Drilling Through Stainless Steel Sheet

Here is the right way to drill stainless steel.

Drilling through stainless steel sheet.

In this first quick tips video i show you how easy it is to drill and cut stainless steel when you have the right magic potion. The least expensive twist bits are made of high speed steel hss and these basic bits are just fine for most metal drilling tasks. Drilling through 22 guage stainless steel sheet btrueblood mechanical 28 aug 08 12 47 i really like our local hardware store they have a bit sharpener and charge a nominal fee to resharpen a sackful for you. After starting out with a bi metal bit and not having much success steve l.

Drilling stainless steel is not as difficult as you may thi. When stainless steel work hardens it becomes very hard and extremely difficult to drill. Stainless is actually a relatively soft metal at least in its initial state. If you ll be drilling a lot of holes or need to drill through hard abrasive metals like stainless steel or cast iron spend a couple bucks more for black oxide or a cobalt steel drill bit for metal.

Stainless steel also known as inox steel is an alloy of steel with a minimum of around 10 5 chromium based on its mass it is known for its corrosion resistance high heat resistance and high ductility. Please help support my effort. Steve parente shows how to easily drill large holes in stainless with a step bit. There are also other steps to drilling this material that will make the process easier.

What stainless tends to do is work harden fairly quickly when heated and drilling at high speed creates a lot of heat. In this video i will show you how to drill stainless steel with regular drill bits and hole saws. Because so many people ask how to drill through stainless steel we decided to dedicate a page to this topic. Many people have drilled holes into plain old steel with satisfactory results.

Drilling through stainless steel is much like drilling through any other type of metal but with a few key differences. Using high speed drill bits or better is mandatory.