Cutting a hole in stainless

The cheapest solution is a hole saw in a REALLLLLLLY slow drill, and flood coolant.

The faster solution is to use a plasma cutter, either rent or borrow one.

Exactly 3.5 inches, or kinda-sorta close? You might check with your local electrician and see if they have a 3" (pipe size, 3 1/2 OD) Greenlee panel punch.

Just one hole? Chain drill it and grab the die grinder?

So, like my drill press at the lowest speed pulleys?

Work in a pan of oil?

Will the hole saw survive this?

That's probably less of an option.

Bob

All of a sudden, I miss the electrician that used to live across the street. I'll have to think about whether I know any others.

It could come down to that.

Bob

You could drill a hole and then use a jig saw with a metal blade. I've done that with 14 gauge sheet.

Tim

there are also inexpensive adjustable hole cutters that can mount either HSS or TCT (carbide) blades.

make sure you get your rpm more or less right.

APPROXIMATE CUTTING SPEEDS (SFPM) H.S.S. Tooling Carbide Tooling Aluminum 400 1000 Brass 300 800 Cast Iron 80 350 Steel - Mild 100 450 Steel - Carbon 60 300 Steel - Stainless 40 200

rpm = C.S. x 3.82 / dia. you'll have to deburr the backside of the hole, but this is a more elegant solution vs chaindrill and grind.

-bonus is the guarantee of circularity and the ability to repeat the procedure if you set up a jig for yourself (sorry, its the machinist in me talking)

-draw backs: using a HSS cutter(s) in stainless, the rpm is about

44....I don't know of a drillpress that goes that low. so you'll probably cook the HSS tips after a couple of holes. the beauty is that you can just re-grind them. carbide tipped tooling will run aprox. 220 rpm, and will last much longer(just make sure you clamp the piece adequately. sheet metal is want to chatter. chatter causes vibration and shock; the enemies of carbide tooling. it'll just flake/ chip if you're not careful)

hope it gives you another option. cheers,

-m

Clamp the SS sheet between a couple pieces of thin plywood or hardboard and cut thought the sandwich.

Now that's an idea I hadn't thought of. Thanks.

Bob

I ended up doing a pretty good job using an abrasive cutter in my little angle grinder. A little clean up with a half round file was all it needed.

Thanks everyone for the education.

I'm thinking of making an add on for my drill press. An extra large/small pulley to allow slower speeds so I can do it with a hole saw next time such a problem comes up.

Bob

that would be a handy feature for a number of projects. good call. post if you find a kit or some such product. would save having to kludge something together.

-mark

Google "drill press jackshaft", there's a few hits there from people that have done something similar. There's also parts out there for the better known brands like Delta, and they turn up on eBay occasionally.

One of the guys over on the metalworking group had a really nice version with a cast aluminum plug that fit into the end of the drill press column to hold the pivot for his jackshaft, which went between the motor and the spindle just like the commercial units, but his writeup has since disappeared.

I chose to mount mine on a plate where the motor was with a couple of pillow blocks, and then rehung the motor off the plate. It may be a kludge, but it was simple and effective, still works just fine.

If you decide to do this, use a vise or clamp your work, you're increasing the drill press' ability to yank stuff out of your hands...

--Glenn Lyford

Found it (cut-n-paste onto one line as nedded):