Drilling through stainless

Not quite for a tradional rod, but need some help at work. I'm in charge installing some drain valves on one of our fire engines at my work. I need to bore some (4) 1.25 inch holes through a stainless steel panel. Just wondering whats gonna be my best bet at doing this.

 

Start small with cutting oil, when it is big enough to use a die grinder, that would be my tool of choice. Go slow.

 

Find a RIGID dealer and buy there 74007 stainless cutting oil it will be well worth the $15. Also I buy the Lennox/American saw hole saws they work very good. I have spent many hours cutting stainless and thats the best cutting oil I have found. Also keep your speed down

 

K, RIGID dealer is out of the question, as I know of none nearby. As for the hole saw, any particular one I should look for? I know of a Lenox dealer where I'm at, but not sure what they carry.

 

Holesaw should be fine. Just keep your speed low and take your time.

And keep it lubed. Even WD-40 should be good enough.

 

Is there a Acklands or Industrial supply shop around you? They should carry Rigid.

 

Sorry its Acklands up here. It would be Grainger in the USA.

 

Not a whole lot of industrial supply houses in my area, so I'm limited on stuff unless I feel like driving 1+ hour(s) to one out of the area. I'm going to check with the local store that I know carries alot of Lenox stuff and see what they got. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

Also check plumbing, heating, etc. supply stores that cater to the trades.

 

Be sure to clamp your panel to a piece of plywood or whatever you have that is soft and substantial enough to be held in a vise.Also in my experience solder flux paste makes a great lubricant for use with hole saws (especially in stainless applications).Use low speed and a light touch when approaching the breakthrough point.

 

Any decent hole saw will work with a low rpm and coolant.

Not the No Name Mystery Brand.

 

Knock-out punches are also an option, if they are available and you can access the back side.

 

Aircraft supply places carry Boelube,this stuff is available as a solid,paste or liquid.It is the best I have used on stainless and ***anium.

 

A great trick i learned from the guys down at the harbor is "elmers glue" ( yellow ONLY ).. for some reason the organic components of yellow glue will allow easy drilling/hole sawing of stainless..
still gotta go slow speed..but it really works...and water clean up is nice!
try it, you won't believe how well it works..
dave ;-)

 

I used to do a lot of work with stainless steel, mainly turning and milling, and you turn it at the same cutting speed as aluminum, if you have decent carbide cutting tools.

Lower grade cutting tools need a lot less speed, else they just burn up, even with coolant/oil on.

Strange material to work on, as it cuts like ****er in some ways, but is hard as tool steel in others.

 

Depending on how thick the material is I would use a uni-bit, just get a good pilot hole in first. I do this method a lot at work on stainless on fancy yachts. The uni-bit makes a very clean hole. I have several and would be lost without em.

my $0.02

 

Yeah actually, as long as it's less than 1/8" thick (what is this, armor plate?) a Unibit is your best bet by far.

 

I agree on the BoLube. Great stuff. A ch***ie punch would be good if you gan get one. Stainless workhardens. So don't let the cutter slide over the surface. Low speed, high feed. Keep it cutting.

 

Ch***is punch or a knock out punch.

Check an electrical supply house for the latter.

Sure will leave a NICE,CLEAN hole!

Drill the pilot hole with slow speed,heavy feed.