BabaYaga
Well-Known Member
Generally I would be more worried about a tight fit than a loose one, as this is a forestay.
Also, should there not be a toggle between the fitting and the turnbuckle?
Enlarging a hole in stainless steel
- Thread starter pcatterall
- Start date
Generally I would be more worried about a tight fit than a loose one, as this is a forestay.
Also, should there not be a toggle between the fitting and the turnbuckle?
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
I wonder if the tightness of fit actually matters. The clevis pin has to be smaller than the hole, ergo the contact area is, in theory, an infinitely small point where the two circles meet. Changing the diameters of the pin and hole do not change this fact. Although intuition suggests that you want a fairly snug fit.
Norman_E
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I cannot find one on sale now, but I have drilled 3/4 inch holes through the web of a railway line with a ratchet drill and a strongback. Slow speed because it took four back and forth motions on the ratchet handle for a single turn of the drill, and a lot of pressure applied by the strongback which was like a big G clamp tightened by a second person. The same method would work with stainless. The railwayman's ratchet drill took morse taper drills and had a ratchet handle about two feet long. If you file the soft shank of a drill to a square a carpenters brace will do a better job than a high speed power drill, particularly if you can have one person holding it in line and applying pressure whilst another person turns it. I would still favour taking it off and using the bench drill if it was mine.
rogerthebodger
Well-Known Member
Guys there is a world of difference between drilling a virgin hole in stainless steel than increasing the diameter of an existing a little.
When opening a hole a little the drill bit will dig in even with little pressure. The only way to do this with a drill is with a drilling machine with a controlled drill feed and I have only seen this in industrial radial arm machines. or vertical milling machines.
The step drills could be used but generally are only designed to thin sheet steel not material 4 mm thick.
I would and have done this opening 16mm dia holes in my bow roller fitting to 17mm in place with an expanding reamer by hand turned by using a tap wrench as I posted.
The only other ways is with a round half round file or a die grinder with a metal burr cutter.
When opening a hole a little the drill bit will dig in even with little pressure. The only way to do this with a drill is with a drilling machine with a controlled drill feed and I have only seen this in industrial radial arm machines. or vertical milling machines.
The step drills could be used but generally are only designed to thin sheet steel not material 4 mm thick.
I would and have done this opening 16mm dia holes in my bow roller fitting to 17mm in place with an expanding reamer by hand turned by using a tap wrench as I posted.
The only other ways is with a round half round file or a die grinder with a metal burr cutter.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
I would have filed out the hole, a lot quicker than this thread!
lw395
Well-Known Member
Yes!
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
>Cobalt or HSS makes little difference. The main quality they need is sharpness.
I was drilling holes in a stainless bar three quarters of an inch thick that was on top of the bulwarks around our steel yacht, a new HSS drill bit didn't even dent it and that's why I went to ask a marine fabricator.
I was drilling holes in a stainless bar three quarters of an inch thick that was on top of the bulwarks around our steel yacht, a new HSS drill bit didn't even dent it and that's why I went to ask a marine fabricator.
Pagetslady
Well-Known Member
Can you get near it with a dremmel and small grinding tool or even a rotary file in electric drill, sounds as if you on.y want to remove .020 inch a side even a good quality round file shouldn't take above 30 minutes.
