Drilling Stainless Steel

ir3333 said
stainless steel is just any steel with nickel added.Nickel is not overly hard so it will be as hard as the parent steel.
1/4 turn clockwise followed by 1/2 turn back to clean your threads

You mean chromium. Nickel is often present, but stainless is defined by chromium content.

5.7 hemi said
The biggest thing about stainless is, when is starts getting hot, it becomes work hardened, making it more difficult to machine.

It's not the heat, it's the deformation or 'cold work' done to it. Stainless gets harder when it's bent, formed, or basically deformed. This is what 1/2 and full hard stainless materials are: a description of the total surface area reduction done to work harden the material.

Hate cutting stainless? Try Inconel (718 spefically), you'll love 300 series after that!

303 is much nicer to turn parts with, but try plating that stuff... I'm convinced 303 is just an amalgam of whatever garbage the mill had laying around plus a bit of chromium.