hole about 10mm dia along 20mm thk ali plate 200mm through?

Clamp a piece of wood to the face of your block to help align the drill to keep your hole centered . Once you're in a couple of inches you can probably remove the guide board .

Hello all

Is this drilling I was thinking of doing easy to do?

I need to water-cool a plate of ali. 5083 (Al-Mg) used to make all-weld-metal samples. Keep the interpass temperature low enough.

I visualise drilling a hole along the 200mm (8inch) length of the plate. Hole being 8mm or 10mm (3/8inch) diameter.

Passing along the mid-plane of the 20mm (3/4inch) thickness ali. plate.

Contamination, within all reason, would not be a problem here where drilled - it isn't that near to or connected to the welds being deposited. I imagine a large water storage and a pump moving cooling water through that drilled hole, with return back to the tank.

Please advise if there is a between scheme for cooling.

Best wishes, Rich Smith

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How easy depends on the available machine tools and drill bit types. This one approaches sending the job to a shop, with extra blanks just in case and a definition of how far off center on the far end you can accept, plus the hose attachments. The two main issues are chip removal to prevent the bit from jamming and breaking, and keeping the hole straight enough. You could practice on scrap. 10mm diameter by 200mm deep shouldn't be unreasonably difficult.

Frequent chip removal requires a long stroke of the drill chuck or work holder. Unless you find a drill press with enough spindle travel the simplest way to get it may be to attach the plate to a lathe carriage. Some model engineering lathes are convenient for mounting work to be bored on the carriage, the giveaway is tee slots.

If deflection becomes a problem I might try a drill bit with short flutes and a long solid shank, such as an "aircraft" drill. They are stiffer than bits with long flutes. Start the hole with a short and stiff "screw machine" or "spotting" bit. The next longer sizes are "jobbers" and "taper". A "split point" drill needs less pressure to cut in the center.

I use this Portalign for fairly accurate and straight drilling at center-punched scribe marks on structural steel too big for my machine tools.

Upper and lower buckets with an automatic sump pump in the lower one would give you flow rate control independent of the pump, which might be borrowed and has other uses. I find a fair amount of use for a galvy bucket with a hose spigot soldered in the bottom center like a high capacity funnel, for instance to hang under plumbing repair work. With a lathe a brass or plastic fitting can be modified to attach through the bottom. My roof runoff rain collectors are trash barrels with shop made garden hose outlets.

Good luck, you may need it.

Instead of drilling it could you make a cooling plate and clamp it to it? Aluminum transfers heat really well.

In bait making guys make cooling plates to clamp to molds by drilling holes that deep/long, but I think it might be easier to take two plates, mill grooves, and then bolt them together with some gasket sealer. Then you just tap the ends of the grooves for your hose connectors.

The advantage to using a cooling plate instead of integrated cooling passages is you can use it again and again for other applications, and you only have to make it once.

For higher production rate molds they do gun drill cooling passages directly into the mold, but its also a thicker molder with a higher base cost.

I've had decent luck deep drilling (not 8 inches) aluminum with specialty 3 flute drills. You can also use your lathe as a horizontal boring machine by removing the tool post and installing an angle plate to clamp your work piece two, and then mount the drill in the spindle.

Multiple different thoughts jumble together:

Thought 1:> Instead of drilling it could you make a cooling plate and clamp it to

Thought 2:

Thought 3:

Thought 4:

Thought 5: EXTRA CREDIT This can be handy for deep drilling, but you have to start the hole with a stub drill so you are not drilling at an angle from sag when you use your long gun drill.

For example:

I can't offer many alternatives without knowing which machine tools you have access to. Bob's 2 piece solution is good if you have a milling machine to flatten the mating surfaces and mill the grooves. In double sided circuit board design the practice for dense packing is to put horizontal runs on one side and vertical ones on the other, connected at holes called Vias. In this case the H and V grooves could simply overlap at the ends, though mirror image pre-drilled hole patterns the grooves should end in would be a good sanity check. A little internal leakage wouldn't matter as long as the plates are sealed together around the edges.

A vertical mill is usually preferred to a horizontal one for versatility on complex shapes and for drilling, while a horizontal mill cuts simpler geometries faster for production. They largely can both do the same jobs with differing degrees of difficulty and speed.

Today's small triumph was lathe boring the cap of a bottle of HF air compressor oil to accept a gear lube pump whose cap is sized for smaller outboard / stern drive oil bottle threads. The Attwood pump snaps together and can be pried apart at the bottle cap.

Big thanks for that hint - Rich S.

Thanks - very considered comments and advice. - Rich S.

I appreciate your wise and experienced comment. I did ponder on clamp-plates with milled-in water-cooling passages - which clamped on can be used repeatedly. Thanks - Rich S.

Big thanks for that hint - Rich S.

