I need to make a two inch hole near the center of a four foot square
3/16" steel plate. It doesn't need to be perfect, could be slightly irregular. Would a cutting torch be OK, or would the heat permanently distort the plate?What other methods would work? A plasma cutter sounds good to me, but I don't have one. I guess I could take it somewhere and pay to have it done.
Best option: Very large radial arm drill press... Find someone with one. Has to have a 24" or greater throat.
Second best: Magnetic mount drill with an annular cutter - See
Third best: Really good geared down, two hand hand drill with a hole saw, annular cutter, etc. Lots of prayer...
They might just make hole cutters for electrical panels that work too... The kind you drill a small hole for then put a device that "shears" it's way through as you tighten it like a bolt...
Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244 Automatic / Pneumatic Drills:
Don't pay more than 16 bux.
--Winston
Bi-metal hole saw would work great and give you a pretty good hole. Its too thick for a slug buster.
A good hole saw in an electric drill would do it in a few minutes.
Best solution is a mag drill.
Grant
As everyone else has said: hole saw. Second choice is metal cutting blade in sabre saw. Bob
That could be watercut cnc job - That could be lasercut cnc job - That could be Plasmacut cnc Job -
The plasma would slice through - and if kept moving wouldn't distort the plate. That small hole in a big plate won't give much possibility for a warp.
Circle cutting is typical (drill press), but you need a deep throat.
Plasma torch can be guided between or around (inside is best) a wood circle.
Lots of ways. Mart>> I need to make a two inch hole near the center of a four foot square
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And if the throat isn't deep enough, you can set the drill press on the plate, clamp it, swing the head out to the side and drill away.
John Martin
As others have said, hole saw. If you've got to be cheap or are out in the boonies with nothing else, mark the circle out, use a small bit and drill a whole bunch of almost overlapping holes around the circumference, "chain drilling", then chisel/saw/file the separators out. Tedious for larger holes, but you can do irregular holes that way and you can use lighter-duty electric drills. Goes faster if a drill press can be used. Would have to be a pretty good-sized one for a 4' workpiece.
3/16 is probably outside the range of a Greenlee-style knockout punch, though, you'd have to look up the limits on the punch and die set.Stan
I follow Stan : chaindrilling will be a lot faster than first going shopping for a tool of any sort. I understand it is one hole only? Its fast only if you mark your holes exactly on a circle and mark each hole on that circle with dividers same radius as drill. Start with a small drill like 4.5mm and finish 6mm. Tedious marking, but little filing i.e. nicer work doing it precisely. Any home- use type hole saw would loose half its worth with this Job, usually they are built for very low RPM and burn out the hand drill and/or get blunt half way through.
-protect your eyes- ede wolf
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