Drilling stainless bar

It will be a hard task. I would start with a decent centre punch mark and smaller drill bit, to get the holes started.

The pillar drill in my workshop is my most used piece of equipment by a countrymile. Lidl have one on offer presently.
 
I would say your hole will be all over the place if you can't use a pillar drill, assuming you want the holes to go right through.
 
When I needed to do pretty much this, I used it as an excuse to myself to buy a pillar drill, which I'd been thinking about for a while. It's been intermittently invaluable ever since (that is, occasionally I have a job to do that needs a pillar drill; and for those jobs, nothing else is anything like as good).

If you try to do it without, the holes will almost certainly end up not where you want them. A lot of effort and material wasted for a duff job.

"Machine Mart " have a good range of pillar drills and accessories at very reasonable prices. (Machine Mart Power Tools and Machinery: Clarke, Dewalt, Makita, Ryobi, Bosch - Machine Mart )
 
You will find it difficult to drill 4mm hole and 20mm deep without a pillar drill; even with a pillar drill its not always easy.
You will need a good quality drill bit (Cobalt hss) a vise to hold the bar, lubricant, and a steady drill on slow speed. You will have to start with a centre punch.
 
Daverw said:
Don't center punch or you may work harden, you need a lot of back pressure on the drill so by hand is not easy, I would take it to a local engineering guy and just ask him to do it, probably cheaper than replacing broken drill bits
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I really don't think that one tap will make an appreciable difference to the properties of the material, depending on the level of accuracy needed you may well be able to get what you need with a hand held drill. Lubricant, sharp (brand spanking new) cobalt drill bits, a second pair of eyes to guide you on the axis you can't judge and take it slow. I don't mean have the bit spinning slowly but rather drill for a few seconds then stop to check that you're doing OK. Be sure to hold the work v securely in a vice & try not to wobble too much as the bits are brittle. I'd start with a 3mm pilot.
If the stainless bar is critical and not easily and cheaply replaced then as people have said above you may feel its worth heading to a local engineering firm.
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
You will find it difficult to drill 4mm hole and 20mm deep without a pillar drill; even with a pillar drill its not always easy.
You will need a good quality drill bit (Cobalt hss) a vise to hold the bar, lubricant, and a steady drill on slow speed. You will have to start with a centre punch.
Click to expand...
A centering drill would be better than a punch to create the initial guide cavity, I think - or is that what you meant?
 
Second thoughts, 3mm pilot may be too large and the final bit may snag rather than bite. Any smaller than 3 mm an it'll be v fragile.
 
Likely you can do this with a slow drill, like a battery one. Lots of pressure and lube. Put it in a wooden V on the floor so you can get above it and line up well. At 4mm, just go for it, no pilot. Centre pop, or, touch it with a grinder or file to give a flat to start the drill on.

Use a new, or well sharpened drill.
 
4mm is quite a small hole, easy to break the drill.
Surely there is someone around with a pillar drill?

I find a diamond burr in a Dremel is good for making a centre.
Or correcting when the drill has wandered!
Some stainless can be very hard and I've had problems with it.
Other times, it's easy.
 
As said buy a pillar drill. Can be surprisingly cheap from China. As said the most used drill in my shed. It makes it easy to provide a lot of pressure on the bit. I use lots of ordinary (old) engine oil. The beauty of this is that it starts to give off lots of smoke if drill bit gets too hot. You must avoid over heating. If you are not producing a decent sward of metal curling out of the hole you need to sharpen the drill bit apply more pressure and let it all cool down. If yiou go for ong wiothout cutting you risk work hardening the SS.
In fact it would be good idea if using an ordinary high speed drill to sharpen it during the process. Do it while the bit seems OK. Look very closely at the cutting edges and try to follow the angles etc. I use a oil stone. You can use a grinder but there is the risk of taking off too much material so losing track of correct angles. You can also look at a larger good bit to see how the cutting edge works. ol'will
 
Pillar drill from Screwfix £58.99. Same one with Drarper label on from Toolstation £98.99!! Always look around at size/shape/controls/description often all made in same Chinese factory only the colour/label/price varies!!

