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3mm Aluminium Plate and Hole saw

Okay - I'm trying to drill very accurate and clean holes in 3mm aluminium plate (606x) and am having a bit of a problem. I'm using a 38mm bi-metal hole saw on a standard arbor in a vertical drill and have a problem with the cutter wobbling a bit. As soon as it starts shaking it starts to bind at low rpm or shoots about like a banshee at high rpm.

I think the problem is that the hole saw doesn't fit flush to the backing plate of the arbor while allowing the pegs to fit in the holes. This ends up creating a little space between the two and therefore instability = wobble. I was going to put a fibre washer or a brass shim in there but before I did that I thought I would ask for some guidance.

Should I be cutting this in a different way?

Unfortuantely I don't have a milling machine and I would need a rather big one as the plates are fairly big.

Reply to
James Varga
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Use parafin as coolant/lub. Your blade is snatching the alloy. Clean the teeth of the blade often as they clog like crazy. Alternative chain drill and finish with a half round file, the finish will probably be better than the hole saw.

Hole saw + Pillar drill, not "very" accurate, way to produce holes

Joules

Reply to
Joules

Thanks but I don't think that was it - I was using cutting fluid already.

I think I sorted it though - I made a shim out of 0.5mm aluminium and that tightened everything up very nicely. The accuracy is perfect now - nice clean and stable.

Thanks though.

Reply to
James Varga

A Rotabroach type cutter would probably give better results if you have some way to grip it (3/4" shank), though they are more expensive. Holesaws aren't noted for giving accurate holes. There are also tipped holesaws available now, also expensive but they may well give better results. I've never used one so can't comment from experience.

If your abor has the retractable pins, just retract them & allow the saw to tighten on the flange. It's not usually *that* hard to undo them after this.

Cheers Tim

Reply to
Tim Leech

Reply to
Kingfish

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