Need to determine how much drill press to purchase - horsepower?

Why are you using a twist drill for the holes? For your job you should look into annular cutters. Rotabroach is one brand name for these types of cutters. These cutters require less horsepower and will leave much smaller burrs. And make better holes. And are faster. You would need to buy a morse taper adapter that fits your drill press and then the annular cutter fits into the adapter. They do require a rigid setup though. A 1" twist drill going through 3/16" aluminum will start to break through before the full diameter is reached. This will cause the drill to chatter, grab, and walk around in the hole. You will almost surely end up with a crappy hole and a large burr. In any case, depending on how fast you want to drill the holes with a twist drill a 1 HP motor would be fine. If it was me I would get 1.5 HP. Good Luck, Eric

Very good advice. Annular cutters are so much nicer in that application. Press wise, I'd opt for a mill myself simply for durability and usefulness in a small shop. It would allow you to make tooling and jigs to make the process faster.

If you wanted an even faster way you could make up a punch and die with the die sliding inside the tube as a slip fit. Use 1/2 of a greenly style punch for the moving punch and a chunk of tool steel with a properly sized hole for the die. Heat treat it and it should last a long time. Then a simple press to power it.

What horsepower of drill press that I need to purchase?

I am in the early stages of setting up a simple manufacturing business. Need to be able to drill through 6061 T-6 Aluminum 2-inch square tubes possessing a wall thickness of 3/16" using a ONE-INCH in diameter cobalt drill bit - 10,

50, maybe 100 times per day. Drilling a one inch bore through metal is going to take some horsepower, this is not like drilling a 1/2-inch through wood.

I would love to buy a drill press that can bore holes in aluminum like butter, but I do not have a huge budget, and am hoping that I can get into a good drill press for around $1,000.00. Do I need 1-1/2 horsepower? 2 horsepower? is 3/4 horsepower enough? Need to be able to get what I need that will do the job, but not put me in the financial poorhouse. Starting a new business, I do not know what my demand is going to be yet, but would rather start small for now, and work my way up. But I need to have a robust machine that can do the job and produce a quality product.

I am not in a position yet to buy a CNC or Clausing Machine, until I get started and actually sell some product and determine if I even have a market. I do not want to overbuy or underbuy equipment, but a drill press with be central to producing the product that I am trying to bring to market.

=============================================== For reference, my 60+ year old Clausing 8525 mill has no trouble drilling 1" holes in steel at 180 RPM with 3/4 HP. First I drill a pilot hole about the size of the drill bit web, usually at the same speed.

You seem to be unfamiliar with metal. A drill bit won't make a smooth-walled

1.000" hole". The work needs to be securely clamped. Reduce the RPM if the bit chatters.

If this drill press is to be used for proof of concept (concept=making a profit) then any 1/2 hp benchtop drill press that can fit the work piece under the quill would be sufficient. If you require one that can drill

100 holes a day, a 1/2 horse will run all day; get one that is comfortable to use, i.e., you're not stooped over it during use. I've found Blair Holcutters to be supreme in the task of making fast clean holes. The ones I have are advertised as "sheet metal holcutters" but I've used them to fish mouth pipe ends using a Harbor Fright jig with good success. They fit in a standard 3/8 or bigger chuck. Usually you'll find smaller hp units to be unable to run slow with any torque. These holcutters suggest about 2700 to 3000 rpm for drilling aluminum so be sure it can run that speed and is robust enough to handle the vibration. When you become successful enough that Bezos is calling you for a loan you can put the little drill press on a garage sale and move up to that big MoFo for your new hobbies.

Blair Equipment Company Flint, MI

810-635-7111

Good Luck Steve

On 5/8/2020 12:18 PM, Mark Gerardy wrote: ..................... I've found Blair Holcutters to be supreme in the task of making fast clean holes. The ones I have are advertised as "sheet metal holcutters" but I've used them to fish mouth pipe ends using a Harbor Fright jig with good success. They fit in a standard 3/8 or bigger chuck. Usually you'll find smaller hp units to be unable to run slow with any torque. These holcutters suggest about 2700 to 3000 rpm for drilling aluminum so be sure it can run that speed and is robust enough to handle the vibration. Good Luck Steve

======================================== Amazon "Health, Household & Baby Care"

"All cutters use a single arbor, with a patented Quad-Lead thread mounting system (sold Separately)."

You're correct. I bought the kit of 5-6 holcutters. It came with the arbor and 2 pilots.

The OP wasn't completely clear if he intended to drill through both sides of the square tube in one pass, or if he only needed a hole on one side. He said: "Need to be able to drill through 6061 T-6 Aluminum 2-inch square tubes". From the picture on amazon the Blair Holcutter won't pass through the drilled hole like a regular holesaw or drill bit will so if the OP needs to go all the way through both sides this won't do it in one operation. Even having to do a second op, flipping the part over to drill the opposite side, it may still be the best method. Just something to be aware of before buying :-).