Magnetic Drill

[coolreed]

I have been looking at Magnetic Drills lately in order to cut holes in metal beams and plate steel.

Do any of you have recommendations or experience with this tool?

Regards

 

[rockwithjason]

we used them quite a bit on heavy drilling jobs. they work great on heavy steel. some use annular cutters and some use a brad point style bit (not sure what the correct term is for them). iron workers swear by them.

 

[Mccool]

I use a few pretty often.

Are you interested in using annular cutters, or twist drills?

We have an old heavy Milwaukee beast that uses twist drills. We also have a couple that use annular cutters, a fein and an evolution. All work great for their intended uses.

 

[MJD1]

I have a dewalt 1622k mag drill which will take annular cutters or it has a 5/8" Chuck. 2 speed gearbox and rated for up to a 2" annular cutter. I paid about 800$ new for it 6-8 months ago. Really strong magnet and about 35 pounds or so. I also have a big Milwaukee with the #3 Morse taper Chuck with a 3/4" Chuck on an adapter. This is a 2 speed gearbox with variable speed and reverse. It also has an adjustble base. A very good drill but very difficult to use out of position.

 

[dr_clyde]

I have an old beast of a milwaukee with a mt3 spindle. I typically use a twist drill, but you can load annular cutters in it with an adapter.

I have also run a Hougen with an annular cutter. Very nice machine.

 

[MFolks]

Bux used to make a good mag based drill, and Milwaukee had some good ones too.

 

[Slackerzinc]

I have a Milwaukee Mag drill, I primarily use annular cutters but it came with a twist drill
chuck also. This makes it pretty easy to drill smaller holes.

 

[03protege]

A mag drill is something I dream of owning one day.


Anyone know the minimum thickness of steel required for the magnet to work?

I imagine it will vary somewhat depending on how heavy it is vs the magnet it has.

 

[dr_clyde]

A mag drill is something I dream of owning one day.


Anyone know the minimum thickness of steel required for the magnet to work?

I imagine it will vary somewhat depending on how heavy it is vs the magnet it has.

Depends on the hole size, and the position. Generally speaking, I like at least 1/2" thick under the magnet. I can get away with less (3/8) if its a small hole requiring less quill pressure, or I am on a flat table where the weight of the drill is working for me, not against me. Big rotabroaches take more quill down force than say a 1/4" twist drill.

 

[Steve from Socal]

I have a big Milwaukee mag drill with a MT 3 spindle. I use both twist drills and annular cutters. It is a great tool except; it weighs 70 pounds, I use a come-along or forklift to hang it for vertical work. It works well on 1/2+ thick steel, not enough flux on thinner stuff for heavy feed. A smaller lighter drill would be nice, can't justify the cost for the amount of use it would see.

Steve

 

[03protege]

Depends on the hole size, and the position. Generally speaking, I like at least 1/2" thick under the magnet. I can get away with less (3/8) if its a small hole requiring less quill pressure, or I am on a flat table where the weight of the drill is working for me, not against me. Big rotabroaches take more quill down force than say a 1/4" twist drill.

Hey thanks for the input, most of the time I would want to use it on 3/8" material that I could put the drill on top of so it sounds like it would work out.

 

[T_Raven]

I really want a Hougen HMD505. It's 2 speed and can handle bigger cutters than most. Annular cutters are awesome. We do different work now, but we use to upgrade the suspension on MRAPs. We would drill something like 80 holes on the frame of each truck. We had a few different drills but we had a HMD505 too.

I hate drilling holes with a hand drill and don't currently have a drill press. If I ever do get the Hougen, I want to build a stand it can sit on and function like a normal drill press. You can get a normal chuck to go in a annular style drill.

The downside is it's a $1400 or so drill. I've seen a few used ones go around $600 but they go fast.

 

[HAP]

Here is my post on the subj: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227264

 

[LG63]

I have a dewalt 1622k mag drill which will take annular cutters or it has a 5/8" Chuck. 2 speed gearbox and rated for up to a 2" annular cutter. I paid about 800$ new for it 6-8 months ago. Really strong magnet and about 35 pounds or so. I also have a big Milwaukee with the #3 Morse taper Chuck with a 3/4" Chuck on an adapter. This is a 2 speed gearbox with variable speed and reverse. It also has an adjustble base. A very good drill but very difficult to use out of position.

This model looks like a lot of bang for the buck. One reviewer on Amazon mentions the quick change chuck being loose. He mentions side play which seems hard to believe. Are you satisfied the chuck?

Wonder if this is indeed a new model or if Dewalt is rebadging a unit from another manufacturer.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Hougen

 

[ishiboo]

The Evolution is a really good value. The combo with a set of annular cutters can be had pretty darn cheap.

 

[Monte]

some more magnetic drill manufacturers:

BDS
www.BDS-Maschinen.de

Alfra
www.Alfra.de

Fein
www.Fein.com

Magnetor
www.Magnetor.de

Euroboor
www.Euroboor.com

Ruko
www.Ruko.de

Karnasch
www.Karnasch.de

Nitto Kohki
www.Nitto-Kohki.co.jp

Rotabroach
www.Rotabroach.co.uk

JEI
www.JEIuk.com

Powerbor
www.powerbor.co.uk

Magtron
www.magtron.com

Magbroach
www.magbroachuk.com

Unibor
www.unibor.com

Promotech
www.promotech.eu

 

[MJD1]

This model looks like a lot of bang for the buck. One reviewer on Amazon mentions the quick change chuck being loose. He mentions side play which seems hard to believe. Are you satisfied the chuck?

Wonder if this is indeed a new model or if Dewalt is rebadging a unit from another manufacturer.

The quick change is basically 2 spring loaded balls that are locked in with a collar you pull up. I haven't noticed any play in the cutter. I have used the drill on 4" channel and had no issues with lifting off the steel. If your attaching to thinner material a plate on the underside will help. I am very satisfied with this drill, especially for the price. I believe this is an all new design, with a lot of new features other drills lack. The easy to remove, and relocate to the other side, handle is really slick. There is a few videos on YouTube showing the functions and features.

 

[johninct]

A mag drill is something I dream of owning one day.


Anyone know the minimum thickness of steel required for the magnet to work?

I imagine it will vary somewhat depending on how heavy it is vs the magnet it has.

I think it depends on each mag drill. My cousin has one that we wanted to use on an old payloader bucket to drill the cutting edge. The mag drill really clamped down on the bucket sheet metal steel that was maybe 3/16" thick if that. Someone hard faced the cutting edge and we could only scratch it while trying to crank down on the mag drill. as hard as we could with a new Snap-On cobalt drill bit. The magnet never lost contact from the sheet metal when the drill bit was basically working as a press.