking about here, like red-heads?

Any reason you didn't just tap the holes? Probably a stronger/cheaper solution than most wedge anchors.

No reason other than I had some of the red-heads sitting there, and it seemed easier than getting on my back inside the cabinet to tap the hole. I agree what you're describing is a better way to do it.

You do have a great start there, but I would consider doing as was suggested like a chassis table and put a series of not only tapped holes but alternate them with thru holes like you have. You could modify a c-clamp by cutting off the solid jaw and welding a plate with appropriate holes and use that to temporarily clamp parts flat to your plate. I also like to put a couple of small studs in the plate about 3” apart so when I’m filing a piece I can place the part up against them and push with the file.

Thanks. But I've got two other tables in the garage where I still do most of my welding. I'm going to have to see how the work that I do in here continues to shake out. I didn't weld at all until about a year ago. My thinking for this table was that it would be mostly for when I need a surface to pound something out on.

My weapon of choice for drilling thick steel, or holesaw through steel is an air drill. First, they turn slow, second, you cannot burn them out, you can drill all day long, as long as they have air and lube. Thrid if they catch, it won't take your arm off. Anyone remember those large B&D heavy duty drills, if they would catch, they would throw you up on the counter or spin you around... Way to go though, 1/2 inch is the max Id go without my air drill,and I'm surprised at the HF bits. How much smoke did you generate when drilling, if you were slow enough, and used enough lube, then I can see how this worked out well for you. Most time guys get in a hurry and even the best bit will overheat.

I was surprised by the cheapo bits, too. The two I used still felt like they had a good edge when I was done with them. The drill maxes out at 500 rpm, and I had it on its slowest setting. I didn't get any smoke at all, and I felt the bit a couple of times and it was cool to the touch. I had most of my 170 pounds leaning on it, but I wasn't in any hurry.

 

[rpsurfr]

Jack
I shudder to think I am about to say this on this forum but your shop is elegant.
It is stylish and well thought out. Demonstrated by this post as well as others.
very nice- all of it. Well done
Would that I could do my place as well. I just don't have the eye you do
very cool
I will surely steal some of your ideas

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, man. I spent a lot of time on it, got it pretty much where I wanted it, and am enjoying using it.

If it helps other guys think of ways to make their own garages better, then I'm flattered.

Steal anything you want. As they say, the rising tide raises all ships.

 

[jonny o]

Jack,
How about 3 or 4 removable studs tapped into the table and a similar pattern base countersunk bolted to the sparsely use tools? Big wing nuts or washers and bolts could mount each base to the studs, or the whole thing could be removed.