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Clamped-on scrap wood guide blocks have been very helpful for me when sawing and drilling with portable or hand tools for timber framed sheds in the woods. A step between two levels of clamped-on boards is enough to guide a portable drill's bit quite square and straight, though I haven't drilled a hole as long and demanding as yours. The portable drill solves the chip removal problem and twists instead of breaking a jammed bit.

Blocks clamped above and below a horizontal beam temporarily rigged into position against a (log) column can guide a hand saw blade closely enough to make the beam a tap-in fit in the column, even if the beam is bowed. The saw kerf will be within the beam notch.

Setting up a horizontal bandsaw and conveyer track table accurately on uneven ground to square and notch the ends of a long heavy oak beam was so troublesome that I tried a bow pruning saw guided between wood blocks. The thin blade cut quickly and the result looks like the work of a table saw. I'm not a purist, I use power tools when practical but I'm learning accuracy the old way for joinery on heavy beams back in the woods.

I appreciate your wise and experienced comment. I did ponder on clamp-plates with milled-in water-cooling passages - which clamped on can be used repeatedly. Thanks - Rich S.

A simple version that might be good enough is two plates separated by a large O ring, perhaps for a car wheel hub. The only machining is sawing the plates and drilling and tapping for the clamping screw circle and hose fittings.

For building powered machinery a lathe and milling machine are nearly essential, without them you are limited to what you can buy in the right size, often quite expensively. One vee belt pulley, tapered hub, shaft and bearings for my sawmill cost me $100 around 2008, as expensive as the new

A horizontal bandsaw and drill press may be enough for static projects like this, and weldments. I use my mill mostly as a more accurate drill press. The 4" x 6" bandsaw has been adequate for me, but I'd suggest a larger one if you can spare the cost and space.

I seem to recall Richard saying he was getting or considering getting a small lathe for his workshop. That's why I mentioned the possibility of using a lathe as a horizontal boring machine. It is a concept I garnered from this very group many years ago.

FYI: I have one customer of mine who bought some pieces of aluminum flat bar from me precut to size who made his own chill plates by drilling the passages with a hand held drill motor. He said it was a difficult process and he would never do it again, but like many things it has the advantage that once you make it you already have it next time...

This is the UK version:

I extended mine to 200mm (8") width with a new fixed position fence. When using it chips don't fall clear of the guide rollers. The fence is angle iron positioned to be the guide for quickly installing the standard fence square to the blade, because I milled the rear of its bottom flange parallel to the face.

The saw can trim the flame-cut or chain-sawed end of stock 150mm square by supporting it opposite the falling arm. Long stock balanced on the table shows how high to set the outboard support. It needs the coarsest blade to cut wood without clogging, then it's a good substitute for a radial arm saw and to some extent a vertical woodworking bandsaw.

There are several ways to tame their insubordinate tendencies, some here.

If you are good at diagnosing and solving problems these saws may be for sale by frustrated owners quite cheap, mine cost $125.

I did much the same thing. Then I made a swing fence to replace the original fence in the original position that I can loosen or remove with simple sliding handle shoulder bolts from the bottom for those times when I need the space or when I need the angle fence.. 99.9% of the time both fences are on the machine.

On my bigger horizontal bandsaw I drilled and tapped some holes for

You know I never thought I would use that kind of work holding, but there are times when its the only way to do the job.

I did much the same thing. Then I made a swing fence to replace the original fence in the original position that I can loosen or remove with simple sliding handle shoulder bolts from the bottom for those times when I need the space or when I need the angle fence.. 99.9% of the time both fences are on the machine.

-- Bob La Londe CNC Molds N Stuff

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That's a good idea. The OEM fence mount was difficult to set precisely, and the hardware provided was junk.

A useful mod I made to mine was to add holes to move the fence very close to the blade, to clamp a short piece rather than holding and cutting it by hand in the vertical position. The fence has to be back in the original position to swivel.

The little wheels and bracket didn't survive being rolled outdoors for use, dropping when it passed over the door threshold. Now it rolls on replacement lawnmower wheels with the axle continuous through both legs.

On my bigger horizontal bandsaw I drilled and tapped some holes for

You know I never thought I would use that kind of work holding, but there are times when its the only way to do the job. Bob La Londe

----------------------------- I've certainly considered that, but always found a way to use F welding clamps whose narrow heads fit through the slots.

"The little wheels and bracket didn't survive being rolled outdoors for use, dropping when it passed over the door threshold."

I think that's a recurring theme with it's done that has a ninety day warranty with receipt. I've had to replace the wheels on both of my small welding carts.

On my bigger horizontal bandsaw I drilled and tapped some holes for

You know I never thought I would use that kind of work holding, but there are times when its the only way to do the job. Bob La Londe

------------------- We are lucky to have rolled bar stock to work with. The old guys machined iron castings with no true external surface and sometimes a rough cored hole where they needed to locate a center. For a pipe elbow etc there never will be a reference or flat clamping surface.

I use machined brass pipe in the chuck to locate and hold cast fittings centered by the threads.