Drilling Stainless Steel
Well that came out very nice. If I had known you had a drill press a would have told you to drill the hole then put a chamfer on top edge of the hole with a larger drill bit to give the tap a easy way to start the first thread. Then before you move anything you stick a pointed 1/4" rod in the chuck and (using hand pressure) you can use the point on the rod to insert in the backside of the tap. Just about every tap I've seen has a counter sink on the back end so you can support the tail end of the tap as you start the first thread. By pressing down on the drill press handle as you turn the tap you'll ALWAYS get a straight start on the hole. When you "back the tap up" you relieve the pressure so it can come up out of the hole. After you break the binding you apply hand pressure again and keep tapping until you finish the thread.
Good Job!! Sometimes it's EASY and sometimes it's a BEAR, it depends what alloy of stainless you're tapping. It also depends on well prepared you are when you start!! You were prepared!!
treblig
Got it done guys. Thanks for the pointers. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. No broken taps or drill bits, so I'm a happy dude.
Well that came out very nice. If I had known you had a drill press a would have told you to drill the hole then put a chamfer on top edge of the hole with a larger drill bit to give the tap a easy way to start the first thread. Then before you move anything you stick a pointed 1/4" rod in the chuck and (using hand pressure) you can use the point on the rod to insert in the backside of the tap. Just about every tap I've seen has a counter sink on the back end so you can support the tail end of the tap as you start the first thread. By pressing down on the drill press handle as you turn the tap you'll ALWAYS get a straight start on the hole. When you "back the tap up" you relieve the pressure so it can come up out of the hole. After you break the binding you apply hand pressure again and keep tapping until you finish the thread.
Good Job!! Sometimes it's EASY and sometimes it's a BEAR, it depends what alloy of stainless you're tapping. It also depends on well prepared you are when you start!! You were prepared!!
treblig
