Drilling stainless steel

[double047]

Drilling stainless steel can be a pain in the you know what. My maintenance guy says Winzer Shop Pros do pretty good.

It just plain sucks drilling stainless steel on a regular basis, especially the good stainless mostly because it heat-hardens more so than the milder grades.

The biggest problem is most people try to drill stainless steel with way to high of an rpm and not enough pressure.

The keys to drilling stainless steel.

-> Lower work speed.
-> Higher tool pressure.
-> Lubrication.
-> Keep the bit cool. (air stream on it or compressed air)

Possibly pilot holes would help.

[sprayedenali]

Start small ad work up in size. Keep the bit cool and slow. A uni-bit works alright. Touching get a few really nice carbide bits just for the stainless....

[2boosted]

In my line of work we drill a lot of metals.

We test all, and the most durable to date will be the Bosch Titanium Coated Drill Bits.

Like any drill bit, if you use it wrong, you'll brake it, lose sharp or damage the drill.

Silversleeper stated the fact correct, but in our line of work, we use a cooling liquid instead of air. Is a white liquid, and we try to recycle it. For Special materials we use Relion Formula. That and a good driller, makes bits last.