A simple Problem. 1

[power453c]

I have a piece of steel in the shape of the disk. 10" diameter .25" thick. I need to drill 7/64's holes into the side of the disk. I punched indentions where I needed. The holes I drilled on the flat side of the steel worked fine. However as soon as I tried the curved side holes, I had a problem.

The drill bit will not engage. It simply rides on the surface.

Is there any way to make the drill bit go in.

 

[tripleZ]

I assume you're going into these side holes in an off-center condition, causing the drill to load on one side before the other? That's the way it reads to me.

How 'bout a drill guide? Use something simple like Poco graphite which is easy to dremel. You can use a block or cylinder, whatever floats your boat. Trace the profile of the 10" diameter on the block where you need it, the carve out the radius with a hand tool. If you're not that good, you can use up/over moves on a mill. But that might be more time-consuming than what you need. Depends on how precise you need the holes.

Super glue the block to the steel (or Loc-tite...depends on how good your Dremel/mill hand is), center drill the block for location, then drill down through. The block should hold your drill steady enough to bite into the steel. Knock the block off after drilling and chip off the glue.

 

[power453c]

I used a drill press initally. Then I tried a hand drill. I used every differenet speed they offered.

The steel is nothing special. I managed to get a hole directley in the center with minimual difficutley. I used a 3/32 bit to start. Perhaps this is because the side was machined. I'm not sure. The bit I used is a cobalt steel bit. I used enough force that the bit almost broke. It bent over nicley under stress.

I thought that maybe the center punch hardened the steel at that precise point. So I took my dremel and ground off the indentation flush. That didn't help much. It speeded up the initial penetration on the flat side but not on the round side.