Drill bit question

[jgbrueck]

Hi folks,

I've mostly been a lurker, but I now have a question I need some advice on... I'm trying to bolt disc brakes up to my '63.5 Galaxie, and I need to enlarge a hole (to 9/16" - really straightening a tapered hole) in the spindle to fit 1 of the caliper bolts on. The spindles are currently on the car. I tried using a std drill bit in a 1/2" drill, and broke a few bits as they grabbed onto a spur as I was drilling. Shortly thereafter, I managed to find a bit that was stronger than the others, and found the next weakest link in the system - I broke my ring finger in 3 places when the bit caught and the drill rotated around and torqued my finger.

Sooo.... Now that I have 6-8 weeks while my finger heals, I figured I'd ask about the right kind of bit to use for this. Is a "reamer" bit the right thing to use? If there's an easy/safe way (now that I'm more gunshy) of enlarging the hold while the spindles are on the car, that'd be preferable, but I can always take the spindles off and get them to a machine shop if there's no good way on the car. I've seen reamer bits for drills and to be used by hand like a threading tool. Any suggestions, now that I know how NOT to do it??

Thanks!

JGBrueck

 

[1320stang]

JG, you might go to the FordFE.com website or the Galaxie Owners website and see if you might find the answer there. The FE forum you can join, but I think the Galaxie site might be a pay site, but you could still search.

 

[Daves69]

What size are the holes now?

A Unibit will true the holes up to 1/8" thick. Then you could possibly use a 9/16 drill to finish the hole.

http://www.toolsource.com/step-drill-fractionalselfstarting-holes-p-51844.html

 

[Major Ramifications]

I don't think he could use a Uni Bit on the holes, as they are too deep.
I don't know, If I went through what you did, I would probably bring them to a machine shop. Or take them off and clamp them firmly to a drill press.

 

[Merkava_4]

The straight reamers that you chuck in a drill are not made for removing a lot of material; they're for trueing up holes that are like within 1/16th of the final desired size; but they give you a more precise hole afterwards and they remove the spiral lines left behind by a drill bit.

If you got burs in that spindle hole, I'm thinking a dull drill bit might work for knocking the burs off and then go at it with a sharp drill bit.

 

[speed bump]

I would probably just run my dremel with a little stone to remove what the the drill is catching on and finish her off.

Also be careful drilling big holes, my face is still sore from a week ago when I wasn't holding onto the big Milwaukee drill I was using tightly enough and it smacked my check. Thankfully its a 600 RPM drill so it didn't smack as hard as it could of.

 

[Elroy]

From the sound of it, you need to REMOVE the spindle and have it textured up in a Milling Machine.

Stop fighting the problem before something else gets removed. Like more skin and bones.

You can do a job the right way, or you can phuck around some more and keep tearing things up.

Sorry for the blunt response but we think you needed to hear it. Good luck to ya. Sounds like a neat project. Do it the right way and be proud of your work.

 

[jgbrueck]

Thanks for the input guys! As mentioned, a uni-bit won't work; the spindle is ~ 1.5 inches thick. I'll probably steel myself for removing the spindles/crunching up some more of the pretty powerdoating on the sides, and take the spindles to a machine shop; just thought I'd ask here 1st.

Thanks again...