I never object to buying tools. Bought the Screwfix one (IIRC it was only £49.99 then) when I had to cut some large holes in porcelain tiles for bathroom taps using a diamond hole cutter.

Could not find my drill stand that converts a drill into a pillar drill!

When I looked at price of buying a second drill stand and compared them to a complete pillar drill - no contest and I knew my old drill stand would turn up soon - it did of course after buying new pillar drill!!

Use good quality HS drill bits or Colbalt drill bits and SS cutting fluid or the SS gets work hardened - post from William is good advice stop if drill not cutting and giving sward of metal.

I always have to have a go myself at doing things and look on the alternative of paying a workshop to do something as the discount on buying the proper tool to do the job myself - but thats me. Sometimes buying proper tool is far cheaper than paying others (eg just laid a carpet myself using Draper carpet stretcher for the 4th time!)

Unfortunately when at one property 30mls away from main residence the other or the boat 30mls another 30mls away its often easier to buy another new tool from local Toolstation than drive back (time and diesel etc). Problem is when you know the proper tool to use you hate making do with the wrong tool.

Problem only slightly easier in Portugal as house is only 28mls from boat in marina and tools I have left in UK are definitely too far to fetch 8-)
 
LONG_KEELER said:
I need to drill 2 x4mm holes into stainless round bar, 20mm thickness.

I don't own a pillar drill.

Can I still do it myself ?

TIA
Click to expand...


As said beg, borrow , steal or at worst buy a pillar drill. Trying to drill a 4 mm hole will no work out as using a hand drill I would lay money you will break lots of drills that size.

Even with a pillar drill you will break drills drilling 20 mm deep buy a pack of 10 at least.

I have so many tee shirts for doing that I an open a tee shirt shop.
 
Sailfree said:
Pillar drill from Screwfix £58.99. Same one with Drarper label on from Toolstation £98.99!! Always look around at size/shape/controls/description often all made in same Chinese factory only the colour/label/price varies!!
....
Click to expand...
I've got two pillar drills of 'identical' chinese design, clearly originating from the same patterns.
I bought one cheap to do a job, and inherited the other from my Father.
One is a very much better drill than the other, much less play in the quill.
I've seen the same thing under varying brand names in Machine Mart, BeanQueue etc etc and quality varies.

Buying stuff industrially from China, you can often get different levels of quality, either by paying more at the same factory, or going to a different factory for the same design.
Also you find stuff made 20 years ago might be quite good, while the stuff made o nthe same line, using worn out tooling, is now crap.
Other times, factories have been modernised and now make much better goods.

Ideally, see what you are buying.
 
Rogershaw said:
As said beg, borrow , steal or at worst buy a pillar drill. Trying to drill a 4 mm hole will no work out as using a hand drill I would lay money you will break lots of drills that size.

Even with a pillar drill you will break drills drilling 20 mm deep buy a pack of 10 at least.

I have so many tee shirts for doing that I an open a tee shirt shop.
Click to expand...
100% agree. Practically impossible to do that let alone have it come out the exact opposite side if that's important to you. 20mm is a deep hole for a 4mm drill bit. Stainless really requires steady pressure as well which you can only do with a drill press. Its impossible by hand IMO.

If you haven't already got a drill press i guess you're not that much into home engineering things, you'd also need a vice to bolt to it. Probably better to take it somewhere and let them do it
 
Are the holes to be across the diameter or in the end? If they are across, the drill will tend to skid down the round surface. I have found that a quick "stab" with the drill will probably give you a start.
If the holes are in the end, the possibility of using a pillar drill depends on the length. My trolley axles are 10 feet long. I had to drill the ends in a lathe (at slow speed because of the overhang).
If using a hand held drill, a bar of wood (to discourage skidding) hooked under "something" to act as a lever to maximise down force will make a big difference. Lots of pressure and few revs wins the day. Don't let the drill get hot. Even water will help.
 
Left field suggestion: drill a 20mm hole through a lump of hardwood. Slather your stainless rod in your adhesive of choice and mash it into the hole. Let it set. Now you can start your hole through hardwood, and the bit shouldn't slither about when it hits the stainless.
 
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