How To Drill Stainless Steel Sheet

Because so many people ask how to drill through stainless steel we decided to dedicate a page to this topic.

How to drill stainless steel sheet. When stainless steel work hardens it becomes very hard and extremely difficult to drill. Step drilling is often recommended for thicker profiles of stainless steel to help keep swarf clear allow for good penetration of coolant into the hole and to reduce friction at the drill point. Stainless is actually a relatively soft metal at least in its initial state. But working with stainless steel can present challenges during fabrication keeping it clean and free of fingerprints and drilling through it efficiently.

The full feed and speed rates must be maintained when backing out and re entering to ensure smooth transitioning through the layer of work hardened steel that will develop as the cutting is underway. Here 39 s how to do it without scratching the stainless. For drilling it s common knowledge that treating it like any other metal and applying sustained pressure until the hole is complete causes problems such as overheating and occasional breaking of the bit. Certainly of all the metals out there stainless steel is the one that seems to cause most problems for people when it comes to drilling.

These characteristics of stainless steel make it quite difficult to cut or drill. I need to drill 24 x 4mm holes in a 3mm thick sheet. Page 1 of 2 1 2 next diymostthings well known member. Here is the right way to drill stainless steel.

Drilling stainless steel sheet. Discussion in engineers talk started by diymostthings aug 6 2012. What stainless tends to do is work harden fairly quickly when heated and drilling at high speed creates a lot of heat. I never realised this stuff was so hard.

Drilling into stainless steel can be tricky but it 39 s your only option when installing a soap dispenser or a filtered water faucet. Many people have drilled holes into plain old steel with satisfactory results. Using high speed drill bits or better is mandatory.